Chris Andrews highlights a little Metro-related activism going on in my neighborhood.
Residents in the Woodland Heights neighborhood of Houston have initiated a petition to modify the proposed 30 bus route.
Currently, the neighborhood is serviced by the 40 Pecore route. When METRO’s System Reimagining was proposed in early 2015, the 30 Clinton / Ella route was shown to continue on much of the route that is both the current 40 Pecore and 50 Heights routes. Unfortunately, the routes have since changed, leaving Woodlands Heights Residents without transit on Watson / Taylor / Sawyer streets. The originally drawn proposed 30 route was shifted to the east to Houston Avenue. This creates a duplicated north / south service with the proposed 44 Acres Homes route, which incidentally has the same, and if not better, level of service.
Residents propose shifting the 30 route back to the first proposed reimagined route (shown below), providing service to Watson / Taylor / Sawyer streets between Pecore and Memorial Drive. This would continue to provide service to areas serviced by the current 40 and 50 routes. Shifting the proposed 30 route to the west along Watson / Taylor / Sawyer streets would also provide access to the Target-anchored Sawyer Heights shopping center, as well as the 2100 Memorial senior apartments. (I can attest that a healthy number of residents who live at this complex use the current 50 route.)
[…]
METRO will continue to host public hearings regarding the new bus network, with a meeting on Wednesday June 3, 2015 at 6:00 PM, and another on Friday June 5, 2015 at 12:00 PM. Both meetings are scheduled to take place in METRO’s Board Room. View the METRO board meetings and notices page for more details.
Discussion about the disappearance of the 40 route and the subsequent petition first appeared on Nextdoor a couple of days ago. My initial reaction was along the lines of “um, you know that Metro announced these new routes a year ago, and formally gave the go-ahead back in February, right?” Turns out that even at this late date there are tweaks being considered, as you can see in the post above. Adding to the confusion a bit is that the system map displayed on the system reimagining website doesn’t reflect the current status. I like what has been proposed here, and as Andrews found on Twitter, so does Metro Board member Christof Spieler. I’m only a block away from Studewood, however, so this alternative would be great for me. Folks who live closer to the midway point between Studewood and Houston Avenue will be less well off. Make your voice heard while you still have time, that’s the message here. Link via Swamplot.
Pingback: System reimagining is going to be hard – Off the Kuff