A person walks toward a METRO bus at the El Dorado Park & Ride station in Friendswood. (Rachel Leland/Community Impact)
As Houston’s regional traffic patterns officially surpass pre-pandemic levels, organizers with the Houston-Galveston Area Council are strategizing how to entice the area’s millions of commuters to choose public transit over single-occupancy vehicles, especially in the Bay Area.
The setup Organizers are also striving to improve air quality throughout the region.
Commute Solutions, a subsidiary of H-GAC, is launching an “emergency ride home” program in partnership with Houston-based taxi service Z Trips.
Through this program, commuters who carpool, vanpool or take transit can receive an employer-funded emergency ride home if an unexpected situation arises, such as a sick child, Commute Solutions Program Coordinator Catherine Gray said.
“If they take a carpool to work, then, ‘Oh no, [I have a] sick kid, I got to go pick him up,” Gray said. “Either [commuters say] ‘I don’t have my car,’ or ‘I drove my car and I’m responsible for four other people who got to work using my vehicle. Now, what do I do?’”
Commute Solutions recently worked with both Houston METRO and the Gulf Coast Transit District to have GCTD buses bring riders directly to the El Dorado Park and Ride near I-45 in Friendswood.
Who it's for Commuter traffic from the communities southeast of Houston into the city’s core is massive, said Robyn Egbert, manager of transportation demand management with H-GAC. Over a quarter of Galveston County residents work in Harris County.
Assessing the need Areas in the Houston region near the oil and gas refineries and Houston Ship Channel have some of the country’s worst air quality, Gray said.
The pollution is partially due to the immense geographic scale of the region, as well as the city’s cultural dependence on cars and the fact that Houston and the surrounding regions have a smaller public transportation system compared to other cities of similar size, Gray said.
Because Commute Solutions is funded by federal grants, it is legally required to submit precise air quality projections and impact calculations that track environmental savings.
Why now? Due to the region’s rapid influx of new residents, organizers must increase transit ridership just to maintain baseline air quality.
If transit adoption doesn’t keep pace with population growth, overall emissions will continue to increase even if current ridership remains steady, Egbert said.
“The region [isn’t] stopping growing ... it’s just our population is outpacing our infrastructure, and we really need to rethink how we get around the region, or encourage people to rethink how to get around the region,” Egbert said.
About the program In 2024, Commute Solutions launched “Free Fare Friday,” in which public transit fares are waived every Friday in September—a month the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality ranks as one of the worst for ground-level ozone.
Riders can just hop on any participating transit service and ride for free.
“You don’t have to go online, fill out a form, there’s none of that,” Gray said. “You literally just hop on and it’s free.”
The transit agencies are reimbursed by federal and state Congestion Mitigation Air Quality funding.
In September 2024, participating agencies saw up to a 20% surge in ridership compared to the previous year and further growth was recorded in September 2025, Egbert said. The uptick in ridership carried into December before tapering off after the holidays, Gray said.
The sustained demand prompted some local transit agencies to expand their physical routes and add new, permanent runs, Egbert said.
Now in its third year, the campaign is expanding to include Gulf Coast Transit District, which operates in Galveston and Brazoria counties. Current partners include The Woodlands Express, Conroe Connection and Fort Bend Transit. The campaign does not include Houston METRO.
“Our hope ... is to get people to try it ... and offering it every Friday in September gives people the chance to try it multiple times for free,” Gray said.
