Crowds Force METRORail To Cut Service (Houston)

Click2Houston - KPRC Television ^ | January 30, 2004 | KPRC Television

[Flyer]

Crowds Force METRORail To Cut Service

2 Park & Rides Closed

HOUSTON -- For the second night in a row, large crowds at METRORail stations forced officials to shut down some of the light-rail route and implement their emergency plan.

Service for the new transit system was stopped at Main and Walker Thursday and Friday night when METRO police became concerned that crowded streets could lead to trouble.

"Once it got to a point that we had too many pedestrians to operate safely, we discontinued rail through the downtown area," said Chief Tom Lambert, with METRO Police.

Since METRO expected large crowds through the weekend, it decided to close two of the Park & Ride locations.

The Park & Rides at the West Loop, 4675 South Braeswood, and Fuqua, 11755 Sabo Road, are not open to the public.

METRO officers can make more changes if needed.

"We've asked them to exercise their discretion. If they see circumstances beginning to arise to let supervisors know. And that's exactly what happened last night. Some folks, I think playfully, (tried) to touch out to the train. When you start doing that, we get a little nervous about that from a safety standpoint. That was brought to our attention by the officers, and so we just made a decision that we just discontinue operations. We'll do the same thing tonight," Lambert said.

METRO said the service would end Saturday and Sunday at 8 p.m.

Many of the downtown revelers used METRORail to get to the street parties.

"By the time we got halfway here, you couldn't get on the train. It was packed -- you know, it was full. People were actually having to wait for the next train," said Steven Hypes, who road light-rail train.

"We live out in Sugar Land and so the 90 and Fannin Park & Ride was great," said Bonnie Hypes, who also road METRORail.

Riders were not surprised that the trains did not go further into downtown.

"There was like two or three times the train had to slow down in town here because people walked across, so yeah, that makes sense. Somebody will stumble across it," Steven Hypes said.

The Texas Medical Center is opening one of its parking lots near Greenbriar, Old Spanish Trail and Braeswood to help alleviate downtown congestion.

Approximately 3,500 vehicles will be able to park there. Shuttles will take drivers and passengers into downtown.

Flocks Of Fans Make Their Way To Houston

Fans are starting to take the Bayou City by storm, arriving at area airports to cheer their favorite team on.

Thousands of passengers got a warm and cheerful welcome as they arrived in Houston Friday at Bush Intercontinental and Hobby airports for a weekend of partying and football.

"Flight was just full. There weren't a lot of seats on the plane, so I'm glad I got my tickets early," out-of-towner Russell Ebelherr said.

Houston Airport System spokesman Ernie DeSoto compared this weekend to a holiday, where passengers come in sporadically.

"Today, we are seeing a lot more people coming in. We are seeing a number of people who have gotten the three (or four) days off and are coming today," Houston Airport System spokesman Ernie DeSoto said.

However, after the game is over with, DeSoto said everyone flocks to the airports at once.

"People start showing up after the game and sleeping on the floor. They just want to get to the airport, crash from partying throughout the whole game, and catch their flight in the morning," DeSoto said.

Extra police and undercover officers have been added to the airport systems patrol for Super Bowl weekend. Officials are warning passengers that security will be tight.

[kittymyrib]

I had to check to see whether this was actually a Chronicle story since I would be surprised to see the cheerleaders for the train admit there was a problem. But I see this came from KPRC TV. Too bad they don't know the difference between "rode" and "road".

[wysiwyg]

Houston built a light-rail above ground in urban (cross-traffic) areas?

Yup. Can't build a subway here -- well, for enough money (as in Boston's "Big Dig") it could be done -- because of soft, shifting soil and most importantly, it would FLOOD. One section that I know of is below grade, but I can't wait to see what happens next time it rains really hard!

Of course, the stupid "Toy Train" shouldn't have been built at all.

What a waste...

[wysiwyg]

Too bad they don't know the difference between "rode" and "road".

The "writer" must be another product of the glorious government school system.

[yankeedame]

Some folks, I think playfully, (tried) to touch out to the train

Brilliant design, Metro.
================================

And somewhere,in some law office down town, a attorney, staring out the window, suddenly gets an idea....

[Flyer]

in some law office down town, a attorney, staring out the window, suddenly gets an idea....

As a tax payer that will have to cover the lawsuits I kindly ask you to HUSH!

. . . but I know the seed is already planted.

[basil]

The city of Houston sits at just about sea-level, and some parts of the city are actually below sea-level. It has been know for many years that Houston is slowly sinking.

Hey--an underground subway is a grand idea for Houston!

[Guvmint_Cheese]

The other option would be to build elevated, which costs less than below-ground transit, but still costs significantly more than at-grade. It would have prevented these accidents and maintain existing roadway capacity. But METRO was so desperate to put in rail, they had to do it as cheaply as possible, regardless of the potential impact on people's safety. They flat out screw up, and by not running the train through Downtown Friday (thank God), they effectively admitted it.

KILL THE CHOO-CHOO!

[padfoot_lover]

Yup, I have never seen Main Street so crowded before as yesterday. 9 out of 10 people I saw were definitely from out of town and already partying it up at noon.

[pax_et_bonum]

"Jeez - what do you hillbillies do when you see a microwave oven..."

What's a microwave?

[VOA]

...various attempts to attribute crowding on mass transit systems to unbridled immigration.

I wasn't saying that illegal immigration was the only cause of overloaded mass-trans...
but at least in metro Los Angeles, it contributes to the crush.
Here mass-trans is a largely a scheme to get middle-class taxpayers to subsidize a
mobile, cash-only, domestic work-force for millionaires.

When we have the usual MTA strike about every three years, the Los Angeles Times
is wall-to-wall with sob stories about undocumenteds who can't get to their jobs...
and if they can find a gypsy cabbie, they spend most of their wages on the fare.

I'm not knocking the undocumenteds...just pointing out that in this environment,
the mass-trans mess is made worse by an influx the system wasn't designed to handle.

Have you ever been on the Tokyo subway? There really aren't any appreciable
numbers of immigrants crowding up that particular system. They had "pushers" to fill the cars!

Absolutley true. Build it and they will come...

[Old Professer]

I'm not sure whether this calls for clowns, bulls, or more booze.

[Flyer]

I'm not sure whether this calls for clowns, bulls, or more booze.

Heck, we may as well have drunk clowns ridin' the bulls. Probably safer than the train.

[plsvn]

At least in Houston, with your water-table, I naively could see if the mass-trans planners would argue that putting the system below ground-level and keeping it from flooding would be prohibitively expensive.

Heck, the system is DESIGNED to be SHUT DOWN whenever there is at least three inches of water over the tracks.... heck, flat as it is here and heavy as some rain storms are here, whenever there's a chance of rain there's the probably the toy train will have to be shut down.

[GeronL]

How much did this thing cost the taxpayers again?? sheesh.. and I thought DART was bad.

My philosophy is this: If its a service that people want, let the private sector do it. If the people don't want it, why is the government doing it to begin with?

Privatize everything!!

[GeronL]

People were actually having to wait for the next train," said Steven Hypes, who road light-rail train.

If this reporter can't spell r-o-d-e, then I feel very sorry for Houston news junkies.

[GeronL]

the trains in Dallas have had some accidents but its not the trains fault usually... the buses, though.... the buses need to be watched carefully =o)

[Pan_Yans Wife]

You would think full trains was the whole goal of mass transit, get people out of their cars and on the train.

Most cities want people on the trains.

[GeronL]

Sell the subways

A very interesting article and history lesson, mostly about the NYC subways

[Ditter]

Hey you hicks, don't forget about us rednecks!

[Kay Ludlow]

Thanks! It is interesting, although it doesn't surprise me at all. A few years ago, (before the free rides) our local Transit Authority proudly declared that they had one of the lowest subsidy levels in the country - their riders paid nearly 70% of the costs of the bus system. So most public transportation systems have MORE than 30% taxpayer support (and I hear many are closer to 80%). When will it dawn on people that if we aren't willing to pay the price for something it means we don't want it? Nice bus stops and environmentally friendly buses won't change ridership one iota - every individual makes their own cost-benefit analysis about using public transportation and the usual result it that their time is too precious to spend twice as long (or more) to ride the bus/train/metro. In New York, where parking is expensive and the traffic is dreadful, you'd think it would be worthwhile to enough people to pay the costs of the subway - but that's not the case.