Metro to kick off 24 regional planning meetings on Monday

With no rail lines to build, bus networks to redesign or Super Bowls to prepare for, Metro officials are wondering what’s next — and taking that message on the road starting Monday.

The first of 24 meetings related to Metropolitan Transit Authority’s regional transit plan is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Berry Center in Cypress. The session kicks off six consecutive days for meetings around the region to solicit ideas for what transit needs are most important and most viable in the coming years.

Metro officials have called the plan a necessary step to prioritize all the options for adding bus and rail service, along with van pools and, potentially, busonly lanes or HOT lanes.

“This is about how we make sure transit is seamless throughout the region,” Metro CEO Tom Lambert said.

All options considered

Transit officials have said all options for transit are being considered, with Metro Chairwoman Carrin Patman saying she wants to consider all modes, from buses to light rail to commuter rail where practical.

Skeptics and long-time critics of the agency have said they fear it is an attempt to re-start rail plans and expand Metro’s reach around the region, allowing it to cash in on more federal assistance by covering a larger metro area.

“Does anyone really think by growing Metro into a regional ‘monster’ the bureaucrats will improve service for the poor, minority, elderly and handicapped transit dependent riders,” long-time critic Tom Bazan said in an email.

All of the meetings are within Metro’s service area, which encompasses most of Harris County and small portions of Fort Bend County in Missouri City and Katy, but attracting attention beyond the bus system borders. Pearland has encouraged residents to comment as the plan takes shape, although that city is not a member of Metro and recently declined to fund a planned park and ride partnership with Metro.

Finalized next year

Pearland is an example of what Metro and regional transportation officials are facing. The region is larger than Metro and demands for transit are, albeit slowly, increasing in suburban communities. Metro’s core demand, meanwhile, is connecting dense residential and job centers to one another, via both local bus and rail service and parkand-ride routes.

Metro has identified 21 major residential and business centers within its service area, such as the central business district, Texas Medical Center, Cypress and Kingwood.

Four others — The Woodlands, Sugar Land, Pearland and Baytown — are outside Metro’s area. Another four, such as Katy and Clear Lake, are in the area, but along its borders.

So, whatever comes from the regional transit plan, Patman said, it needs to reflect the entire region’s growth and needs, balanced with demands in the communities that contribute to Metro via a 1 percent sales tax, a quarter of which is returned to local governments for street repairs.

That sales tax money, meanwhile, isn’t enough for Metro to take on a major project such as a rail line or bus rapid transit route without the authority to borrow more money or someone else ponying up a big part of the cost.

If that means going back to voters for bonding authority, that won’t happen until late 2018, once the regional plan is finalized about a year from now.