[backhoe]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1092808/posts

A Streetcar Named Disaster
The Houston Review ^ | March 7, 2004 | Phil Magness

The only people who like it, are those who don't have to ride on it. In Most cases they are also the same ones who benefit from the, (can you spell boondoggle children?) It would probably be cheaper to arrange that each of those 7000 daily riders be given a personal limosine.

[Carlucci]

I was actually ON the train that hit the guy yesterday. My family and I, enjoying a Spring Break day off, parked our car downtown and rode the train to the Zoo and Astroworld.

We were already slowing down when we came to an abrupt stopped. We lurched forward in the train, but nobody lost their balance. Since the accident occurred at our stop anyway, we just got out and went about our business.

All in all, our experience with the train was okay. It saved us the hassle of having to find a parking spot at the Zoo, which if you've ever been there on a busy day is not an easy proposition. Also saved us the expense of parking at Reliant for Astroworld. We did have to walk about 1.5 miles from the train stop to the Astrowold entrance.

Did you know that you really don't have to pay to ride the train? There is no turnstile, nobody checking tickets, or any type of system in place to make sure you buy a ticket before riding. Some were openly bragging that they never paid because no one is checking. Of course, I'm no democrat, so I paid for my family's tickets.