For those of you who missed the old downtown trolley, here’s its successor.
[T]he Greenlink bus service was launched Monday as a free offering for tourists and locals alike. The 18-stop route makes the rounds of eight hotels, the George R. Brown Convention Center, the Central Library, Discovery Green, City Hall, Main Street Square, Houston Pavilions and Macy’s, among others. Buses run weekdays from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
[…]
A project seven years in the making, the idea to create Greenlink began when the trolley circulator system was shut down in 2005, and Bob Eury “heard pretty loud and clear from downtown … that there was a real need to be able to circulate without one’s car.”
Eury is the executive director of Houston Downtown Management District, which Eury described as the “program owner of Greenlink.”
The distinction was made from the old-fashioned trolley to the new state-of-the-art buses to suit the “contemporary image” of downtown Houston, said Eury.
See here for some background and here for a route map. Part of the update to these vehicles is that they run on compressed natural gas, for better mileage and less pollution. For the brief time that I worked downtown in the 90s, I generally preferred walking if I was just going a few blocks, but I’m sure plenty of people will like having this as an option. The buses are operated by Metro, which has a four-year interlocal agreement with the Downtown District.
i quess i am going to have to be the one to come out and just say this-but damn it,this is just wrong,being the fattest or almost the fattest city in the nation the last thing houstonians need is a free ride 12 blocks,i think kuffner agrees with me on this, thats why he is being hush hush about it,how many times are they gunna run this dog at us in a different out fit??????
tourist wont use it and if houstonians really knew how much this green “free” ride was costing them,they would agree they dont want it……….
you metro people make me sick
joshua ben bullard