Metro shifts vote on transit projects to late 2018

Transit officials are making it easier to start up service in suburban areas of Houston, as they embark on a regional reset of bus and rail priorities.

Voters, however, will not get to decide on an updated regional transit plan until late 2018, later than officials first hoped.

Agency officials expect to begin public meetings to gather input on where expanded bus and rail lines might go in late June.

But the critical public response — the money to fund preferred projects via a voter referendum — likely is 18 months away, Metropolitan Transit Authority officials said.

“The community input process is going to take a lot of time,” said Carrin Patman, chairwoman of the Metro board, calling the chances of asking voters to approve a bond issue this year “unrealistic.”

“My guess is it would not be before November 2018,” Patman said.

The timeline is less rosy than predicted when the regional transit plan was rolled out in February, when Patman and others said a vote this November remained a possibility.

The regional transit plan, meanwhile, could be approved by the Metro board next summer, after a series of meetings with riders and those who rarely interact with transit.

The plan is meant as a reset of Metro’s longterm capital plans, with an eye toward what services are most viable and have the greatest public support. Officials have said it also is meant to recalibrate which projects from the 2003 referendum remain practical. The referendum, which

voters narrowly passed, approved $640 million in bonds that, combined with federal money, built three rail projects. A handful of others, notably the University Line planned along Richmond Avenue, were approved but Metro did not have the money or the ability to overcome intense opposition from skeptics.

Metro, however, is years from having the ability to take on a major project without new revenue or a drastic change in its finances. Officials have said it could be five years before Metro could undertake a major project beyond planned park and ride improvements and dedicated bus lanes along Post Oak, spearheaded by the Uptown Management District.

In the past 15 years, Houston has only grown as transit service — and freeway expansion — rushed to keep up. By 2040 many project the region will have 9.6 million people and a crushing demand for transit, especially between the high-density job centers scattered around Houston and the suburban developments where many people live.

Public comment sought

The regional plan is meant to organize what can be done to deliver transit for that deluge, using planning data, regional modeling of how demographers think the region will grow and what currently is available in terms of carpool lanes where Metro can focus park and ride buses and rail corridors.

Metro officials held 13 meetings with agency employees to solicit ideas from bus and rail operators about what improvements are most needed. That feedback, CEO Tom Lambert said, confirmed what many officials already have said about the need to improve bus stops and shelters and make minor adjustments to routes to improve service.

Also key to the plan as officials prep for meetings in late June is soliciting comment from people in places where bus service is nonexistent, board members said.

“Historically, the meetings have been held in places where Metro is already operating service,” said vice chairman Jim Robinson.

Attracting suburban interest for transit, and properly prioritizing it with other needs, is an important part of the plan, officials said.

Striking a balance

The board on Thursday approved a policy to make it easier for suburban communities outside the transit agency’s service area, which includes Harris County, Houston and 13 smaller cities, to pay Metro to extend service to their cities.

In many suburban cities, officials have fully utilized their sales tax authority, making it impossible to add the 1 percent tax required to join Metro.

Under the policy approved Thursday, Metro will assess the cost of operating the proposed service and an interested municipality can pay that cost and provide the capital projects necessary, such as land and construction of a transit center.

Metro operates similar services with management districts inside Houston paying for improved service, such as the Greenlink daytime and nighttime routes in the central business district.

The approval strikes a balance between encouraging added service to suburban areas but not at a cost to Metro’s existing customers, board member Sanjay Ramabhadran said.

“Nobody that is in the service area will be paying for service outside the service area,” Ramabhadran said.