Metro unveils major change to bus service, awaits public outcry

Houston bus service will change dramatically next year if officials approve a sweeping plan to restructure the city's routes, adapting them to changes in patterns of work and travel over the last 30 years.

"Our system doesn't work really well," Metro board member Christof Spieler told about 125 people gathered for a briefing on the new plan Thursday.

Fixing it, however, will require major changes in timing, routing and even the naming and numbering of Metropolitan Transit Agency buses - changes that would significantly alter thousands of trips.

"It gives people more connections to more opportunities," Metro CEO Tom Lambert said of the proposal. "That's what transit is all about."

Metro on Thursday released a draft of its "re­imagining" plan, intended as a broad upgrade to the region's bus system. Some officials said the plan could help increase ridership by 20 percent or more after two years.

The map focuses on distributing service more efficiently by eliminating some redundancies where multiple bus routes serve the same street or scrapping routes that take circuitous paths to cover neighborhoods where few people ride.

Because of lingering concerns that redesigning service will leave some riders out, Metro plans to hold numerous community meetings and solicit opinions from riders. Feedback and review also are available online.

If the redesign is approved - a vote is likely in August or September - Metro would spend almost a year converting to the new routes and bus numbers.

Riders said Thursday they would welcome changes that address common complaints without unintended consequences.

"I'd hate to see something make it harder for people to ride, or harder to get to their bus," said Joe Anthony Johnson, 33, who rides the bus six days a week. "These folks out working don't need anything else getting in the way."

Sounds like good ideas

Still, Johnson said some of the broad proposals, like more weekend service and more frequent major routes, sounded like good ideas.

"Not everyone works 9-to-5 in an office building," he said. "These other folks, they need someone remembering that."

Designers of the map said they were pleasantly surprised that they could restructure routes and still serve Metro's sprawling coverage area.

According to an analysis prepared by the designers, 93 percent of current riders could catch a bus at the same stop they're using now, and around 100 riders would have to walk more than a half-mile for service.

'Amazing' improvements

Once they adjust, Spieler said, most riders will find the changes beneficial.

"Across the board we are seeing improvements to those trips," he said, "and in some cases they are jaw-droppingly amazing."

Metro buses, operating on a system largely developed in the 1980s, are essentially delivering the best service for the Houston of 1990, said Geoff Carlton, a consultant on the reimagining plan.

"New job centers exist that maybe didn't awhile ago, and we need to respond to serving them," Carlton said.

The new system would use about the same number of buses and drivers but distribute them differently. Buses would also be renumbered, and in some cases renamed, to make the system easier to decipher.

The biggest change would be rerouting of buses.

Many routes now cross downtown, which adds to congestion in the central business district. This pattern also makes some buses redundant and forces riders to go places out of the way or farther from their intended destination.

The system is based largely on an assumption that most people are trying to get downtown, although major employment centers have emerged elsewhere.

Better connections

The changes would make service on some major lines much more frequent by developing a grid pattern and eliminating duplicated routes.

"Frankly, Houston is unique for how obsolete the system has gotten," said Jarrett Walker, the Portland, Ore.-based consultant who guided the reimagining process.

In other cites, going to a grid has led to increased transit use and better connections between buses and light rail, Walker said.

The grid emerges from running buses frequently in crossing patterns - with buses on 15-minute intervals along key lengthy north-south and east-west routes that pass by such major job centers as Greenway Plaza, the Energy Corridor, southwest Houston and the Uptown area.

Less-popular but important routes would have service every 30 minutes or less, while low-use routes in areas of lower population density would have service every hour or less.

Another major change is proposed for certain little-used bus routes, notably in the northeast part of the city.

Under the plan, rather than running on fixed routes, buses in designated "flex zones" would circulate around the neighborhood and carry passengers to a spot within the zone or to a point of transfer to another bus line.

Riders would call in and the bus would collect them. Smaller buses that Metro began operating last year would likely run the flex routes, officials said.

The flex routes and other changes would not drastically change operation costs, based on initial estimates, Metro officials said.

Public awareness campaigns, posting new signs at bus stops and reprinting maps and schedules, however, are expected to cost up to $7.5 million, according to Metro planning director Kurt Luhrsen.

Spieler said officials know some riders and others will balk at the changes, simply because they are so substantial.

"The reason we have never done this before is because of that," Spieler said, noting the skepticism Metro might face.