Speaking as a native Houstonian, who for an 8 month stretch rode METRO buses to high school in downtown Houston, there are a lot of negatives you can say about the transportation system. There is some good. It provides an affordable option for people not able to drive or afford vehicles. But from traffic to poor ridership, it is also no surprise that most people both in the city, and in the suburbs, commute in their own vehicles.
As time has gone on, ridership on METRO has only gotten worse. They have shelled out billions on METRORail, which has flopped for the most part. Now, their newest rapid transit line, the Silver Line route near the Galleria, is on the cutback list, as riders are 'lower than anticipated.'
Former Houston mayoral candidate Bill King says in fact, the ridership on the line is about five to ten percent of what the total projections were.
"What is frustrating too...the consultant that did that study, and ended up being off by a factor of ten times...they still work at METRO, they are still doing contract work for them" he says. "There are no consequences for failure."
The large Silver Line bus, which is 20 feet longer than normal METRO buses, has seen peak numbers on a work day of around 1,033 riders. That is not just due to being started durignt he pandemic, either. Four years into the line, it still has yet to top that number.
It is yet another failed attempt at mass transportation, and a prime example of why mass transportation never works in Houston.
"You have to have a very high population density...in New York, they have about 30,000 people per square mile. Houston is barely 3,000 people per square mile," he says. "You cannot draw a line that connects enough people together...when people are spread out like they are here."
The lack of mass transit has been a bug-a-boo for the city int he past, and a reason why things such as the Olympic Games tend to pass on Houston as a host site.
Over $3 billion was spend on METRORail, as mentioned previously, and it has not even moved the ridership needle for them. Thecity just continues spending on things like this, while crippling what actually works.
"We wrecked the bus service by taking money out of it, and spending it on a bunch of humanity projects...that just do not do any good," he says.
Eventually though, mass transit might be obsolete, even in places like the Big Apple.
"We will get better technology...autonomous driving...we need to provide traditional transit in Houston, which is buses...while we wait on this change to take place," says King.
While it might make sense to rip out some of the things, like the rail system, that also costs lots of money to do. Plus, while a majority of the lines are not popular, they to provide some use. Plenty of commuter's ride to areas near NRG and ride the rail into the Medical Center.
"We can probably provide a service cheaper than that rail line...but it is there, and we might as well use it," he says.
The proposed cuts to the METRO SIlver LIne route would be running in 20-minute intervals instead of 12-minutes. If approved by the METRO board in April, the changes would take effect in June.
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