Intermodal Center: the pieces
Since the Northern Intermodal Center (METRO’s name for the thing, as far as I can tell) has sparked discussion in our forums as well as at Houstonist, Houston Strategies, and Off the Kuff, I figured it’s worth a little more discussion.
(Fort Worth Intermodal Transportation Center, photo from DART)
Since METRO hasn’t gone out and said what the NIC might include, we’re only speculating. For the purposes of informed speculation, here’s the options I know of, with some notes as to what they might require:
- light rail station. This one is indispensable. The NIC will replace UH Downtown as the north terminus of the Main Street line. required facilities: tracks, platform with benches and shelter, ticket vending machines, possibly a METRO RideStore for tickets and information, hopefully some restrooms.
- BRT station. Again, indispensable. At the very least, the North line will terminate here, Harrisburg and Southeast line will apparently terminate here but could go Downtown instead. Easy transfer to LRT is essential. required facilities: driveway, platform with benches and shelter, ticket vending machines, possibly a METRO RideStore for tickets and information, hopefully some restrooms.
- commuter rail station. Again, part of the basic package. METRO is planning a commuter rail line along 290, with a future line to Galveston; this site is one of the few suitable sites for a downtown station for both lines.required facilities: tracks, platform with benches and shelter, ticket vending machines. Initially, only two tracks might be required; it’s probably wise to set aside space to add more tracks in the future if the system expands, possibly a METRO RideStore for tickets and information, hopefully some restrooms.
- pedestrian and bike connections. In addition to its transfer functions, this will be a local transit station for the existing neighborhoods immediately to the north, the new development in the Hardy Yards, and the warehouse district around Diverseworks. It also adjoins the future White Oak Bayou bike path to the Heights.required facilities: welcoming sidewalks to neighborhoods, link to bike path on White Oak Bayou, bike racks and lockers.
- local bus transit center. Downtown is the most important transfer hub for METRO’s local bus system. Some have suggested shifting this role to the NIC to remove buses from Downtown streets. METRO appears resistant to this, for good reason: Downtown fulfills this function well, and moving it will inconvenience the many riders destined for Downtown. Alternately, selected North Side local service could terminate here to relieve congestion on the bridges over the Bayou; that would also inconvenience riders. In any case, some local routes will stop here. required facilities: driveway, platform(s) with benches and shelter.
- commuter bus terminus. As far as I know, nobody has suggested moving all commuter bus service from Downtown to the NIC. Bluntly put, this would be an expensive way to dramatically decrease ridership.
- Amtrak station. Amtrak is irrelevant in Houston; 3 trains a week in each direction, stopping at inconvenient times and usually running hours behind schedule, aren’t of much use to many people. But they do have to stop somewhere, and if we’re building a commuter rail station anyway it requires only minimal additional facilities to accommodate Amtrak as well. Some day, perhaps, we might even get better service.required facilities: tracks and platform (share with commuter rail), baggage room (can be shared with intercity buses), ticket counter (can be located with those for intercity buses), waiting room (can be shared with intercity buses), restrooms.
- intercity bus station. Houston has a lot of intercity bus service, with connection across the United States via Greyhound and several bus lines serving the Rio Grande Valley and Mexico. The Greyhound station in Midtown is old and crowded, with inadequate parking, passenger pickup, and room for buses to maneuver. Other bus lines are scattered across a variety of facilities in Midtown and the East End. A new station with better passenger facilities, good transit connections, and room to park and maintain buses would be very useful. required facilities: driveway and bus bays, bus parking, baggage room, ticket counters, waiting room, taxi stand, passenger drop-off and pick-up lanes, short-term parking, restrooms.
- airport remote terminal. The Houston airport system wants to reduce traffic at the airport. One way to do that is remote parking facilities with baggage check-in so that passengers could drive elsewhere in the city, park, check their luggage, and get on a comfortable bus right to the airport with only their carry-on. Downtown, with its good freeway connections and built-in base of business travelers, is a logical location, and co-locating such a facility with a transit center would make it useful to transit users as well as drivers. How serious is the airport about this idea? Would it work? I have no idea.required facilities: driveway and bus bays, baggage check-in counters, taxi stand, passenger drop-off and pick-up lanes, long-term parking, restrooms.
- retail. Passengers passing through the NIC might want to buy a coffee or a newspaper or dinner, so it’s only logical to have some sort of retail. With parking, the center could also serve as a local retail area for the Near North Side, local redevelopment, and Downtown. Depending on the scale, METRO could be the landlord or make an agreement with a private developer to build and manage the retail.
- residential. There’s a lot of room to stack buildings above a one-story transit facility, and residential might be a good fit here. The transit facilities would be a selling point — downtown and the TMC would be a short train ride away — as would the bike path and park on the Bayou, the easy freeway access, the proximity to UH Downtown, and the view. The developer would buy or lease the air rights from METRO.
A final thought: while these various functions support each other, there’s no reason they HAVE to be in one place. A LRT/BRT/commuter rail station at the NIC and a Greyhound/LRT/local bus station at Wheeler (both with mixed use development), for example, might make as much sense.