METRO's route-by-route summary of the re-imagined bus network: http://alturl.com/y8kov
My rendition of the old and new
bus networks plus re-imagining items: www.metroreimagined.org
1 W. Bellfort
Drawing this map in the software was a real pleasure. W. Bellfort to Beltway 8 for the first time has a single, unified, and complete bus service scheme. As the southwest of Houston grows, the underlying grid-focus of this re-imagined map will make it easy for METRO to upgrade this to the Frequent Network.
2 Brays Bayou
This route goes through a good number
of areas that may keep this route from the Frequent Network for a
good long time. And look how close it is to being red - half-hour
base headway keeps it blue.
3 Bissonnet
The current 65 Bissonnet is one of the
long-time METRO warhorses. While not on the scale of the colossal 52
Scott-Hirsch or the 81/82 Westheimer, Bissonnet still comes in strong
month after month in the top ten of METRO's busiest streets.
The 3 Bissonnet follows almost verbatim the path of the current 65 Bissonnet. This route will stay in the Frequent Network until the end of time.
4 Beechnut
The 3 Bissonnet follows almost verbatim the path of the current 65 Bissonnet. This route will stay in the Frequent Network until the end of time.
4 Beechnut
Along with the 102 IAH, 4 Beechnut
shares its number with its spiritual ancestor in our current network.
The current 4 Beechnut goes at its western terminus and meets the
current 2 Bellaire at Pavilion Dr. near Hwy. 6. The new 4 Beechnut
goes all the way to Mission Bend P&R, helping to turn that P&R
into a far-central-west transit center.
5 Bellaire
5 Bellaire
As the years go by, I look for the
outrageously-fast 10-minute peak headway on this titan of Houston
transit to be made even better. This is one of the most-frequent
routes in the system and is the spiritual descendant of the current 2
Bellaire.
There has been since the 1920s buses running in the city of Bellaire or on Bellaire Blvd., and the new 5 Bellaire continues this custom into the far-future.
There has been since the 1920s buses running in the city of Bellaire or on Bellaire Blvd., and the new 5 Bellaire continues this custom into the far-future.
5Q Bellaire Quickline
Ride this bus, people! We need Quickline all over the city, and where once this very-limited-stop route was a random addition to our current network, METRO has put the Bellaire Quickline into a new light as a guinea pig for potential future Quicklines on Richmond, Westheimer, and maybe other places.
METRO will let this route mature over the next few years, and I encourage all of you (and me as well) to take time out once the new network has gone live to give this remarkable route a try.
Ride this bus, people! We need Quickline all over the city, and where once this very-limited-stop route was a random addition to our current network, METRO has put the Bellaire Quickline into a new light as a guinea pig for potential future Quicklines on Richmond, Westheimer, and maybe other places.
METRO will let this route mature over the next few years, and I encourage all of you (and me as well) to take time out once the new network has gone live to give this remarkable route a try.
6 Gulfton Holman
Sometimes, Frankenstein is a good
thing. The 6 Gulfton Holman combines a lot of current METRO network
doings: the circuitous routings through Sharpstown (thanks, Clarewood
House - ha!) now done by the 81 Westheimer Sharpstown and the 25
Richmond Sharpstown, 9 Gulfton, 42 Holman, and a tiny bit of 68 Brays
Bayou into a single whole.
For the first time, a trip from Sharpstown to UH Central can be done without a transfer. And look at the 15-minute peak headway (thanks, Gulfton with your most-densely-populated sections of Houston) and half-hour Base Headway with an 18-hour span of service! Could promotion to Frequent Network be closer than we think?
For the first time, a trip from Sharpstown to UH Central can be done without a transfer. And look at the 15-minute peak headway (thanks, Gulfton with your most-densely-populated sections of Houston) and half-hour Base Headway with an 18-hour span of service! Could promotion to Frequent Network be closer than we think?
7 Richmond
Here is an example, and one of the rare ones to be found in this re-imagined network of a branched route in that while there are no physical street-related branches a la the present 40 Telephone and the buses stay on the same route, not all buses head all the way west to Mission Bend P&R.
A direct connection via Richmond to West Oaks Mall is missed, but it's easy enough to get to Westheimer at many points on the Frequent Network and elsewhere, this is not a big deal.
It's also interesting to see the 7 Richmond take instead of today's Westpark on the current 25 Richmond Mission Bend branch, Ashford Point Rd. I wonder if perhaps even more people might have been even-better served via Brand Rock Rd and Medfield Dr., but METRO is fanatical on not taking on new circuitousness that becomes over the years entrenched.
METRO wants the connection to Mission Bend P&R. METRO wants to serve as many people as possible while avoiding too many deviations and winding around. Ashford Point is a good compromise here.
Here is an example, and one of the rare ones to be found in this re-imagined network of a branched route in that while there are no physical street-related branches a la the present 40 Telephone and the buses stay on the same route, not all buses head all the way west to Mission Bend P&R.
A direct connection via Richmond to West Oaks Mall is missed, but it's easy enough to get to Westheimer at many points on the Frequent Network and elsewhere, this is not a big deal.
It's also interesting to see the 7 Richmond take instead of today's Westpark on the current 25 Richmond Mission Bend branch, Ashford Point Rd. I wonder if perhaps even more people might have been even-better served via Brand Rock Rd and Medfield Dr., but METRO is fanatical on not taking on new circuitousness that becomes over the years entrenched.
METRO wants the connection to Mission Bend P&R. METRO wants to serve as many people as possible while avoiding too many deviations and winding around. Ashford Point is a good compromise here.
And yes, Richmond gets on the very-long
Frequent segment going east from Walnut Bend a peak 10-minute headway
- crazy! And it gets even-better: look at what the new 7 Richmond
does at Wheeler Station...as continues on Blodgett, TSU, the east
part of Wheeler, UH Central, and all the way to Eastwood TC!!
Yes, by itself, continuing on Wheeler from Wheeler Station would have been the most-logical solution, and I'm sure METRO had this in mind at the start, but as it realized keeping on Wheeler would have made too much of a gap between routes south of Wheeler and north of Binz, Blodgett was seen as a better choice, particularly in that Wheeler is broken up by TSU, which would have put the buses on Blodgett or somesuch route, anyway.
Yep - Alabama loses all bus service going along that street. The old 78 Alabama is not coming back.
Yes, by itself, continuing on Wheeler from Wheeler Station would have been the most-logical solution, and I'm sure METRO had this in mind at the start, but as it realized keeping on Wheeler would have made too much of a gap between routes south of Wheeler and north of Binz, Blodgett was seen as a better choice, particularly in that Wheeler is broken up by TSU, which would have put the buses on Blodgett or somesuch route, anyway.
Yep - Alabama loses all bus service going along that street. The old 78 Alabama is not coming back.
8 Westheimer
We come to the most well-known
non-freeway street in Houston, and the street along which the current
82 Westheimer goes back and forth consistently in the top three to
five of average daily boardings. The current 163 Fondren and the
current 2 Bellaire are usually busier, but METRO has seen fit to give
the new 8 Westheimer an 8-minute peak headway, a base headway of a
blistering 10 minutes with a 20-hour span of service. 10-minute base
headway...on weekends!! o... m... g...
9 Renwick San Felipe W Gray
The current 32 Renwick is the
brainchild of long-time mass-transit activist Mark Hogue. It is a
testimony to Mark's prescience and supreme knowledge of the west and
southwest of Houston in regard to METRO, if nothing else, that his
baby has grown up with far-greater frequency into what will be a
powerful way to get around.
Look at what this route does. The current 32 Renwick has since its going online ca. 2007 done very well, and the new 9 Renwick continues northward where the current 32 leaves off, giving service for the first time ever to San Felipe from Fountain View all the way to Shepherd where the route goes into Downtown on W. Gray.
The new 9 Renwick provides connectivity between the routings of the old 32 Renwick and the old 3 West Gray along with key first-time-in-a-long-time service on San Felipe through the Galleria serving that big job center and causing me to think peak headway, particularly in the morning hours, in the Galleria area on this route will be made even smaller.
This route will be a big hit with a lot of people.
Look at what this route does. The current 32 Renwick has since its going online ca. 2007 done very well, and the new 9 Renwick continues northward where the current 32 leaves off, giving service for the first time ever to San Felipe from Fountain View all the way to Shepherd where the route goes into Downtown on W. Gray.
The new 9 Renwick provides connectivity between the routings of the old 32 Renwick and the old 3 West Gray along with key first-time-in-a-long-time service on San Felipe through the Galleria serving that big job center and causing me to think peak headway, particularly in the morning hours, in the Galleria area on this route will be made even smaller.
This route will be a big hit with a lot of people.
10 Kirby Dallas Polk & 11
Heights Dallas Telephone
The new 10 Kirby Dallas Polk starts at the TMC Transit Center, goes up Kirby, takes in a bit of Allen Parkway, does a lopp-de-loop at Waugh @ Memorial, and begins its shared Frequent Network segment with the 11 Heights Dallas Telephone at Waugh as it goes east on McKinney (and westbound on Lamar) to the GRB Conv. Center, then to Polk and the Eastwood TC.
Starting at Waugh, the new 11 Heights Dallas Telephone shares the Frequent Network segment with the new 10 Kirby Dallas Polk. Past Eastwood TC, the 11 goes back to a tiny bit of Leeland, then proceeds on the whole of Telephone road all the way to Hobby Airport taking in the meantime an odd turn-back or deviation on Morley, Glencrest, and Broadway.
If the combined 10/11 works as advertised (that is, if METRO can coordinate these two bus routes in the Frequent segment), it will be really, really cool. The overlapping of two medium-frequency routes into a high-frequency segment is something I don't think METRO has ever done before.
The new 10 Kirby Dallas Polk starts at the TMC Transit Center, goes up Kirby, takes in a bit of Allen Parkway, does a lopp-de-loop at Waugh @ Memorial, and begins its shared Frequent Network segment with the 11 Heights Dallas Telephone at Waugh as it goes east on McKinney (and westbound on Lamar) to the GRB Conv. Center, then to Polk and the Eastwood TC.
Starting at Waugh, the new 11 Heights Dallas Telephone shares the Frequent Network segment with the new 10 Kirby Dallas Polk. Past Eastwood TC, the 11 goes back to a tiny bit of Leeland, then proceeds on the whole of Telephone road all the way to Hobby Airport taking in the meantime an odd turn-back or deviation on Morley, Glencrest, and Broadway.
If the combined 10/11 works as advertised (that is, if METRO can coordinate these two bus routes in the Frequent segment), it will be really, really cool. The overlapping of two medium-frequency routes into a high-frequency segment is something I don't think METRO has ever done before.
12 Memorial Canal
This medium (or 'blue') frequency route
is mis-named in that it does not travel the entirety of Memorial
within the METRO service area or in the general area of Houston. It
only starts at Memorial @ Waugh, but Memorial west of there is very
low-ridership, and the loss of a full single Memorial route is one of
the trade-offs we have had to make for the thing that will be our
Frequent Network. Let's call this thing 'Canal Memorial
East'?
However, this route does tie in Memorial Park indirectly to the Frequent Network, and it offers service indirectly to the many souls on Navigation. Again, in my predictions for the draft roll-out, the loss of the current 48 Navigation took me by surprise, but seeing that service on Canal serves the areas both north and south of that street rather than having service on Navigation serving only the south part of that area in regard to the half-mile desired walking radius makes me see METRO's thinking on this.
The new 12 Memorial Canal does take in E. Navigation and comes back west along that part of Harrisburg taking it to the route's at Magnolia TC. I was hoping METRO would not have to take that fool turnback on Harrisburg. Had the East Line been built to its logical conclusion at Hobby Airport, that part of Navigation would still have had to have been addressed in some way, I think. A wee bit tricky, but nothing compared to the north of Houston.
If I understand correctly, there has been mass-transit along Canal street for more than a hundred years. That custom continues for years to come.
However, this route does tie in Memorial Park indirectly to the Frequent Network, and it offers service indirectly to the many souls on Navigation. Again, in my predictions for the draft roll-out, the loss of the current 48 Navigation took me by surprise, but seeing that service on Canal serves the areas both north and south of that street rather than having service on Navigation serving only the south part of that area in regard to the half-mile desired walking radius makes me see METRO's thinking on this.
The new 12 Memorial Canal does take in E. Navigation and comes back west along that part of Harrisburg taking it to the route's at Magnolia TC. I was hoping METRO would not have to take that fool turnback on Harrisburg. Had the East Line been built to its logical conclusion at Hobby Airport, that part of Navigation would still have had to have been addressed in some way, I think. A wee bit tricky, but nothing compared to the north of Houston.
If I understand correctly, there has been mass-transit along Canal street for more than a hundred years. That custom continues for years to come.
14 Washington
Taking part of the routing of the current 85 Antoine Limited, the new 14 Washington serves that most hip of intersections, Heights @ Washington.
Taking part of the routing of the current 85 Antoine Limited, the new 14 Washington serves that most hip of intersections, Heights @ Washington.
15 Lyons
Like the 7 Richmond, we have here a
route that has a psuedo-branch to a lower-frequency segment of the
route: this time we have blue going to green with the green portion
taking the very last eastern part of Tidwell east of Mesa TC taking
routings of the current 45 Tidwell and the 97 Settegast
Shuttle.
Yes, the current 45 Tidwell will be no more. More on this when we get to the Tidwell routes proper. 348 Food Bank Shuttle, 30 Clinton (Fifth Ward/Denver Harbor TC branch), a tiny bit of 11 Nance, and the 80 Lyons. It is not clear from the map whether this route services the Houston Food Bank.
Here is an example of how METRO had to do routings to avoid as many at-grade railroad crossings as possible: Wayside @ McCarty being one of many in our system that brought down the number of bus-railroad-track crossings in the re-imagined system over our current system by thirty percent.
And for the first time ever, perhaps, the whole of Lyons is served by one bus route. Just looking at this route, though, makes my head hurt for the METRO planning team who had to do a lot of thought-work on all these northeast routes. How to handle these green and blue routes was about 90% of the work our agency put into this Draft map and continues to put into the coming Final map.
Yes, the current 45 Tidwell will be no more. More on this when we get to the Tidwell routes proper. 348 Food Bank Shuttle, 30 Clinton (Fifth Ward/Denver Harbor TC branch), a tiny bit of 11 Nance, and the 80 Lyons. It is not clear from the map whether this route services the Houston Food Bank.
Here is an example of how METRO had to do routings to avoid as many at-grade railroad crossings as possible: Wayside @ McCarty being one of many in our system that brought down the number of bus-railroad-track crossings in the re-imagined system over our current system by thirty percent.
And for the first time ever, perhaps, the whole of Lyons is served by one bus route. Just looking at this route, though, makes my head hurt for the METRO planning team who had to do a lot of thought-work on all these northeast routes. How to handle these green and blue routes was about 90% of the work our agency put into this Draft map and continues to put into the coming Final map.
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