The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County is in the process of revamping its entire bus network with the goal of making routes simpler and buses more frequent and reliable. The new plan also calls for expanding the network to include areas around the Greater Houston area that have seen dynamic growth.
"We see that Houston is continuing to change, and the system needs to keep up with that," METRO board member Christof Spieler said. "The proposal is a better match of where people live, work, play and learn and incorporates new rail lines that are opening."
A draft plan was presented to the METRO board in May. Over the past three months, planners have gathered more than 1,100 public comments online and at more than 65 community outreach meetings. Traffic Engineers Inc. presented several modifications to the plan at an Aug. 28 meeting based on those comments.
The new METRO plan takes into account public objections to proposed bus routes down Jones Road in Jersey Village and along Louetta Road by Vintage Park—streets where bus routes do not exist today.
"We asked individuals whether they thought the new plan made things better for them, the neighborhood and the region," TEI's Geoff Carlton said. "These were hotspots of almost uniformly negative feedback."
The new plan calls for the Hwy. 249 route to be extended to the Lone Star College University Park campus but eliminates the Louetta Road portion. The Jones Road/Jersey Village route has been removed entirely.
"This is a difficult pedestrian environment that does not provide the type of ridership to necessitate keeping the route," Carlton said. "It's not viewed as an asset to the neighborhood, so it made sense to remove it."
The five-year reimagining plan is being developed by TEI, a transportation planning firm based in Houston. METRO officials said the plan could be adopted at the September board of directors meeting and start being implemented in summer 2015.
The remapping process started in summer 2013 with TEI working with the METRO board to identify what could be improved. Goals include increasing ridership, which has declined over the past 10 years.
Recommendations include linking major activity centers and adding routes to high density areas. Routes will also be longer and straighter with more direct connections. The introduction of the "Red Network"—where buses are guaranteed to come every 15 minutes—will improve reliability in areas with high ridership.
Improvements will be paid for out of the existing METRO bus budget, Spieler said. Adjustments can be made throughout the process to ensure the project stays within the target budget.
More information can be found at www.transitsystemreimagining.com.
