The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County is asking for community feedback so the agency can shape future short- and long-term projects.
METRO CEO Tom Lambert said the METRO Next initiative launched this year will serve as a follow-up to its last comprehensive regional plan in 2003, focusing on projects that will accommodate the area’s growing population.
“If you begin looking at the numbers, by 2025 we project we are going to surpass Chicago as the third-largest city in the country,” Lambert said.
Houston Galveston Area Council—which advocates for greater mobility in the Greater Houston area—projects the eight-county area’s population to grow from about 7.2 million in 2020 to about 10 million in 2040.
METRO ridership—including bus, rail, and park and ride services—has increased from about 77 million in 2010 to almost 86 million in 2016, according to METRO spokesperson Laura Whitley. She said although population growth plays a role in determining ridership, it is not the sole driver. Other factors include economic conditions, unemployment, geography and need.
Alan Clark, director of transportation planning at HGAC, said job growth is an important factor when considering public transportation needs during peak commuting hours. The HGAC’s forecast projects jobs in the area may grow 43.5 percent from 2015 to 2040, which means an influx of commuters in a commuter-based city.
METRO held 25 open house meetings throughout the Greater Houston area this summer through Aug. 18. Residents were invited to fill out comment cards with suggestions for future METRO projects, Lambert said.
Lambert said his team will go over all of the feedback provided at the meetings and present its findings to METRO’s board of directors. Then METRO will begin to shape a plan with continued community feedback.
The Spring and Klein open house meeting took place July 18 at the Klein ISD Multipurpose Center. Several hundred residents attended, with some voicing concerns about possible METRO expansion in the area. A few days before the meeting, Spring resident Teri Kahila started an online petition opposing bus service expansion in the area, although no plans for expansion are in place.
Kahila said she is concerned further bus service expansion could worsen traffic and bring an influx of people from the city of Houston out to the suburbs, which could lead to more crime. The petition had 1,137 signatures on Aug. 4.
Most METRO services in Spring and Klein are located along FM 1960. This includes bus routes on FM 1960, and a park and ride lot east of I-45. A bus route also extends up to The Vintage area on Louetta Road.
Barbara Thomason, president of the Houston Northwest Chamber of Commerce, said METRO services have had both positive and negative effects on the FM 1960 corridor.
“It’s a doubled-edged situation,” Thomason said. “It’s necessary for people to get to work, but the bad part—even though very nice people climb on the bus—it does bring a chance of a criminal element.”
Whitley said METRO will continue to increase its law enforcement presence as it expands. The agency has tripled its number of fare inspectors on its system and plans to increase its police force by 40 percent over the next few years, she said.
The focus of METRO Next is on long-term projects, but Lambert said he also wants to know how METRO can improve its existing services.
“We want to get feedback on if there are things we can do better today, with the existing bus system that makes it more reliable, safer, more efficient and better for folks to use as a travel option,” Lambert said.
