City beefs up Super Bowl ground game

Plan relies on shuttles, buses, rail to move crowds to downtown, NRG

Leave it to Space City to rely on shuttles when it finds itself with a challenging people-moving task.

With tens of thousands expected to come to Houston and more than 1 million people predicted to travel downtown in the days leading up to Super Bowl LI on Feb. 5, organizers of the events before the big game, Metropolitan Transit Agency officials and private transportation firms are planning an all-out blitz of circulating shuttle buses to carry the load.

“For any mega event, we use them because it is helpful to move people around,” said Andy Skabowski, chief operating officer for Metro. “You want to use the resources you have to provide the service.”

Though many visitors will rely on rail, the backstop to Metro’s 22-mile train system is buses. Where rail doesn’t go, or when it can’t handle the crushing volume of expected passengers, buses will be there.

For months, the city’s Super Bowl host committee has refined plans for handling the hordes — expected at 100,000 per day — that will descend for 11 days of concerts and special events capping with the football game. More than two years of discussions between the National Football League, law enforcement and local officials culminated in a number of transportation plans. Although planners accepted Houston is a carloving city, they still decided it was critical to steer folks to transit for a ride to the many pregame events.

Right off the bat in May 2013 when the city was chosen to host the NFL’s title game, Houston Super Bowl officials began beating the drum encouraging people to avoid driving into the downtown area for those pregame festivities and planning their route before they hit the road.

“The more we can talk about that — know before you go — the better,” said Kevin Cooper, media relations director for the Houston Super Bowl Host Committee.

Driving as last option

For Metro and others, it will be huge lift to ferry: downtown hotel visitors; those staying in Uptown and other west-side spots; users of roughly 62,000 parking spots a few blocks west Discovery Green where most of the pregame action will be centered; and even Houstonians who live a few blocks or miles from the central business district.

“First, see if there’s a good Metro option,” suggested Christof Spieler, a transit agency board member. “Walk to a bus route or rail station, bike to the rail, use the Galleria shuttle, or park and ride. You’ll be less stressed and have more fun. Second, if you do drive, take the organizers’ advice and reserve parking on the west side of downtown (away from the closed streets and the worst traffic) and take the shuttles.”

Beginning on Jan. 28, three different free Metro shuttle routes will operate downtown, ferrying folks among downtown hotels, the Discovery Green area that’s the hub of Super Bowl activity and other venues. Downtown service will be provided by the GreenLink buses that circulate downtown offering free rides on weekdays and also on weekends and Thursday and Friday nights. On Super Bowl Sunday, Metro buses will transport overflow light rail riders when thousands leave NRG Stadium after the football game.

A separate free shuttle will operate in Midtown, with the buses supplied by The Wave, which typically operates for-hire shuttle services and a jitney route between area nightspots. Lauren Barrish, owner of The Wave, was readying the three buses earlier this month that will circulate around Midtown, including adding Super Bowlthemed images along the rear of the vehicles.

“It’ll be a good way for people to get around,” Barrish said. “Parking in Midtown can already be tough, but with the Super Bowl and all the parties …”

Meanwhile, guests of Galleria-area hotels can pay $2 each way for a shuttle ride downtown. The shuttles will operate the so-called Pink route every 15 minutes from the Uptown Hilton and the Galleria.

Metro will have virtually all of its 1,200 buses in service to handle its regular service and the additional demand for the Super Bowl and its related events. The transit agency has increased slightly its number of workers, which hovers just below 4,000. Fourteen retired bus drivers will return to service temporarily, and Metro will add 14 new hires to its customer service field team that will help direct visitors to their destinations. Four others will be added to the call center.

Even those driving are being strongly encouraged to make transit a function of how they get around downtown, with the least expensive parking on the western side of the central business district easily connected to the pre-Super Bowl activities around the George R. Brown Convention Center via the Green and Purple light rail lines. Parking around Discovery Green is broken into three zones, with prices of $30 for the closest spots to the action, $20 for spaces a few blocks away and $10 for those across the central business district around City Hall.

‘Entirely different beast’

This isn’t Houston’s first rodeo when it comes to transportation planning for major events. In fact, the annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo at NRG Stadium provides a template for moving people to and from the area back to parking lots scattered around the Houston region. So did the previous Super Bowl held here in 2004 and the NCAA men’s college basketball Final Four, held at NRG in April.

The basketball tournament also featured downtown-centric events at George R. Brown Convention Center.

Still, officials cautioned visitors to downtown not to rely on the usual routes and available parking.

“This is an entirely different beast,” said Francisco Sanchez, director of homeland security and emergency management for Harris County, which is overseeing traffic planning along with transportation officials. “Just because you know how to get there and have this great secret spot for parking at this or that event, that will not be available to this event.”

Street closings will be the biggest barrier around Discovery Green and NRG Stadium, along with what officials expect to be peak travel times. The weekend prior to the game and Super Bowl Saturday and Sunday are all expected to be peak visiting times, which could strain Houston’s capabilities to cater to a crowd moving in a lot of different ways.

“I think these events will unintentionally show the value of a good street grid to traffic flow,” Spieler said. “Downtown’s traffic network is highly redundant. … There are a lot of ways in, a lot of ways out, and a lot of alternate routes. Things tend to keep flowing.”

He was less optimistic about options around the game itself.

“(NRG) Park is dependent on one freeway, three major streets, and a handful of intersections,” Spieler said. “There are no alternatives, and it tends to get bogged down pretty quickly with a big event. And they’ll show the value of transit in a reserved lane. You learn a lot about a city’s transportation network from how it handles big events.”