I continue to have problems with this.
Metro may boost its spending to $6 million for microtransit services managed by a nonprofit organization that didn’t have to bid on a competitive contract — and was previously led by Metro Board Chairperson Elizabeth Gonzalez Brock.
Critics of the deal are questioning the lack of competition and Brock’s ties to the nonprofit Evolve Houston as Metro plans to spend millions on its on-demand electric shuttle service, the “Community Connector.” The service provides free short rides in six-seater shuttles in Third Ward, Second Ward, downtown Houston, the Heights and near Northside.
Two Metro board members and an outside critic argue the nonprofit program has outgrown its original scope without being required to undergo a competitive bidding process to get the best deal for taxpayers. The program’s supporters say that ending the service would cut off thousands of riders who depend on it.
Metro board members Robert Fry and Roberto Treviño voted against extending the microtransit service at a public meeting last month. Treviño said when he initially voted for a small pilot program with Evolve in 2024, he didn’t expect it would grow to a $6 million operation without competitive bidding.
“There are no other competitors because this was an interlocal agreement with just this one vendor,” he said. He argued that Evolve is not being held to the same standard as other service providers at Metro that do have to bid on contracts.
Although Brock no longer serves on Evolve’s board and says she has no conflict of interest, her decision not to recuse herself from votes involving the nonprofit troubled Charles Blain, president of the Urban Reform Institute, a Houston think tank.
“I don’t understand why you would not file a conflict of interest (disclosure),” said Blain, who began raising concerns about Metro’s payments to Evolve in October. “What is the reason for not doing it, even if it’s just to have another added layer of saying that there is distance, there is clarity, there is transparency?”
Adrian Patterson, a lawyer who represents the Metro board, said Brock didn’t have a conflict of interest in supporting Evolve because she’s no longer part of the organization. Some Metro officials said the microtransit service started as a city of Houston pilot and operates under an interlocal agreement, a funding arrangement they said is not a traditional procurement process. Metro took on oversight of the program after Mayor John Whitmire appointed Brock to Metro’s board in 2024.
Brock told the Houston Chronicle that riders rely on the free service offered by Evolve. If Metro didn’t extend it, the loss would be felt by those who use the shuttles for work, school, doctor’s appointments, and to connect to public transit stops.
“We would no longer be able to serve the people,” she said.
Thomas Jasien, interim president and CEO of Metro, said that extending the agreement with Evolve would prevent service interruptions. The majority of Metro board members voted last month to extend Evolve’s microtransit service after receiving positive feedback from riders who depend on the shuttles.
The proposal approved by Metro’s board adds $4.1 million to the existing interlocal agreement with the city to fund the microtransit service. If approved by the city council, the service’s total costs could rise to $6 million, keeping the free microtransit rides running through September 2026.
The city council has not yet set a date for voting on the extension, but the deadline is fast approaching — Evolve’s current agreement expires at the end of the year.
There’s more, about the cost of Evolve, about Chair Brock’s past relationship with Evolve, about Evolve not being subject to the same levels of transparency as other Metro partners, and so on. I’m stopping here because I want to focus once again on the fact that Metro has not told us and does not tell us how many people actually use this service, not just to get from Point A to Point B but also to get from Point A to a Metro bus or light rail stop, or vice versa. How many people are riding, and how many of those riders go on to use other Metro services? These are simple questions. In the absence of answers to them, I do not believe any of Metro’s claims about Evolve. In my own neighborhood, I rarely see these shuttles in use. Give me the numbers or GTFO.
UPDATE: This followup story contains ridership numbers, which I appreciate, though they are not nearly as robust as the numbers for every other form of Metro transit and they raise additional questions. I’ll write about this separately.