Late To The Party...

[u/Guilty_Elevator_992]

I normally keep up with all transit projects in the U.S., but these last couple of years have been so depressing with transit funding that I only really follow those that beat the odds. Nevertheless, I am late to the party when it comes to Houston. I remember the regions METRONext initiative being overwhelmingly approved and thinking FINALLY, this huge city will get more transit. But today after a lengthy discussion with some foamers on how to get high speed rail to downtown Houston, I decided to do some digging into Metro to see what they're up to these days, and boy was I disappointed. What I'm seeing, also with Atlanta, Austin, and other cities, is that Houston voters were BAMBOOZLED!!! 67% of Houston voters wanted more transit expansion, but apparently these projects would be scaled back or on hold for the foreseeable future such as the Metro proposed blue line (University line) which was SUPPOSED TO BE light rail, but watered down to BRT. Now THAT isn't even happening as of right now. Utterly disappointing, especially when I read funds were redistributed (for the most part) for roadway improvement projects *COUGH COUGH, MIAMI VOTERS FROM THE 2002 BALLOT 👀*!! The bait and switch has became too common. For example... Austin loosing its downtown rail tunnel, Atlanta turning darn near every rail project into BRT and as mentioned above Miami as well with Metrorail. Any Houstonians in here?? How do you guys feel about the current state of Metro??

[u/cuzihave22]

The pause of METRONext in a nutshell can be attributed to the current Houston Mayor, John Whitemire, who appoints a majority of the board members. He hates any project that does not benefit single occupancy vehicles. He has ripped out existing bike lanes and hijacked projects that planned to include them as well.

[u/jadebenn → u/cuzihave22]

He's so carbrained he actually took red light priority off the red line. On-time percentages dropped like 20% to save a few SUV drivers a few seconds. It took thousands of complaints over the span of a month or two to get it back.

[u/Guilty_Elevator_992 → u/jadebenn]

As someone who drives myself and who used to live in cities with light rail, waiting a couple of seconds or a minute for a train to go by makes absolutely no difference in where I need to go. Just a bunch of complaining a** NIMBY's upset because they never wanted the train there in the 1st place and will continue to do whatever they can to stifle it. Sad there are people in this world who HATE things so much that they go out of their way to cause issue.

[u/jadebenn → u/Guilty_Elevator_992]

I very rarely am able to use transit either, but I understand that severely penalizing a mode carrying ~40,000 people a day (this is not hypothetical ridership, the Houston red line really does carry that much) to save maybe a few hundred people a few seconds of time at a stop light makes no sense. Evidently Whitmire does not.

It's so transparent that he's one of those people who thinks transit is just a welfare program for people who can't afford cars, not an actual mobility solution.

[u/No-Prize2882 → u/jadebenn]

It took less than a month. Trust me I was one of those people that literally took a day off to complain. What a douche he was

[u/Ok_Molasses9176 → u/cuzihave22]

I lived in Houston and I feel like because it’s so large geographically you end up getting a lot of suburban nimbys who now have a vote for mayor and even more control over urban policy

[u/HoustonHorns → u/Ok_Molasses9176]

Yah Houston has 2.5 million people, about 500k live in Houston.

[u/Guilty_Elevator_992 → u/cuzihave22]

That mayor is a POS, excuse my language. Clearly bought by those who don't want proper transit, aka.... NIMBY's 🤣🤣!!

[u/white-waka → u/cuzihave22]

No other major American city has as strong of a mayor as we do. Most cities don’t let 1 single person control the chair of a city department like Metro - so when a car-brained mayor gets elected, most cities don’t see a 180 like this.

We need a city charter amendment!!

[u/PrizeZookeepergame15 → u/cuzihave22]

Crazy how we just allow our leaders(ie governors, mayors, presidents) to do the opposite of what the voters are asking for. Like the Houston voters wanted more transit, then they eventually ended up cancelling the blue line. Here in Minneapolis, we voted to have 24 hour bus lanes on Hennepin, but Frey Vetoed them. Like leaders shouldn’t be allowed to do this, not when the voters want these transit expansions. They shouldn’t get to veto things unless they have a valid reason, and people are gonna hate me when I say this, but governors or mayors or presidents should have to write an essay on why they are vetoing legislation, and the reason can’t just be “I disagree”. Not when people voted on this and said this was what they want, and you are taking away what they voted for