METRO’s free, on-demand electric shuttle service has expanded to Houston’s Near Northside neighborhood, with service there launching Monday.
The “Community Connector” initiative launched as a pilot program in the Third Ward in 2023. It has since expanded to the Second Ward and the Heights along with the downtown area.
The micro-transit service allows residents to request short-distance rides in low-speed electric vehicles by using an app on their phones to get to places such as grocery stores, doctor’s appointments and other public transit options.
Chelsey Trahan, a spokesperson for METRO, said it has 18 vehicles across all service zones with the goal in mind to improve quality of life and provide greater access to resources.
“We’re trying to connect our community,” Trahan said. “We understand that the city is growing rapidly. We have to find innovative ways to grow, and this has been a way to help people to not only get to our services but to travel throughout the community.”
Since the service launched, the Community Connector program has had more than 36,000 riders, according to METRO. The electric shuttles operate from 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Users can request rides through the Ride Circuit app.
METRO, the Houston region’s public transit provider, said it’s investing $10 million in micro-transit options for the 2025 fiscal year. The Community Connector program is a partnership with nonprofit Evolve Houston to provide a way for people to get around their communities and connect with other transit services.
That story is from June 23, I was travelling when it came out and meant to circle back to it sooner, and now here we are. You know how I feel about all this. I don’t know how much of that $10 million (!) we are spending on this micro-initiative, but the original allocation made to Evolve a year ago was $216K, so we sure have ramped it up. And all for 36,000 riders – not sure if we’re measuring that from the date of the $216K grant to Evolve or to a year before that when the Third Ward pilot started, but either way it’s a laughably small number when compared to Metro bus routes. How many of those 36K people are using this to actually get to Metro services? We don’t know, they don’t say. The “micro” in “microtransit”, that does say a lot.
Charles, comparing micro-transit volume and cost to metro bus volume and cost? Careful. The same analysis could be performed for the hundreds of millions spent on bicycle paths and the billions spent on Metro rail.
I’ve used the micro-transit in the downtown area when it first launched and it was very quick and convenient. So much so that now more people are using it, with longer wait times for the vehicle to arrive and many more stops. Of course, a free ride is always going to be popular.
What’s the actual name of the app ?
https://www.ridemetro.org/riding-metro/transit-services/community-connector
Greg, I’m just asking for some transparency. Metro and Mayor Whitmire have touted these little shuttles as a way to increase ridership on the Metro system as a whole. All I want to know is how many of these shuttle riders also rode on a bus or light rail as a part of their trip. Surely that matters, if ridership is the goal.
If the goal is more about providing transportation services for people who have mobility challenges – say, a lower-cost alternative to MetroLift – then I would judge this differently. But so far I have not seen anything to suggest this is the case. Also, those shuttles don’t look like they can accommodate wheelchairs.
In re: comparisons to other transportation modes, as I said in an earlier post, the average daily ridership for a business day for the Silver Line is about a thousand. That means in a month, the much-ridiculed and unloved Silver Line handles about two thirds of the entire shuttle system in a year. A single day of the Red Line is something like 150% of the annual ridership of the shuttles.
The cost would be justified to get drunks off the road at night (adding that assignment to the mission). A single DWI crash can entail huge societal costs and – of course – cost innocent lives.
It might have to be combined with legal authorization under the Dram Shop Act for deprivation of car keys at ethanol dispensaries (bars).
But DWI defense cases are lucrative, so attorneys will likely oppose any such scheme. Narrow private interests trumping the inchoate public interest (with anyone a potentially victim but not known until after the fact). Then it’s a question of compensation for harm sustained, as distinguished from prevention of that harm in the first instance.
Kind’a like incurring millions for rescue by helicopter and recovery with chainsaw and backhow instead of high-water/tsunami sirens for a few hundred bucks, or a megaphone or alarm bell at riverside camp grounds hooked up to a flood gauge.
Sure. To your point, I think a lot of the downtown riders are just using it to get to/from restaurants and meetings, especially in bad weather. Still, I’m sure many people are also using it to get to their Metro bus stop.
As far as public transportation volume and economics, nothing beats our Metro bus system. Even people who own cars will use the Metro park-n-ride lots and ride to/from downtown on the bus. Everything else appears to be low volume. During the work week, I notice the downtown bicycle lanes are nearly empty and the Metro rail cars go back/forth with relatively few riders. Not much bang for the buck there.
Based on my many years of Metro riding experience, (much of it to and from Montrose/Upper Kirby area in all directions) the 82 Westheimer and 25 Richmond have the highest volume, but that is mostly due to older students (eg, Lanier HS and private one nearby in the UK/River Oaks segment) that don’t use school bus. I suspect that a large proportion of the general ridership on non-commuter routes is accounted for by folks that don’t have another option, ie, the carless.
Leaving aside the school kids, the ridership population is mostly black, brown, and foreign. I am myself a minority too, now increasingly bald and white.
The 26/27 circulator to and from the TMC is never full, not to mention standing-room only like the 82 at some times of the day. TMC-terminating routes (and Red Line) have more potential attractiveness because of the high cost of parking there. Ditto for Downtown.
Since I have 4 stops/routes to choose from in my hood – all closeby – I wouldn’t use micro buses. Assuming the realtime public transport app in GoogleMaps is working, the route choice can be optimized. The posted schedules, however, are useless. Sometimes you will see 3 or even 4 82 busses one after the other.
82 is onee of the longest routes. Delay/wait time is an issue now in the summer due to the heat.
Based on my observation (incl from car at crossings) – eastbound light-rail trains have very few riders except when there are games at the soccer stadium. I take the Magnolia line sometime to get to or from the Greyhound bus station, but Magnolia TC is right next to it, so the train is just an alternative option. For me, the same is true of the Red Line, but obviously things are different if you live outside the Loop or even the Beltway. On Wilcrest, for example (nice Robinson-Chase public library) the stops of the 25 Richmond and the 82 Westheimer are quite a few blocks apart. I don’t mind walking (for exercise), but – as already mentioned – I am a minority.
A while back I tried to use the thing in the Heights to get to the red line. The app timed out on me after five minutes. I passed the empty thing driving downtown on White Oak. I don’t know if it was a technological issue or a driver attention issue.
The next day I tried again and got a ride. The driver obviously didn’t know the area and was confused by the directions his app was giving him. He could easily have been first day the day before. I also had three junior high kids join me for a joy ride from 11th/Beverly to the Valero on Studewood @ Omar.
I’ve definitely been in golf carts more capably motored. It’s not physically throttled, but when we were going down Houston Ave (which i can roll down on my bicycle at 25 mph) and we hit 20 the car started telling him to slow down.
I’ve since started riding my bike downtown for work, so i doubt i’ll try it again.