Houston Trains Once Again Get Green Lights Downtown After Travel Times Doubled

Houston’s Metro transit agency is restoring signal priority to the downtown Red Line light rail line after riders complained to the agency that some travel times doubled with the trains being forced to stop at red lights.

As Octavia Johnson explains in the Houston Chronicle, “Metro officials said they had been collaborating with the city's traffic engineers and the Public Works Department on the changes. In October, officials said they had reduced the number of extra stops.” However, the Chronicle also obtained emails that called the change a “political decision, not a technical decision.”

According to Johnson, “Metro stated in the announcement that it will continue to measure performance and make data-driven adjustments as needed to support its goal of achieving better on-time performance across the system and efficient use of its resources.”