Again,

If Karl Marx were a Houstonian today, he might have restated his famous quote "the road to Hell is paved with good intentions."

Instead, he might have said:

"The road to Hell was congested so METREAUX's PPP issued billions in taxpayer bonds to build Light Rail in that direction!"

Mary said:

"Establishing light rail in Houston has been a long and rocky road.....for Metro and those special interests pushing it along with their 'Smart Growth'"

Here are reminders of what went on:

"The NAACP's Houston branch issued a statement endorsing Metro's plan."

"Metro and two political action committees have spent about $4 million trying to influence voters in Tuesday's election."

What is a governmental agency doing spending our money to sell things?

"Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said his office is reviewing a complaint that Metro staff put false information into documents presented to the transit authority's board of directors. Entering false information in official documents is a criminal offense, Rosenthal said. He said he will not discuss the investigation until after Election Day.

Texans for True Mobility said Metro "deliberately and knowingly violated" state law prohibiting the use of public funds for political advertising by sending mail-outs to voters that would make them believe more areas will get train service. The 20-page brochure on the "Metro Solutions" plan includes maps showing "future rail extensions" not part of Tuesday's ballot, while the list of rail lines voters are asked to approve is omitted from a page showing the ballot language.

"These ads go far beyond `factually describing' the proposal, but instead misrepresent the facts about light rail in an effort to advocate for why light rail should pass," Texans for True Mobility said."

What ever happened to that inbestigation BTW?

Then the pro Metro Comical Board endorsed it (of course) with some gleaming reports:

"Since highway construction can never keep pace with growing congestion, Houstonians need an alternative to being stalled in traffic."

What is being built has absolutely nothing to do with 'highway construction'!

"The light exercise required to walk from transit stops to final destinations is a bonus for a population trending toward obesity."

A bonus??? For those who can't walk long distances since the stops are farther apart?  How many Board members or Metro executives ride it folks?

Here's a real deadly lie by the Comical:

"Rising costs aside, the Katy Freeway expansion will take a decade or longer to complete. Some engineers now calculate that prolonged highway construction delays can be greater than the time saved after construction is complete. In other words, freeway expansion can result in a net loss of convenience for commuters."

Metro made claims of development along their Main St line and nothing has changed other than construction that would have happened anyway.

I-10 took less than 6 years, NOT a decade or longer, and it has already created far4 more development along it that our trolley line and without Metro getting into the real estate business and having control over areas around the stations to try and entice development.

After the election:

"The best way to deal with mobility and congestion problems include every conceivable transportation alternative including light rail," he said.

"Not everyone shared Wulfe's enthusiasm, however. Valerie Villegas of Katy, a University of Houston student, didn't buy Metro's claims that $5.8 billion of rail will improve regional mobility.

"They want to spend a lot of money but I don't think a lot of things are going to change," she said while on a Metro bus to campus. "They are just going to create more traffic problems."

The Main Street line made Main St desolete.  Wait until they build the Post Oak line across Westheimer and San Felipe and see exactly how mush worse traffic will be.

"Voters on Nov. 4 approved by 51.7 percent the $7.5 billion Metro Solutions plan, which included $640 million in bonds for the first 22 miles of light rail."

Then 48.3% voted against it.  Not what one would call a mandate, unless your Metro or Lee Brown?

"A post-election analysis of the votes revealed that over all, black and Hispanic voters supported the plan while whites rejected it.

In Acres Homes, a predominantly black neighborhood, 75 percent of voters supported the proposal, which included $640 million in bonds to expedite construction."

I believe the black vote was even higher and disproportionately slanted for the rail.

Election results:

Metro Transit Plan referendum  

 For     189425 52%

 Against 176742 48%

A difference of 12,683 is not a mandate.  A population of 2,000,000 and less than 10& for it?

Mary,

Thank you for putting this informative and interesting production together for us. I am particularly proud of the folks at METRO for continuing to breathe life into our public transportation system.

Love the flower, too!

Mary, do you think that Metro could spare a few dolars out of the billions that they have to put some signs on the busses? I would guess that that about one out of 6 busses have no signs as to their destination - just a tiny cardbord sign that is impossible to read until it is a few feet away. Wouild you please check on this?

They cant do that. It would improve the bus service and people would start riding again.

Mary, yesterday while waiting for the 53 - Westheimer Ltd. at about 10:00am, an 82 - Westheimer arrived packed to the gills.  This is during the time of the day when for some reason or another, the 82 runs every 45 minutes.  Meanwhile you have the new Renwick service (which people are riding BTW) running every 22 minutes.  Isn't that a bit strange?

Also, thanks for looking into that situation regarding the turnback for the 53/81/82.  Here's my question; I guess the response from operations is that it's too dangerous to pick up passengers there because of the need to get over four lanes, so erm, why is the layover there?  They still have to cross four lanes.  Why was the original layover changed in the first place?

Meanwhile you have the new Renwick service (which people are riding BTW) running every 22 minutes.

From the schedule it seems that there are only 3 buses that run that short renwick route. There are a lot more on the 81 and 82 at that time. As for the layover question I asked some bus operators that I know and they all stated that for safety reasons they will not allow passengers at the layover point. You may state that you are not a threat and that maybe true but they do not know that. If they let one passenger because they are comfortable with them they must let everyone on. And don't say that this issue is frivolous as many operators have been beaten and or robbed at their layover stops doing exactly what you propose.

I found out that the Discovery park caused the layover point to move. I do not know how this  park addition affected the routes as I never ride them. I assumed that they must have ran down streets that were affected by the parks creation. I dont know but this is what I was told.

Point 1 - The safety issue operations brought up is in response to the buses having to cross over four lanes of traffic to make the turn on Avenidas de las Americas from Capitol. The problem I have with that explanation is that it does not provide a reason why passengers can't be picked up there as it is a listed timepoint.  The bus still has to cross those four lanes of traffic because the drivers layover there all the time.  If it really is a safety issue, the layover would revert to Rusk street and Avenue de las Americas. I never heard the operators, or anyone else discuss safety issues with passengers.  You seem to be assuming things, sir.  First and foremost when I would catch the bus at that stop, I wouldn't get on the bus during the layover period, but when the driver was ready to pull off. Most drivers don't allow you on their bus during their layover no matter where the layover is.  The issue at hand is that bus drivers are refusing to pick up passengers at a listed timepoint IN SERVICE and official reasoning is not rooted in any sort of logic.

Point 2 - The old layover is now what some bus drivers consider the "first stop" between Walker and Rusk on Avenidas de las Americas.  How that has any bearing on Discovery Green I do not know.  I still see bus drivers park there from time to time.

Re: 81/82

You'd make a good Metro PR hack.  You can run the 32 Renwick with three buses because the route is so short and that's efficient, but should riders of the more heavily used routes suffer because the running times are more than 30 minutes each way?  If Metro is having problems supplying buses to these longer, heavier routes, perhaps they should cease retiring 11 year old buses as soon as something shiny and unproven rolls into the receiving yard.  Metro's job is to provide bus service when demand so warrants, it is not to try to cut corners on service increases.

no,no,no,

To keep the 11+ year old buses longer than that you would have to maintain them.

Nothing can stand the abuse that Mayor Bills "pocket- lined" unkempt streets places in their way.

This fish poo(figure that one out) has done squat about the street maintenance in this city just like ol'never around before him.

They are way too busy covering up monumental screwups by the Police and Fire Depts. and family members.

NYC has RTS's.  Guess they have people who can fix them!

thought Kashmire could completely rebuid buses!

be curious to see this video.

Well there will be one problem with the North Rail Line.   NASA will have to move the Near North Side Lunar Training Site, because N Main, at least for a small portion, will be getting a minor detail:  pavement!

Say, all of the bus companies worldwide cane send their newest wheres to the above Lunar Training Site, to see if the buses would survive.  Or perfect training for the Baja 1000.  It is so uneven even P&R Rider's avian friends could not loand there!

Dominic I rode the #9 from Heights Transit to downtown and I see what you mean. BTW the Heights Transit is covered in  pigeon poop.

P&R Rider:

Guess the homeless could go to the Heights Transit center, and use the above deposits to start a garden to grow food!