Properties 2017 vol 4 Metro

Houston is huge. Though the city feels intimate when you’re walking at Hermann Park or enjoying a glass of wine on a patio, the greater metropolitan area is home to more than 6.3 million people. And we’re not packed in, but spread out across a region as big as the entire state of New Jersey.

It can be overwhelming to think about how we get around here. Most of us drive our own cars, but some of us park and ride at regional transit centers. Some of us hail an Uber, or take the train, or pedal a bicycle — and some of us do a little of everything. In a city with at least seven employment centers and a hundred neighborhoods — some urban, some suburban — no one has a typical commute. “In the Houston of today,” writes James Llames, “people are traveling from everywhere to everywhere.”

“Houston is unique,” says Carrin Patman, the chair of the board of directors for METRO, the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Houston and Harris County. So how can a public transit system serve this huge, unique city?

“One of the challenges facing METRO,” asks Houston Public Media transportation reporter Gail Delaughter, “is how do you become a truly regional transit entity and create partnerships and move people in from different places?”

Since 2009, METRO has been hard at work toward that goal. That year, construction started on an 5.3-mile extension of the Red Line light rail, which first opened in 2004. Today, the Red Line is 13 miles long and considered one of the most successful of its kind in the country in terms of ridership per mile. In 2011, the Green and Purple lines were added.

By: Edward Nawotka

Houston Houston is is expected expected to to surpass surpass Chicago Chicago as as the the third-largest third-largest city city in in the the country. country. By By 2040, 2040, Houston’s Houston’s population population could could double double to to almost almost 11 11 million million people. people.

Then, in 2015, the entire bus network was reimagined. Every route was evaluated and many redrawn, leading to 22 new highfrequency routes that run every 10 minutes, seven days a week.

These efforts have received national attention and national accolades, too, as METRO won the 2015 Outstanding Public Transportation System Achievement Award from the American Public Transportation Association. Delaughter says that METRO has seen a 7.4 percent increase in overall ridership. So it’s working.

But Houston is growing — and growing fast. By 2025, Patman says, “Houston is expected to surpass Chicago as the third-largest city in the country. By 2040, Houston’s population could double to almost 11 million people.”

So what’s next? “METRO”, Patman says, “is undertaking an ambitious, long-term planning process toward the development of a regional transit plan.”

“One of the first steps has been a robust community involvement process,” she says. Already, METRO has held 25 public meetings and developed a website for public comment. “We’re in the information-gathering stage,” she said.

“Soon,” she says, “planners will ‘put pen to paper’ and begin to translate this information into action. Patman says, “everything is on the table; METRO is considering new light rail lines, bus rapid transit, commuter rail, as well as new technologies, like apps.”

Besides these big ideas, METRO is also looking at smaller fixes, too, exploring what’s known as “first-mile, last-mile” connectivity, seeking to make it easier and safer for people to get to and from a bus stop or light rail station and their home or office. All the while, METRO is working to make sure the entire system is accessible for all.

“What makes sense today?” she asks. “We have our own transit system that meets Houston’s need, and we must expand that system to meet the needs of the future, to attract business and people, to keep our economy thriving.”

What’s most important is that transit continues to be a real transportation option for Houstonians. It’s no secret that young people want to rely on transit to get around. “You want to live in a community with an excellent transit system,” Patman says. “It’s necessary to a growing, vibrant community.”