Houston Chronicle Move It Column: No-Fare Proposal Has Its Drawbacks

By Rad Sallee, Houston Chronicle

Feb. 11–Former Kemah Mayor Bill King, now angling for the mayor’s job in Houston, floated a splashy proposal Sunday in the Houston Chronicle’s Outlook section.

King said the Metropolitan Transit Authority should at least consider this idea: Drop the rail plans, increase the number of buses and let everybody ride for free.

Now that’s a change from the usual advice Metro receives.

Most criticism faults the agency for not hewing strictly to the voters’ will as expressed in a 2003 referendum that calls for five new light rail lines, and for not collecting enough money in fares to cover its operating costs.

But King says Metro has enough revenue from its 1-cent sales tax to pull off his proposal.

By canceling the planned spending on rail, he said, Metro could afford a huge increase in bus service. And the lure of free rides could “jump-start” a mass migration of solo drivers to mass transit.

Metro declined to comment by deadline Friday, since officials there had not read the piece, but it’s not hard to imagine what they might say.

Metro has invested a lot of money in Q Cards and the machinery needed to service them, not to mention the money spent in fruitless efforts with a previous fare card contractor.

Metro also took a lot of grief over the fare increase it introduced with the new payment system. And it would be the only large transit system in the nation that didn’t charge a fare.

King writes that Capitol Metro in Austin eliminated fares and saw ridership jump 75 percent. He doesn’t mention that after 15 months the agency began charging for rides again. (Its popular ‘Dillo shuttles, however, remain free.)

Chronicle clips from 1991 mention a 50 percent ridership boost in Austin, along with major negatives.

“Some say the buses increasingly are filled with street people who annoy regular patrons and schoolchildren who jump on and off the buses every few blocks,” one story said.

Other complaints included crime, people using the buses as a place to sleep, slowdowns caused by frequent stops, and buses that wouldn’t stop because they were already full.

King notes that Metro’s light rail plans have become embroiled in a lawsuit over a route on Richmond and other alleged violations of the voters’ wishes, and he says correctly that other lawsuits are likely.

But he doesn’t mention the lawsuits that could follow if Metro abandoned the rail that it promised voters.

“The nice thing about the idea is that it is not irrevocable,” King wrote. “If it does not result in the hoped for benefits, we can always reverse course and try something else.”

Can we? It’s become increasingly difficult for cities to get federal funding for rail transit in recent years, and there’s little evidence that this would be easier five to 10 years from now, if the free ride experiment failed.

And judging from the Federal Transit Administration’s recent actions, Metro would have to start over at square one. All those public hearings and all that environmental work might have to be redone.

Still, it’s an interesting conversation piece to go with your morning coffee.

Bike racks too small Peter Wang is pleased that Metro, after long urging, has put bicycle racks on its buses, but he said he wishes they were designed for more than two bikes.

As Wang was riding the 19 Wilcrest Crosstown to work at 7:10 a.m. Thursday, the driver stopped to pick up a passenger with a bicycle.

But the rack, attached to the front of the bus, already was full with Wang’s bike and another rider’s.

The bus was just a quarter-mile from his job, so Wang removed his own bike from the rack and pedaled the rest of the way. Nice of him, but Wang said his point is that two spaces for bikes aren’t enough.

Although most of the cyclists whose persistent requests spurred Metro to adopt the racks are middle-class, he said, many who would use the amenity are anything but.

Wang said the racks also are needed for working people “who will never in their lives join BikeHouston, speak to the Metro board or ride a $1,000 bike.”

“They ride a beater bike that someone gave them, and they have no car.”

Don’t forget 311 Part of the mail that Move It! receives is about minor infrastructure problems — signs knocked down, streets that need new striping, for instance. And many of these requests could be handled better with a call to the government office responsible.

We’re glad to take up more fundamental problems that aren’t so easy to fix, and we’ll pass along routine items as a last resort after readers have tried the direct approach. But in many instances, calling Houston’s 311 line is the best first step.

Don’t just leave it there, says Public Works spokesman Alvin Wright. Callers should also get a tracking number from the 311 operator. That will enable the resident to call back later and check on what’s been done in response. It also enables the 311 operator to do the same.

Then, if all else fails, write us.

traffic@chron.com

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