The city’s Silver Line rapid transit has not been attracting as many riders as originally projected.
Houston Metro will reduce service on its Silver Line bus rapid transit (BRT) service, dropping headways from every 12 minutes to every 20 minutes.
As Dug Begley reports in the Houston Chronicle, “Promised as a light rail-like service for crowded Uptown, the bus line has never attracted the riders envisioned. Working from home made parking ample in the area as workers staggered visits to the office. Meanwhile, Metro's plans to tie other transit routes to the Silver Line are moving slowly. As a result, the large buses provide about 1,000 trips on a typical workday, not the 8,000 or more once projected.”
Metro says the changes won’t put federal funding at risk, even though federal rules define ‘rapid transit’ as anything that arrives every 15 minutes or less. The agency also claims the reduction in BRT service on the Silver Line does not alter plans for other rapid transit lines in the works.
FULL STORY: Changes to Silver Line service will leave Houston without bus rapid transit, Metro decides
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