Intermodality

Successful rail transit systems serve dense employment centers. Our light rail line is successful because it serves two, and it goes right into the middle of both of them. People don’t like to transfer; they want to be able to get off the train and walk to work.
Want proof? Look at Denver. Denver’s light [...]

I’ve spent the last two months blogging about how the University Line options benefit and affect the neighborhoods and institutions along them:

East End
University of Houston
Third Ward
Texas Southern University
Neartown
University of St. Thomas
Greenway and Upper Kirby
Uptown
Gulfton

Now it’s your turn. METRO is holding a series of meetings over the next two days, and the main purpose is to [...]

We’re getting to our last neighborhood on our University Line tour. And it’s by far the easiest.
The scorecard for the East End:

US59/Alabama: Does not serve the East End. Can not be extended to serve the East End.
Wheeler/Ennis/Alabama: Does not serve the East End. Can not be extended to serve the East End.
Wheeler/Ennis/Elgin Serves the East [...]

Between Main Street and the University of Houston, the University Line will cross one of the most historic neighborhoods in Houston, the Third Ward. This has been a center of the African-American community — commerce, music, art, culture, religion, and everyday life — in Houston since before 1900. It has seen better days, but its [...]

We’ve already talked about the University of St. Thomas as part of our look at Neartown. But I figure that, like the University of Houston and Texas Southern University, it deserves its own look.
In the big picture, UST is in good shape. All three options for the west end of the University Line stop at [...]

I’ve already talked about two of the three universities along the University Line — the University of Houston and the University of St. Thomas. That leaves Texas Southern.
TSU was in the news last year because METRO was proposing an alternative that would have run through campus on Elgin. That’s now off the table. But TSU [...]

I just got out of work after a long day, and I’m waiting at the bus stop. My bus is late. It should be be by at 6:07 or so, but it’s 6:20 and I don’t see it yet. It turns out it will get here at 6:23, but I don’t know that yet, so [...]

I noted last time that a north-south line is the best way to serve the Uptown area, and that that line is in METRO’s plans for 2012. But there’s a catch. Operating the Uptown Line and the University Line as two separate lines leads to transfers — possibly a lot of transfers. Assuming all lines [...]

From the riders’ standpoint, the University Line has two destinations on the west end. One is on METRO’s University Line maps: Hillcroft Transit Center. The other isn’t, but it will likely draw more riders: Uptown.
Uptown is Houston’s second downtown. Most of us think of it as “The Galleria area,” but it’s a whole lot more [...]

The real news from the town hall meeting John Culberson held last month was the vocal show of public support for light rail on Richmond. Early last year, meetings on the University Line were dominated by vocal rail opponents. By the end of last year, the rail supporters and the rail opponents seemed to be [...]