This Tuesday, we got our first glimpse of what BRT will look like in the streets of Downtown Houston thanks to a short but interesting document (pdf) that METRO posted to their web site.
North of Polk Street, the Southeast Line BRT vehicles will leave their reserved lanes and run in regular “diamond lanes,” shared with other buses and with cars turning right. On Capitol and Rusk Downtown, that diamond lane will actually be the second to the right. Stations will occupy the rightmost lane; where there is no station that lane will be used for parking. Here what the station next to Jones Hall will look like:
It looks like a light rail station: shelter, ticket machine, level boarding. Looks like a nice way to get to the symphony (or to work, of course).
These Diamond Lanes, though, are a mixed blessing. They’re much cheaper than the reserved lanes to build, and they minimize construction inconveniences. But the vehicles will run more slowly and less reliably as they compete with other traffic (and stop for traffic lights — there will be no light priority on this section of the line.) If the entire line were like this, it would result in service only a bit better than local bus. But for only a short portion, the impact won’t be as much.
Incidentally, the Final Environmental Impact Statement released for this corridor earlier this month changed where the diamond lanes start: in the DEIS they went almost to the edge of Downtown at 59; now they start almost 15 blocks further south. In case you’re keeping score, that’s slower and less reliable service.
Another thing hasn’t changed: the Downtown transfer. Here’s the quickest way to get from the westbound Southeast Line to the Main Street Line headed south:
Get off at Main Street Station
Walk 1/2 block along Capitol
Walk 2 blocks along Main
cross over the the southbound Preston Station platform
walk 1/2 block to the middle of the platform
That’s a decent walk, and it’s quite a haul if you’re disabled. What really makes it an ordeal, though, is 3 pedestrian lights.
But wait — there’s more…
You’re getting off at a station with one name (Main Street) and going to a station with another name (Preston) that you can’t see from where you got off. You’re walking north on Main to get a southbound train. And when you go home, you’ll have to get off at a third station (Main Street Square.)
The EIS doesn’t mention signage. But it had better be good.
One interesting part of a FEIS is the agency’s response to comments. Carroll Robinson and I brought up this transfer issue. So did Bob Eury of the Downtown Management District:
“Further exploration should be considered to reduce the transfer distance near Main Street. There is a range of 2 to 4 locks of pedestrian travel distance that should be reduced to less than 2 blocks with both stations in the same viewshed.”
METRO’s response:
“Station locations are identified in Chapter 2. The proposed BRT station locations are within 3 blocks of the Main Street stations.”
Is than an answer? No. This kind of inconvenience will keep people from riding, especially for shorter trips.
Can it be done better? Yes. Either move the BRT to another street, or add a station on the Main Street line. Both of those involve tradeoffs, but the benefits to the overall system are significant.
The consolation? The concrete hasn’t been poured yet, and there’s still a chance to improve things.
Does this seem stupid to you? Speak up!
Another consolation: Microsoft now has Birds Eye images of Houston on local.live.com, like the above base image.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, January 25th, 2007 at 10:29 pm and is filed under Uncategorized.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
