Who's riding the light rail line?

One of these days, I really do plan to blog on topics beyond this year's election. In the meantime, Christof is doing some heavy lifting for me by analyzing the State of Metro Address, in particular the data about light rail ridership. It's a fascinating read, so do check it out. One point, from the first paragraph:

According to METRO surveys, 40% of the people riding the Main Street light rail line weren’t riding buses before.

Count me among that 40%. I've almost never ridden the buses, with the exception of the few times I've been called to jury duty, since I can ride for free and avoid paying to park. As the rail line is convenient to where I work, I've taken it frequently for trips to the Medical Center and downtown, both for business and personal reasons. It's comparable timewise, it lets me get a little exercise, and it's cheaper than paying for gas and parking. What's not to love?

Oh, and the MOB took rail from Rice to Reliant Stadium for the game against UT in September. You haven't truly experienced METRO Rail until you've taken it while wearing a band uniform and hauling a saxophone. And to add to the fun, I ran into a co-worker on the ride home (hi, Sonia!). Hey, from the MOB's perspective, it was way cheaper than chartering a couple of buses, and again wasn't that much more time consuming, given the level of traffic and the lack of ingress and egress points. Again, what more could you want?

Posted by Charles Kuffner on November 10, 2006 to Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | TrackBack