Mary,

You mentioned that you saw the four "standing on the platform", and yet the picture is "in" a trolley and shot with a view of a tree rather than a station and which shows only the four and not any other riders.

Since you were returning from lunch, where were Mason and Wilson going at the time?

Can you find out and tell us exactly how many times those two ride the trolley each day (or the average trips per year) not counting promo rides or pony shows for Metro publicity?

Thanks in advance.

My reason is very simple. When I was in my 20's in the military, a photographer for the Phila Enquirer approached my best friend and I to take a picture for the paper. I was in my Navy blues and he was in his Air Force uniform. This honest photographer took us to a Catholic church and poised us praying and the caption read something like "Two of our finest pray for their comrades" (in Viet Nam).

We had no idea what he was planning and were both Methodist. He did it to twist a story to fit what he thought would sell. Personally, your picture looks to be the same concept.

Once the scan cards are working, we can then get a true view of what Metro employees ride the rail and as Tom said, ride the buses as well...and...normally for travel to work or business, as well as what times of day.

Thanks in advance!

mary said

"With all due respect, I do not have time to compute every time Mason and Wilson board a train. I can't possibly shadow them, nor do I expect they will be keeping track to report back to you."

I did not mean to track their every move Mary. I thought that you could ask them how they get to work each day...say the 4 of them. You could email each of them and it would be interesting to know if any of them use the bus or train every work day.

*** Is it that hard to believe one would stumble upon METRO employees riding the train?

With all due respect, I do not have time to compute every time Mason and Wilson board a train. I can't possibly shadow them, nor do I expect they will be keeping track to report back to you. ***

That's all well and good, but you obviously put this post up to give the impression that yes, Wilson and other bigwigs regularly do ride public transit.

I'm dubious of that, especially given Wilson's nice car allowance that was part of his compensation package:

http://www.bloghouston.net/item/3857

If you want people to believe that Wilson rides transit routinely, then the onus is indeed on you to prove the case, which is simply not very believable.

In a recent Houston Chronicle article (see link at the end of my comment), METRO CEO/president Frank Wilson expressed his concern that the transit authority needs to hire more Hispanics in order to correct the current situation where they comprise only 16% of METRO's work force. According to him, this percent is far too small compared with the 30% Hispanics of the area population. For a long period, METRO has had difficulties with closing the gap.

So, Mr. Wilson took action: "We had 250 spots open for operators (drivers)… I told HR and operations that they could not hire anybody but women and Hispanics until we righted the imbalance, or at least we had to make a good-faith effort to do so."

While I recognize Mr. Wilson's concern about racial diversity at the transit authority, I strongly believe that hiring should be based solely on skills and qualifications. Other factors such as ability to speak more than one language and other work related skills can only be used as tiebreaker. Denying a job at METRO simply because a well-qualified person is not a woman or Hispanics is immoral. More importantly, it is unconstitutional and illegal. As citizen, taxpayer, and passenger, I want METRO to hire people with proper skills and experience, not just because of their racial/gender characteristics. Mr. Wilson's guidelines should be revised.

While on this subject, it would be interesting to know the racial mix of METRO's top officers, department heads, and the board of directors. I wonder if METRO HR uses the above guidelines when hiring people for these categories.

Ms. Sit,

Is it possible to obtain racial/gender statistics on METRO's top management? Also, it would be nice if Mr. Wilson could find time and post his comments on this subject.

Thank you.

Here is the link to the article:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/4969930.html

With over $1,000 per month in a car allowance, I don't imagine Mr. Wilson is considered transit dependent.

From Houston Chronicle last August:

The Metropolitan Transit Authority revealed Thursday that the raise it voted for July 20 for President and CEO Frank Wilson brings his annual salary to $279,400, a 10 percent increase.

The raise is retroactive to May 1, the date of his employment in 2004. Wilson was hired at $254,000 a year with a five-year contract that allowed for increases. He did not receive a raise after his first year on the job.

The present contract runs through April 30, 2010, and includes pension and benefits, $1,030 monthly car allowance, five weeks' vacation, two weeks' sick leave and membership in the Houston Club.

"Mary,

     I can safely tell you that even if you had provided proof that METRO officials ride the train, that's not going to quiet anybody here.  They'll whine that those folks will need to do that more and more often.  Trust me on this one!"

Mary,

   Remember when I said that?  If you were to bet, I would of won!  YAY!  I would need to meet with you to receive my reward.

"The Metropolitan Transit Authority revealed Thursday that the raise it voted for July 20 for President and CEO Frank Wilson brings his annual salary to $279,400, a 10 percent increase."

WOW!  That much?  Since y'all think Mr. Wison may not need that much money (I think), give it to me; I can greatly benefit from that.

"In a recent Houston Chronicle article (see link at the end of my comment), METRO CEO/president Frank Wilson expressed his concern that the transit authority needs to hire more Hispanics in order to correct the current situation where they comprise only 16% of METRO's work force. According to him, this percent is far too small compared with the 30% Hispanics of the area population. For a long period, METRO has had difficulties with closing the gap.

So, Mr. Wilson took action: "We had 250 spots open for operators (drivers)… I told HR and operations that they could not hire anybody but women and Hispanics until we righted the imbalance, or at least we had to make a good-faith effort to do so."

No offense but I thought METRO---like anybody else---was an equal opportunity employer---where anybody can join the "team."  Am I missing something here?  Does that mean I can't work for METRO?  I have at least two years working experience---if that's one of their requirements for getting a job at METRO.

As a matter of fact (since I like them so much), maybe I DO want to work for them.

"With all due respect, I do not have time to compute every time Mason and Wilson board a train. I can't possibly shadow them, nor do I expect they will be keeping track to report back to you."

Well put, Mary!  You have other things to do than to try to trail Wilson and the rest of the METRO bigwigs to see how much they ride the rails---AND the buses---if that ever happens for them.  That's something private eyes do.

I don't understand what all the drama is about.

OK, there's 5 Metro execs on the train(Ms. Sit included). Wouldn't the logical conclusion be that they're either riding to or from their offices at 1900 Main? If they're going into downtown, then why drive when you can go two stops on the rail and take the tunnel system where you want to go.

I don't care about their car allowance because it's not affecting how much I pay to ride the bus. Now if they raised the price to $1.50 for local, one-way trips to pay for it, then I'll complain.

But thank you, Ms. Sit, for showing us that Metro employees use public transportation occasionally too.

Now if only we can get one or two of them on the 82 Westheimer during a high-capacity trip...

They ought to try and get on the 217 outbound around 5:04 at the NWTC and see if they can get a seat.

Hey Mary,

There are many people in this world with many different thought process. Even though I agree there are still many improvement needed for the Metro service, I just want to say that Metro is doing a great job to help us commuting for work. I take 217 to go to work downtown, and yes, it does need more buses during rush hours so that people don't need to stand in the bus, but I have to say that 217 does save my commute time a bit (about 20 minutes a day) and also the gas money. For people like me who live about 30 miles away from work, I would feel thankful for 217 to get rid of my traffic headache, and I hope you guys can keep the good work going for improvement

Evidently noone here has ridden the rail at lunch time where one can see many Metro employees from 1900 main riding the rail to their lunch destination. I have even seen Mr wilson ride once with a small pack around him. I have even seen Mr Wulfe once on my way to school. When metro had the trolleys people would ride towards Viet town or the park shops for lunch. One doesnot think that metro employess would change their lunch habits when the rail came online.

Re: Don G You may never have ridden a trolley as the picture shown above does not even resemble the insides of any trolley that Metro has ever had. The trolleys were tan inside and were either green, red, blue or yellow outside. The doors also matched the outside color. there was never a metallic color trolley. It seems that the only trolleys active have been retired in the Medical center. A driver told me that metro sold most of their inventory and kept two blue trolleys for the medical center. The upkeep of the two trolleys were too great so Metro decided to retire the only two trolleys left and they are placed with many other retired buses at the polk garage. I remember one was not to sit behind the driver as this seat would cause the person to slide into the next person or the railing whenever the driver took off too fast as the seats were always polished wood.

coug6666 said:  

"Evidently noone here has ridden the rail at lunch time where one can see many Metro employees from 1900 main riding the rail to their lunch destination. I have even seen Mr wilson ride once with a small pack around him. I have even seen Mr Wulfe once on my way to school. When metro had the trolleys people would ride towards Viet town or the park shops for lunch. One doesnot think that metro employess would change their lunch habits when the rail came online."

No coug, I did not mean to say that Metro employees do not reide the rail line at all. What we would like to see is exacytly how amny ride it for trips to work and especially those who transfer to a bus.

Especially, it would be very easy for mary to simply ask Wilson how he commutes to work since he is her boss. In addition, let's see how many other upper level bosses ride transit "regularly".

The bus trolleys were used well because they were free.

coug6666 said:

"Re: Don G You may never have ridden a trolley as the picture shown above does not even resemble the insides of any trolley that Metro has ever had. The trolleys were tan inside and were either green, red, blue or yellow outside. The doors also matched the outside color. there was never a metallic color trolley. It seems that the only trolleys active have been retired in the Medical center. A driver told me that metro sold most of their inventory and kept two blue trolleys for the medical center. The upkeep of the two trolleys were too great so Metro decided to retire the only two trolleys left and they are placed with many other retired buses at the polk garage. I remember one was not to sit behind the driver as this seat would cause the person to slide into the next person or the railing whenever the driver took off too fast as the seats were always polished wood."

I remember the bus trolleys very well coug. No one will know if it was the upkeep or the fact they were free that removed the trolleys. People liked them. Interesting also is that the bus trolleys disappeared when the rail line arrived?

I also was not misreading the photo Mary took. Metro calls it light rail but in fact it really is only steel wheeled, fixed guideway, trolley car service just like we had so many years ago. Fancy look and large in comparison but still basically a trolley car.

On the net the following definitions;

Definitions of trolley car on the Web:

streetcar: a wheeled vehicle that runs on rails and is propelled by electricity; "`tram' and `tramcar' are British terms"

wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

A trolley or trolley car is an electric streetcar that draws power from a live suspended wire. Outside of the United States of America and Canada, a trolley is usually known as an electric tram.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolley_car

"light rail" is simply a new brand to sell an old technology. ASk Metro what the average speed is for these trolleys from Fannin South to UH Downtown. It is approximately 14.06 MPH (based on Metro's schedule).

I grew up with trolleys in Philly.

More on the trolley in the latest blog post.

Ms. Sitt,

I find it interesting "METRORail accounted for only about 12% of METRO’s total fixed-route ridership in June 2007," yet the only revenue measure, Ticket Vending Machine revenue, only accounted for 2.9% of fixed route revenue!

METRO continues to chase away the multitude of poor, minority, elderly, and handicapped bus transit dependent riders throughout the service area at a time when both the Houston population is growing and gasoline prices continue to hover under $3.00/gallon.

Bus Boardings for June 2007 declined -7.51% from June 2006, which is the nineth consecutive month bus boardings have declined!  FY2007 is -6.53% below the same nine months of FY2006.

Fare Box Revenue for June 2007 also declined, which is the sixth monthly decline out of the nine months of FY2007.  FY2007 fare box revenue is -3.93% below the same period of FY2006.

Insofar as the tram, the June 2007 TVM revenue is -6.62% below June 2006, yet forced tram boardings continue to increase!

If bus boardings have declined each month for the last nine months at the same time the tram boardings continue to increase, while both the bus fare box and TVM revenues continue to decline one would expect even the pro-urban rail lemmings should conceed these statistics indicate METRO is forcing more bus riders onto the tram more often just to artificially boost the "body count."

The June 2007 TVM revenue is actually -5.62% less than the June 2004 TVM revenue even though the June 2007 "Forced" tram boardings are 43.7% above the June 2004 estimated boardings.

Royko,

     While I may not worry to address the other comments you have made, I would like to respond to this, "Nearly four years later, METRO has slashed critical bus service throughout the service area."

Want to know why METRO is getting rid of bus service in areas where people would have wanted it to stay?  Here's my answer---and probably METRO's answer, too.  NOT MANY PEOPLE ARE RIDING THE BUS!

Why should METRO waste time putting bus service in certains areas and then your fellow citizens will NOT utilize what METRO puts there?  That's a waste of time---AND money.  I know you don't want money to be spent on routes that'll soon go...(I'll mention the word later in this post), right?  Just read on; you'll see it.

"My name was removed from the speakers list by METRO without my knowledge, and they refused to let me speak to the BOD yesterday when I objected to METRO supressing my right to address the BOD."

What you're doing now on here can be why they don't want to hear you out.  All you do is bash them every hour on the hour.  Plus, you told me that you don't ride METRO.

If people were (how you say) "transit dependent," then how come not everybody is riding the buses?  That's why METRO gets rid of routes and/or gets rid of them from certain areas---LOW RIDERSHIP!!

I personally don't think we need to have any routes with low ridership.  Case in point, the 55 - Greenspoint-Kingwood bus which would of provided bus service from the Greenspoint area to the Kingwood P&R.  Was many people riding that route?  NO!  That's why the route was (how I say) a BUST and eventually, METRO got rid of it.

If you don't want routes to go, then you need to tell your fellow citizens who want to take METRO to RIDE the buses.  If not, then whatever routes are popping up will end up like the 55.

Ms. Sit,

Thank you for your response to my inquiry posted July 21 regarding racial/gender statistics on METRO's top management. Oh wait - there was no response!!

And thanks to METRO CEO/president Frank Wilson for elaborating on his guidelines that prevent hiring anyone who is not woman or Hispanics to fill 250 open driver positions. Oops, I forgot - he did not elaborate either!!

250 vacancies - no wonder METRO patrons complain about overcrowded buses/tram. But we all should be thankful that Frank Wilson has not extended his racial/gender guidelines on passengers! “Sorry, sir, you cannot board this bus – we already reached quota for male passengers.”

What a shame!

Ms. Sit, thank you for the update. I hope METRO’s HR will soon provide the data you have requested on my behalf.

I’m glad to learn from Ms. Cavazos’s response that METRO remains an equal opportunity employer. I hope that Mr. Wilson withdrew his instruction to HR that was in violation with METRO’s non-discrimination policy.

As for affirmative action METRO takes in hiring new and promoting existing employees – I wish it would be long gone. But I understand that METRO is not going to be first one to drop it. Regardless of the economic, political, and demographic situation in this great country there will always be people believing that they are somehow entitled to a preferential treatment and that society owes them. And politicians will always be there to support such beliefs. (Sorry for straying off the subject.)

Ms. Sit, thank you for your help in obtaining information I requested.

Unfortunately, the information provided by Helen Cavazos has little value:

1. No data was given on racial/ethnic breakdown for the top management.

2. The total combined minority percent adds together two groups (women and “people of color”) from two different categories (gender and race), so it is impossible to calculate percent of women or percent of “people of color” separately. It also results in double counting – for example, an African-American woman would be included in both groups.

Well, as long as METRO hires “the best people possible, regardless of their gender or race” I am fine with that.

I hope that Frank Wilson has made it perfectly clear to METRO’s HR that his previous instructions “not hire anybody but women and Hispanics” is no longer valid.

Mr. Royko/Tom Bazan, I noticed in your July 27 comment that you claim that you were removed from the list of individuals that signed up to provide public comments to the Metro Board.  While I cannot condone's Metro's action, if what you say is true, your failure to appear during the public comment period during the June Metro Board meeting may have lead to some question as to your intent to actually appear at the July meeting.  The June Board meeting that was broadcast on the Houson Municipal channel clearly indicated the Metro Chairman calling your name twice, but you did not respond.  I never saw you appear  in the remainder of the broadcast.  Did you ever show up for that meeting?  If so, did the Metro Board accommodate your eventual late appearance by receiving your commets? Based upon viewings of past municipal channel broadcasts of your comments, however, the Board could generally watch an endless video loop of your previous comments and be no less "enlightened".  By the way, do you ever appear before the Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) meetings to provide public comments?  Perhaps you have never noticed that TXDOT is run by an unelected board and their ability to do almost whatever they wish to do is virtually unchecked, as one of the gubernatorial candidates mentioned in the last election.  Since you are a self-proclaimed advocate against waste of public funds and government control without accountability, TXDOT should provide rich pickings for you.  How close to Three Billion dollars is the Katy "Freeway" project now?  What was TXDOT's original extimate, around 800 million or so?  How many homes have already been bulldozed for that stretch of concrete?  Do you ever speak out against that, or do you only criticize public transit?

Chris,

     Calm down, son.  Your comments are about to give me a heart attack here.  Just kidding.  Nice explanation you said here.

"Do you ever speak out against that, or do you only criticize public transit?"

Let me answer that for you myself.  He only critizes public transit.  Whenever I want to try to get it out of him in terms of complaining about other people---even other public transit companies around the country, I have failed in that quest.  Maybe you can do better.  I wish you the best of luck; you'll need it.

~Cedric Collins~