Security guard David Barnes has been taking the bus to work and the grocery store for nearly 20 years now. Barnes, who has a personal vehicle, says taking the bus has become second nature to him. He has seen the public transportation in the city change over the years and wants more protection while traveling.
“It’s crazy out here,” he said.
Under new leadership, the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO) has shifted its focus from bus rapid transit projects that it had planned earlier to other improvements, like increasing police presence. These changes were made to its FY 2025 budget, which includes $973 million for operations and $598 million in capital expenses.
METRO announced in July it would not seek a federal grant, forgoing nearly $1 billion in federal dollars, which could have funded a 25-mile bus-rapid transit line, the University Corridor BRT, connecting multiple universities like Houston Community College, University of St. Thomas, Texas Southern University, and the University of Houston, and communities in Greater Third Ward and Kashmere Gardens, among others. A majority of the cost for the project, estimated at $2.2 billion, was to be funded by the federal grant, and the remainder from Metro’s share of the region’s 1-cent transportation sales tax.
The new budget for FY 2025, which is yet to be approved on Sept. 26, moves away from previously planned construction, including the university line. Three BRT lines were a part of the METRONext initiative, funded by a $3.5 billion bond package approved overwhelmingly by voters that passed in 2019, with 68% voting in favor and 32% against. This initiative now aims to focus on other avenues under the new leadership called METRONow.
The Gulfton BRT application is underway, along with other MetroNext BRT projects. Brock said the project will be implemented in partnership with Harris County Commissioner of Precinct 4 Lesley Briones. She also said METRO has “checked the box” in terms of meeting its commitment to the bond through the Gulfton BRT.
Mayor John Whitmire-appointed METRO chair Elizabeth Gonzalez Brock said that ridership, financial complexities surrounding METRO’s day-to-day operations, and issues of public safety led to a pause in the project started by the organization’s previous leadership. Brock, the first Hispanic woman to chair Texas’ largest transit authority, now supervises a 1,309-square-mile service area and an annual budget of $1.6 billion.
She said proceeding with the bond will utilize funds that can be used for other public services on the priority list, such as public safety, clean transportation, improvement to bus shelters, sidewalks, and bus frequency.
“As it relates to the University Line, that was a financial decision. Not only was the cost very high, but it was also increasing. Ridership was down,” Brock said. “We had a lot of concerns about whether or not that was going to be a viable project, but more importantly was all the things that we couldn’t do if we went forward with that project. People wanna see a clean bus, a clean rail, a clean transit system.”
Meanwhile, METRO is also set to approve a new budget for FY 2025, which includes changes to the BRT along the I-10 Inner Katy corridor into a “high occupancy vehicle” (HOV) to provide connectivity between Downtown, the Galleria area, and west Houston, and also serve communities in Houston Heights and Rice Military. This includes busway lanes with three new stations: Shepherd/Durham, Studemont, and Memorial Park, funded by the METRONext bond and the Houston-Galveston Area Council.
Former mayor Sylvester Turner criticized METRO’s decision not to proceed with the University Line, calling it “a major setback to public transit for Houston,” while Whitmire has been against both the university and Gulfton corridor BRTs.
During a press conference at his first State of the City address, Whitmire said he does not agree with METRO’s decision but supports its decision to shelve the university corridor project. “The ridership won’t support it. We want to build things that people use. By the time you built the university line, it would be outdated,” he said. “Nobody’s riding METRO partly because of public safety.”
Opposition to METRO’s decision
During METRO’s board meetings, public outcry pointed toward support for the University Corridor BRT, especially from the student community. Some discussed the distrust that follows the decision from METRO, referring to the $3.5 billion bond issue for transit projects that Houston voters overwhelmingly supported. METRO had then said the bond money would pay for $7.5 billion in improvements through its METRONext Moving Forward Plan, addressing population growth and traffic congestion.
Brock aims to address people’s trust through communication and taking accountability. “I think trust starts with acknowledging that you have a problem. It’s not always an easy conversation to have, but it’s an important one,” she said.
Gabe Cazares, the executive director of the nonprofit advocacy group LINK Houston, said a robust and equitable transportation network helps Houstonians reach opportunity and considered the now abandoned plans for the university line to be “a big win for bus riders.”
“We were very disappointed to see METRO cancel the university BRT project or decide not to pursue further the federal grant that would’ve funded 60% of the university BRT project,” Cazares told the Defender.
While acknowledging METRO’s strides in accessibility in public transit, Cazares said much work remains to be done on accessible bus stops and sidewalks for disabled commuters. He also observed that METRO buses are not level with the curb, which makes it inaccessible for those in wheelchairs or walkers to enter or exit the vehicle, and believes the BRT would have provided funds for level access and audible announcements.
“Our Houston Bus Rider survey for Equity and Transit report is that Houstonians want shorter transfers. They don’t want to transfer three or four times to get to a destination that takes three hours to get there,” Cazares said. “The BRT would have really revolutionized that by allowing people to have a single-seat ride to many connection points across the city.”
The delay in the University Corridor plan pushes back on plans of making the BRT a step toward better transportation in the region.
Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis wrote to the METRO board of directors in June to seek $939 million in federal investment for the project, reminding them of the $72 million already spent on engineering and environmental impact analysis.
“We owe it to our communities to deliver on what the voters overwhelming requested and what Metro has repeatedly promised,” Ellis wrote in a letter to the Metro board.
In contrast, some residents supported the project’s pause, arguing that METRO’s focus on other improvements can better utilize funds and that mass transit near residential areas can be unsafe for the families living in those areas.
Would Houston’s under-served communities benefit from METR projects?
When METRO opted out of offsetting its University Corridor BRT project budget by $1 billion through federal grants, City Councilmember Letitia Plummer called it a ” catastrophic mistake with far-reaching implications” for the city’s future.
“This funding represented a once-in-a-generation opportunity to significantly enhance transportation equity in Houston, particularly for our underserved communities,” she said.
Brock argues that several of METRO’s facilities were built in underserved communities. The organization’s primary concerns remain crime, cleanliness, and improving the METRO app for ease of use. “Part of the problem is that you have a lot of criminal activity and infrastructure that hasn’t been maintained. It’s really important that we not only go and build into underserved communities, but we take care of what’s existing,” she clarified to the Defender. “We’re partnering with our local, state, and federal officials to make sure that we are addressing public safety so that people feel safe to ride our transit system.”
