Chron discovers Metro's nonsensical bus routing.

It's about time...

(From Leslie Casimir of the Chron)

Metro bus rider Pablo Camarillo's daily commute to work is so long that he often sees both sunrise and sunset — when he manages to stay awake.

To arrive on time, the auto parts warehouse worker sets off on an odyssey that starts at 5:40 a.m. with him boarding the 88 Hobby Airport bus at the corner of Sabo and Fuqua streets. He gets off on Broadway and Morley to transfer to the 73 Belfort Crosstown, which takes him to the Texas Medical Center. There, he gets on the 14 Hiram Clarke bus that takes him to his job on the southwest end of town. If things go well, all this happens by 8 a.m.

His evening commute starts at 6 p.m.

"I wish I had a car," said Camarillo, 30, who spends four hours of his day on a maze of Metro buses. "I have to get some sleep on the bus."

While some residents inside the Loop continue to hotly debate massive light rail projects that could potentially bring relief to tens of thousands of mass transit riders, there are others who live just outside the Loop who spend hours commuting and have no relief in sight.

Nothing highlights the ineptitude of Metro's transportation management better than the last quoted paragraph. While Metro is fiddling with an "expanded light rail system" designed to please the wealthy, chattering class, the majority of riders that should make up their customer base are forced to endure marathon rides on routes designed without actual travel patterns in mind. In short, if you're unfortunate enough to need to ride the bus (read: poor) tough luck. Metro's got other priorities. Priorities that look better on glossies sent out to prospective sporting events, conventions etc.


This is why I've long stated that Houston's failure in regard to having a competent mass transportation system aren't the result of so-called "anti-rail" groups, but instead they are signs that Metro has failed miserably at their core mission.


Since the outset I've thought that the Light Rail tram, as designed, was a recipe for transit disaster. As "Metro Solutions" missed promise after promise related to increased bus service, it only became more clear that MetroRail was going to do more to harm mass transportation than help it in the long run. Sure, we're going to have a toy that will move the well-off from their townhomes and flats to the Galleria (sort-of), restaurants, bars and sports stadiums, but when it comes to reducing congestion and getting people from home to work and back again (the two main functions of any good public transportation system) the system will be sorely lacking.

However, after the citizens of Houston voted for MetroSolutions the argument should have been based on securing the best system that provided the best mobility and that wasn't punitive to existing forms of transportation. Unfortunately, the debate was characterized "pro" vs. "anti" rail instead of "pro" vs. "anti" MetroSolutions. The idea being forwarded that if you were against Metro, then you were against good public transportation as a whole.

As time goes on I believe that we are going to see more and more stories of this type. Metro has shown no desire to stop cutting back on bus routes, to re-plan their bus map to meet commuting patterns, or to do anything other than move people from a few, select locations to a few locations where Metro (or their friends) have significant real-estate holdings. That's right, what we have is a taxpayer funded boon for the developers, supported by many of the same people who rail against unchecked development.

Oh, and if you're poor or lower-middle class and are forced to live outside the Loop because of high prices?

Suck.it.up...