My Questions:  (Have to work!)

1.  How will METRO get everything into Richmond east of Greenbrier.  The ROW is so narrow!

2.  How will HFD Station 16 have access?

Thanks,

My question is "METRO rushed to build the first tram line, and taxpayers were stuck with a shoddily built system, still leaking Stray Current, where taxpayers will never recover the millions of dollars spent trying to cure the initial problems; now, METRO again rushed to break ground on the Harrisburg line,  why should taxpayers not expect another rushed, shoddily built tram system?"

Parsons appears no better than Siemens.

Enjoy the Link:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/horsey/viewbydate.asp?id=350

During his interview on this year's first episode of Metro Matters, I understood Frank Wilson to describe the Quickline bus service planned for Bellaire Blvd. as a forerunner to light rail there.

Is this true? If so, I more than heartily applaud the idea.

The Houston bicycling community would like to find out more information on METROs intent concerning allowing more bike access to the soon-to-be-greatly-expanded light rail system. CEO Frank Wilson promised us some communications by the end of March 2008, but we haven't received any type of comprehensive communication of this nature.

Even so, we are encouraged by what we hear from METRO in bits and pieces:

a. bike access hours after 7 pm weekdays have been made available

b. METRO promises to put bike racks at light rail stops where space is available

These two responses, however, beg more questions:

1. We still very much need early morning access hours on the Red Line. How about approximately 4:30 am - 6:00 am? That allows the early birds to get to work by 6 am, then depart work and complete the ride home before the 3 pm "witching hour". How about nudging the 3 pm witching hour closer to 4 pm?

2. What is METRO's plan for working with the City and private property owners to provide bike racks near the stations where there is no room available at the station?

3. We don't believe that the other four rail lines will be as busy as the Red Line, which is the backbone of the rail system located in the densest part of the urban core of Houston. How about allowing bikes on those lines on something more resembling an around-the-clock basis, at least initially, and then pare the hours back if there are problems?

4. We believe that part of the problem with bike accomodation has to do with the current train cabin configuration. First of all, there are no hangers (hooks) for vertically hanging bikes. This has to be changed with the new cars. Other cities have this equipment. Yes, to put in hangers you remove seats... but, the space can still be used by strap-hanging passengers if no bike is being hung. Also, you walk on board the train, and *BAM* you run into a pole immediately! Then you have a weird split-level floor, which I've never seen before in any other city, which makes it impossible to move a bicycle, stoller, or wheelchair around. Why does the cabin have to be like this?

See this picture:  http://biketrain.blogspot.com/

Answers to these four questions would be appreciated.

Sorry Roykeaux but I hope your question(s) NEVER get answered because even I wouldn't answer such a question  Nice try, BTW.

Here's my question(s) about this subject---REAL ones.

1. How come METRO only gotten 18 of those METRORail trains and not more?  This question is because if we had gotten more than 18, chances are there would be more two-car trains running---even if METRO thinks at certain times, only a one-car train would do.

2. If we do get more trains for the other lines, are we getting the same type of train model that we have now?

3. Will stations on these other lines be just like the ones on the Red Line---meaning---you can only link two cars together because of block length?

Hopefully any of those questions will be answered as I have something to do from noon to 1pm at work.

Thanks!

Mr. CoLLins,

I suppose they will not want to admit the obvious.

Heck, it's only taxpayer money.

Who cares that it is being diverted away from serving the bus transit dependent so as to squander on a wasteful tram system just so the elite can claim we are now a World Class Utopian City, and the Urban Rail Robber Barons can play Monopoly with our sales tax money.

PW:

The first TA to get the S70 railcars is:  METRO!  Maybe the better question is what Portland OR, San Diego CA, and Charlette NC did with their S70's:  they got them after us.  Do THEY have bike racks?  (Hope so?)  

I agrree about the pole!

Mr. CoLLins,

You are aware that taxpayers paid for 18 vehicles.  It is my understanding that one tram has been damaged so baddly it was taken out of service, and may never be repaired.

Maybe Ms. Sit can get an update on the status of the 18th tram, without me having to make another blooming Texas Public Information Act Request to find out.

You can ask all the questions you like, but Metro will do what they want to so it's really a waste of everyones time.

No offense Roykeaux but I would rather see to it that the real METRO folks answer such questions that people like me have made here.

Since you seem to want to worry me about this "taxpayer" BS, are you telling me that these "taxpayers" also decided what kind of METRORail train we're going to get, how it needs to look on the inside, etc.?

Why should we worry about one train that you think is out of service and may never return?  We may be short one train (if that's even remotely true) but METRO still has enough to continue service.

It'll be a total waste of Mary's time to worry about one METRORail train.  If she wants to find that out herself and would want to share it with us, more power to you, Mary!

Why are you THAT concerned about it?  As you can see here (hint, hint), I'm most certainly am not.

don,

   It may be a waste of one's time but it still doesn't hurt to ask questions such as those similar to what I asked in hopes of getting it answered.  If it looks like METRO can do what they want, then they needs to tell us that when attempting to answer our questions.

Mr. Pennington seems to be a very talented man with numerous flattering credentials. I met him once about two years ago by mistake but he seemed to be a pretty nice guy. It does give me hope that the light rail system will turn out to be an overwhelming success.  Now, if we could only get someone with equal talents on the bus end of things, or better yet, allow the talented people you have to actually use their talents.  Seems like everyone is focused on the more interesting "Project Pennigton" instead of getting their hands dirty with the bus system.

Any chance that the Metro light rail together with the bus system will be included on Google Maps public transit feature?

The Google Maps public transit feature is very useful and encourages people to consider public transit instead of driving when planning their next trip on Google Maps.

Mary,

    That's good to hear but is there a specific date as to when this will be done?  I'm dying to see how this works out and IF it'll be better than the current METRO Trip Planner.