Attention students: The Department of Transportation is looking for a creative social media icon that clearly conveys an anti-distracted driving message.
Traffic accidents are the leading cause of death for American teens. And young people are among the most likely to engage in distracted driving - texting and talking on the phone. So the DOT is inviting high school students to help spread the message on distracted driving through this contest.
Teens between the ages of 13 and 18 are invited to create an icon that can be shared on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and other social networking sites.
"We're looking for icons that send a clear message: Cell phones and driving don't mix," says the DOT on its website.
The winning entry will be featured on the DOT's website, distraction.gov , and its social networking pages as part of DOT's official distracted driving campaign. So put pencil to paper, let your imagination soar and send your most compelling and eye-catching design. Deadline for submissions: July 31, 2012.
Learn more here.
Looking for a job, or know someone who is?
METRO is hiring part-time bus operators and diesel mechanics. Bus operators earn $15 an hour, working up to 33 hours a week. Diesel mechanics (Bus Repair A) earn $21.95 an hour for those who have at least three-and-a-half years work experience.
We will conduct a job fair this Saturday, May 19, from 8 a.m. to noon at our Kashmere Facility, 5700 Eastex Freeway.
Come out and meet our staffing reps and find out if a career at METRO is right for you.
Click here for other job opportunities at METRO.
Give up your favorite TV show tonight and instead, come hear one of the nation's experts on transit.
Jarrett Walker, an independent consultant who has been designing public transit systems for more than two decades, will speak tonight at the Distinguished Speaker Event at Houston's Transit Future Symposium .
Walker's speech is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at the Asia Society Texas Center at 1370 Southmore. The event is hosted by Houston Tomorrow, a nonprofit group exploring urban issues, and METRO.
Jarrett is the author of "Human Transit: How Clearer Thinking about Public Transit Can Enrich Our Communities and Our Lives" (Island Press).
In his book, Walker writes that public transit is a powerful tool to address urban issues, including traffic congestion, economic development and climate change. He says that understanding the fundamental geometry of transit helps us shape successful systems. He also explains how to fit technology to a particular community.
Come listen to a refreshing and balanced approach to public transit. You can read more from Walker on his blog, HumanTransit.org.
Register for tonight's event online here. It's free and open to the public.
The Transit Boyz just released its new CD - "The Return Trip."
This home-grown rap group ( kids of METRO employees) is the hottest new hip-hop act since the Beastie Boys. The Boyz are Ch-Chilly Chad, Jack Jack and Cool Hand Liam. This video attempts to reach out to the next generation of transit riders and promote public transportation.
Check it out and tell us what you think.
Tomorrow, drop by Washington Avenue and you'll find a "complete street" - one that has been temporarily transformed by installations of pedestrian and bicycle amenities.
Better Block Houston will be held on the 2000-2100 blocks of Washington Avenue. It is a free, day-long event from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m., just after the Art Car Parade on Allen Parkway. Better Block will offer food trucks, "pop-up" shops, a crawfish boil at Liberty Station, art, a bike repair station, music, sidewalk cafes, a dog park, games and a shuttle service to and from the Art Car Parade.
Better Block hopes this one-day demonstration can show citizens how complete streets - streets accessible and safe for all users - can enhance our neighborhoods.
METRO's Board of Directors invites you to attend a special board meeting to discuss METRO's General Mobility Program and the upcoming referendum.
The meeting will be tomorrow at 9 a.m. in the board room at 1900 Main.
If you want to speak, you can register the day of the meeting at sign-in tables, located on the first floor. You'll be limited to three minutes.
This is your future, and we want to hear from you.
Come network with like-minded citizens who have a vision for the future of our city.
You can meet new people and hear some forward-thinking speakers at My Houston 2040, a monthly meeting of the minds, co-hosted by Houston Tomorrow, Air Alliance Houston, Social Agency Lab and Citizens' Transportation Coalition.
It's Thursday, May 10 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Rudyard's Upstairs , 2010 Waugh Drive in Montrose.
EB Brooks of Better Block Houston will share how the Better Block events can help Houston create complete streets. Complete streets are designed and operated to give safe access to all users - pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit riders of all ages and abilities. Buses are able to run on time, and people are safe walking to and from train stations.
Brooks recently moved here from Austin and has a background in sustainable community development and activism.
Houston City Council Member Ellen Cohen will give her vision of Houston 2040. A resident for 35 years, Cohen served for a decade as executive director of the American Jewish Committee and for 18 years as the CEO of the Houston Area Women's Center.
The event is free and open to the public. Food and drinks are available at Rudyard's.
Come attend a crucial dialogue about Houston's transit future.
A one-day symposium and workshop will be conducted on Monday, May 14, from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Asia Society Texas Center at 1370 Southmore. The event is hosted by Houston Tomorrow, a nonprofit group exploring urban issues, and METRO.
There will be three events:
1. Houston's Transit Future, 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Speakers include METRO Board Member Christof Spieler; METRO CEO George Greanias; Janis Scott, transit rider; Billy Cooke, chair of the Greater Houston Partnership Transit Planning Committee; and David Crossley, president of Houston Tomorrow.
This event is open to the public. It costs $55 and includes morning snacks and lunch. Register online here.
2. Technical workshop for planners, engineers and METRO board members, 2 p.m. - 4 p.m.
Jarrett Walker will work with specific groups on transit issues. He is an international consultant and author of "Human Transit: How Clearer Thinking about Public Transit Can Enrich Our Communities and Our Lives."
Register online here.
3. Distinguished Speaker Event, 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. (Networking reception for first 30 minutes). Walker will share ideas from his book.
This event is free and open to the public. Register online here.
May is National Bike Month, and it's a great time to celebrate all the reasons to ride a bike.
The League of American Bicyclists, which sponsors this event, says whether we bike to work or school, biking can save money or time; preserve our health and environment; and help us explore our community.
At METRO, we make it easy for you to bike and board a bus or train. In fact, the number of bike boardings has been increasing. In April, we recorded 12,985 bike boardings - up 32 percent from a year ago same month.
The top routes for bike boardings in April were Route 50 - Heights/Harrisburg with 734 boardings; and Route 56 - Airline Limited with 552 boardings.
It's easy to secure your bike on our rack, attached to the front bumper of the bus. Click here for instructions.
If you ride the rail, you can bring your bike on board during non-peak hours.
For those who work downtown, rent a bike from the city's program, Houston B-Cycle, for $5 a day and meet your friends for lunch via two wheels.
More than one half of 1 percent of Americans use a bike as their primary mode of transportation to work, according to the U.S. Census's American Community Survey. It's still a small number - but it represents a 40 percent growth since 2000, according to the League.
If you're planning to ride the rail this weekend, be aware of a service interruption.
From Saturday, May 5, at 3 a.m. until Sunday, May 6, at midnight, there will be no rail service between Hermann Park/Rice University Station and UH Downtown.
That's when our crews will be doing rail maintenance on the switch and track.
We'll operate buses along the 700 Rail Shuttle route from Hermann Park/Rice University to Preston Station. Click here to for a schedule of bus service, which will run in six or 10-minute frequencies.
Rail service between Fannin South and Hermann Park/Rice University stations will remain unaffected.
We'll have METRO personnel along the rail to help you.
It will take longer to get to your destination via bus, so please plan accordingly. And thanks for your patience.
Bring a group of talented high school teens who are enrolled in a digital media course into METRO, escort them on a tour of bus routes and rail - and then see what they think of METRO.
That's exactly what METRO did recently with teens from the Hightower High School Digital Media Academy in the Fort Bend Independent School District.
"We didn't want to feed them a lot of information, but we thought it was great for them to do a video as part of their senior project - a teen's perspective of METRO," said Tanya McWashington, senior director of Public Engagement.
McWashington and Monique Ward, interagency advocacy officer of Public Engagement, escorted the kids from the Missouri City Park & Ride to the 163 Fondren Express, transferred at the Hillcroft Transit Center to the 132 to the Wheeler Transit Center and then to METRORail at the Preston Station. Enroute home, the group stopped at the TMC Transit Center.
After the all-day tour, here's what the kids - some of whom had never ridden a bus or train - produced about METRO.
"I was very impressed that they got it," said McWashington. "They honed in on the true benefit of transit. At the end of the day, all of the planning efforts we're involved with on a regular basis, we're planning for them. They're the end users."
If you work around the Texas Medical Center, here's a bargain for you: Parking rates have gone on sale.
For a limited time, METRO is offering two months of parking for the price of one at our convenient Fannin South Park & Ride. You can buy two months of parking for $40.
This applies to new customers only. You must buy a two-month permit to qualify for this rate and you must not have had a permit for the past three months. This promotion is valid once during a 12-month period.
Parking at the Fannin South Park & Ride gives you seamless access to the METRORail Fannin South platform, and if you board from that station, you'll be sure to find a seat.
The Fannin South Park & Ride is located at 1604 W. Bellfort. It's open Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. It's closed on Sunday. Read more here.
Starting on Wednesday, if you live or work downtown, you'll be able to hop on a bike when you need it and return it when you're done.
The city of Houston is launching a bike sharing program called B Cycle. It joins San Antonio, making it the second B Cycle program in Texas and one of 15 nationwide.
B Cycle will start with 18 bikes parked at three kiosks downtown. By year end, Houston B Cycle expects to have 200 bikes at 20 kiosks, reports the Houston Chronicle. Eventually, the program will include the Texas Medical Center, Montrose, Washington Avenue, the Heights and the Museum District.
Users simply swipe a credit card to pay $5 to ride the bike. Click here to read more on how it works, or watch a demo here.
The program is being paid for by federal stimulus funds.
If you decide to rent a bike and go outside of downtown, you can bring your bike on one of our buses. Simply mount it on the rack at the front of any local bus. Your $5 pass for the bike lets you keep the bike for 24 hours. You can also bring your bike on the train during non-peak hours.
METRO has scheduled a public meeting on Monday, April 30, on proposed service changes slated for June 10.
The public meeting will be in the board room at 1900 Main St. at noon.
Click here to read details of the proposed changes.
Here's your chance to express your views. If you prefer, you may call 713-658-0180 to comment. Or you can submit a comment online.
A game changer is happening, according to a wide-ranging survey that examines respondents' attitudes about everything from transit to ethnic relations.
The Kinder Houston Area Survey, started in 1982 by Dr. Stephen Klineberg, a sociology professor at Rice University, found strong support for mass transit and a growing number of residents who prefer living within walking distance of work and shopping, reports the Houston Chronicle. Read the article here.
This is the first year the survey included residents beyond Houston and Harris County, expanding to the 10-county metropolitan region.
Here are some of the stats on transit:
- 51 percent of Harris County residents support spending more taxpayer money to improve rail and buses. 44 percent prefer expanding highways.
- 50 percent from surrounding counties prefer expanding highways; 47 percent want to improve transit.
- 51 percent of Harris County residents prefer living in a smaller house within walking distance of shops and offices, up from 39 percent in 2010.
Read highlights from this year's survey - including economic outlooks, feelings about America's future and Houston's diversity.
METRORail wants to not only help you get from Point A to Point B, it also wants to connect people and communities.
One way to do this is to explore the businesses along the rail. Check out our business directory where you can search by line (North Line, East End Line, SE-Downtown Line and Southeast Line) or by type of business: automotive, community & social organizations, financial services, fitness & beauty, groceries & markets, healthcare & dental, laundry services, manufacturing & commercial and professional services.
Enjoy browsing our guide to find local attractions. While construction is continuing, support these local shops and services, and let's rally around the rails.
This Sunday is Earth Day.
The first official Earth Day occurred on April 22, 1970. Those were the days of leaded gasoline in our V-8 sedans, smokestacks belching smoke and sludge and the environment simply not being on the radar screen of many Americans.
Fast forward to 2012. Many of us try to remember to use recycled bags for our groceries, we've switched from incandescent to fluorescent bulbs and we're recycling our trash.
Here at METRO, we're reducing our water consumption. We have limited irrigation at our transit centers and Park & Ride lots, and we landscape our properties with low-maintenance, native plants that can thrive with minimal water.
We're also using less electricity. In FY11, we decreased electrical consumption by installing more energy-efficient lighting systems at all METRO facilities, including administrative and operating buildings, transit centers, Park & Rides, platforms and shelters. We are replacing high-pressure sodium exterior lighting with metal halide lighting, which emits a brighter, whiter light. It's also cheaper to buy and operate.
We're using less paper. Our paper recycling program results in an average of seven tons of paper being recycled every month. That's 84 tons of paper not going to a landfill.
So how can you be green at your home and office? Pledge one act and join A Billion Acts of Green. Some Earth Day favorite pledges include: bike to work, circulate an anti-coal petition, get a home energy audit, plant a garden, eliminate use of pesticides.
The city of Houston also has ideas for at home, at work, in your yard, on the go and shopping. Some simple actions that are free: unplug electronics when not in use; turn off lights when you leave a room; use task lighting instead of lighting the entire room; lower the temperature on your water heater to 120 degrees; take shorter showers; use ceiling fans to help cool your home.
Check out the city's citizens guide links, and do your part to help care for our Earth.
Like Monty Hall on Let's Make a Deal, who points to Doors No. 1, 2 and 3 for participants to select, New York commuters can now choose to exit through one of three doors on certain long buses with an accordion-like middle.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has added a third door just before the midsection of these articulated buses that were recently introduced on some crosstown routes. Announcements on the new buses ask riders to "Please exit through the rear door" before and after each stop, reports the New York Times.
But transit officials say getting riders to adapt to this change is hard. For many riders, it's a cultural thing to enter and exit through the front door. The NYT even asked a psychologist to board a three-door bus and observe what passengers do.
Dr. Elyse Goldstein concluded the middle door was the least popular door. "Most people prefer the privacy of the back or the access of the front," she said.
The back doors often got stuck, and commuters had to shout, "Back door!" to get the driver's attention to release the door. Read more here.
METRO is in the market for new employees.
We are now hiring part-time bus operators and diesel mechanics. Part-time bus operators will start earning $15 an hour for up to 33 hours a week. Diesel mechanics (Bus Repair A qualification) will immediately earn $21.95 an hour for those with at least three-and-one-half years of work experience.
The perks are great once you're working here. You and your spouse can ride METRO for free. We'll pay for your training and renew your commercial driver's license.
You must have a valid driver's license. A high school diploma or GED is preferred but not required. If you're bilingual, that's a plus.
Come by and talk to us at a METRO job fair on Saturday, April 21, and Saturday, May 19 from 8 a.m. to noon at the Kashmere Facility, 5700 Eastex Freeway. Interested in the part-time bus operator position? Apply online here.
Diesel mechanics, apply online here. Or call us at 713-739-4953 for more information.
Join our team and find out why so many of our bus operators work with us for decades.
CORRECTION: Bag checks did not occur. Please see note in comments section below. 4/24/12
In an unprecedented approach that involved four law enforcement agencies - including federal agents - METRO launched a national BusSafe pilot program last Friday that saturated its system and resulted in quality arrests, making transit safer for passengers.
The METRO Police Department, Houston Police Department, Harris County Precinct 7 Deputy Constables and 15 agents - part of so-called viper teams - from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) joined forces in a synchronized, counter-terrorism exercise that focused on bus stops and shelters and transit centers.
Law officials performed random bag checks, conducted sweeps with our K-9 drug and bomb-detecting dogs, and assigned both uniformed and plainclothes officers at transit centers and rail platforms to detect and prevent criminal activity. At a news conference last Friday, METRO Police Chief Victor Rodriguez called METRO's transit system one of the safest in the world. "We at METRO take our responsibility seriously. We have a safe and secure system," said Rodriguez. "This initiative is going to help us maintain and enhance the safety of our system. It takes this collaborative effort to synergize those expertise and skills for the benefit of all of Houston."
Doyle Raines, general manager at the Transportation Security Administration, said Rodriguez invited the TSA to bring its viper teams to join in this grassroots pilot program that grew from a peer advisory group of mass transit police chiefs and security directors that included METRO's Rodriguez.
Rodriguez pointed out three elements a safe transit system depends on: crime analysis, input from bus operators and citizens who ride the system. 
Friday's BusSafe operation brought to the table agencies with specific skills - and the combination of those skills led to a productive exercise with quality arrests, said Rodriguez. The large-scale operation with multiple agencies in which no one was hurt demonstrated a rare level of cooperation and collaborative spirit by all the agencies involved.
Friday's operation occurred from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. Eight felony arrests were made in one shift, compared to five last month.
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas District 18), a senior member of the House Homeland Security Committee, called this a new era for the TSA, and a new era for surface transportation security.
"We're looking to make sure that the lady I saw walking with a cane...knows that METRO cares as much about her as we do about building the light rail," said Jackson Lee at the news conference.