Houston Just Rebuilt Its Bus System From Scratch
On Sunday, Houston debuted an entirely new and improved bus system. The city didn't pass a new transit levy. Instead it put existing resources to use in a way that is designed to maximize frequent service and boost ridership.
With the help of consultant Jarrett Walker (of Network blog Human Transit), Houston's METRO changed nearly every route and every stop in the system. Smart Growth America explains what riders will gain from the process:
73 percent of bus riders will have access to high-frequency service—a 217 percent increase from METRO’s current system. The high-frequency routes will have 15 minute headways. An additional 19 percent of riders will be on routes with headways of 30 minutes or less. Almost 60 percent of bus trips to 30 key destinations will be 10 minutes or faster. METRO will accomplish this more frequent, speedier service primarily by shifting to a grid system that allows for more direct routing than the current hub-and-spoke network though downtown. Some of the speed improvements are the result of reducing the number of street-level rail crossings encountered on a bus route, almost eliminating route branching, and moving away from long, delay-prone routes.
To top it off, the frequent routes will run just as often on the weekends, dramatically expanding access for those with weekend shifts or who rely on the bus to make a Saturday grocery run. With Houston’s current system, about half of bus riders had access to high-frequency service during the week, that ratio dropped to 25 percent on the weekends.
It will be really cool to see if this kind of service upgrade can move more people to transit in a city like Houston. Columbus, Ohio is currently engaged in a similar effort.
Elsewhere on the Network today: We Are Mode Shift reports a new website will allow Detroit transit riders to share and publicize service issues. Green Caltrain says a bill in the California legislature would reserve some cap-and-trade funds for transit. And NextSTL shares lessons from one of St. Louis's early experiments with parklets.
Stay in touch
Sign up for our free newsletter
More from Streetsblog USA
‘Duped’: Blowing the Whistle on an Illegal Temporary License Plate Business
Temporary license plates exist so that people who buy cars can drive them before receiving metal plates. But drivers found another use for them during the pandemic: buy a temp tag on the black market and you can keep your car anonymous and off the books.
Another Cyclist Attacked in Oakland
A passing car’s passenger assaulted cyclist David Colburn on Wednesday while he was riding his bike on San Pablo in Oakland. The passenger “…leaned out a window to intentionally smack me in the head.”
How Auto-Centric Infrastructure Is Making Us Sick
Instead of endless promises to fix America's "crumbling roads and bridges," filmmaker Andy Boenau argues we need to talk about our crumbling minds and bodies — and how our autocentric infrastructure approach contributes to them.
