Crowds Force METRORail To Cut Service (Houston)

Click2Houston - KPRC Television ^ | January 30, 2004 | KPRC Television

[Flyer]

Thanks for the heads up, hummingbird.

[Flyer]

Some folks, I think playfully, (tried) to touch out to the train

Brilliant design, Metro.

*PING!*

As always, a FReep mail will get you on or off this Houston topics ping list.

[RiflemanSharpe]

Thanks for the heads up.

[hummingbird]

Some folks, I think playfully, (tried) to touch out to the train

Probably "not drinkin' or nuthin, honest!"

[Rebelbase]

"Brilliant design, Metro."

[VOA]

People were actually having to wait for the next train," said Steven Hypes, who road light-rail train.

Welcome to Dubya's guest-worker "vision thing" for America.
I say this as an Anglo who on more than a couple occassions has had to wait for
a second bus because the first just blows by me, loaded to the "gunnels" with the
low-cost (probably most undocumented) domestics that keep the homes of the elites
of Los Angeles clean.

The only thing that would make the situation even worse?
If the Democrats "vision thing" for total immigration amnesty became our future,
not Dubya's guest-worker plan.

[BluH2o]

Over New Years in Melbourne, Australia there was a major flap when train service to the far flung suburbs was discontinued at 1AM. People had been encouraged to attend the midnight fireworks downtown only to find if they lingered to long after ... they were left no way home on public transit. Taxi's were overwhelmed, many people walked miles, with hundreds not getting home to well after dawn.
Officials promise to do better next New Years.

[VOA]

For the second night in a row, large crowds at METRORail stations forced officials
to shut down some of the light-rail route and implement their emergency plan.

So, when things get really congested...shut down a part of the transportation system
sold to the taxpayers with the promise of reducing traffic congestion?

I don't know the details of the Houston situation...but this sounds like the usual
situation with some public tranportation boondogles.

I must admit, as much as I hate the liberal environment, at least the
underground subway system in Boston (the "T") seemed to work pretty well...
except for the crowds that actually demonstrate that it works.

[Flyer]

Officials promise to do better

Uh huh, sure.

[VOA]

"Brilliant design, Metro."

Houston built a light-rail above ground in urban (cross-traffic) areas?
Well, this just shows their public transit folks are probably the same ones
who did the same dumb in other parts of the country.

I'll give it to Dallas...at least they put parts of their system below grond level.

[Flyer]

So, when things get really congested...shut down a part of the transportation system sold to the taxpayers with the promise of reducing traffic congestion?

And it is averaging an accident every 3 days, which shuts it down, too. Voters approved another few billion for expansion. Sigh. . .

[humblegunner]

At least carnage in the streets was avoided.
Good call by the cops.. "shut it down!" Works for me.

Let's hope to make it permanent, rip it out and sell it.
An amusement park might buy the thing as a thrill ride.

[Flyer]

Houston built a light-rail above ground in urban (cross-traffic) areas?

Yep. It is averaging an accident every 3 days.

[Flyer]

At least carnage in the streets was avoided.

Yeah, but it failed to take any cars off the streets, but whatever means necessary.

[Senator Pardek]

Some folks, I think playfully, (tried) to touch out to the train.

Jeez - what do you hillbillies do when you see a microwave oven or some other "modern convenience"?

[VOA]

And it is averaging an accident every 3 days, which shuts it down, too.

Nearly the same thing here in Los Angeles with our Metro rail system.
In a place that is still basically a desert, this system has many sections
that are at ground level...so the impatient/Darwin-award-winners have to have collissions
at cross-traffic areas.
But building a ditch for the rail "would cost too much" (what's the lost cost of years
in which ground-level accidents cause traffic snafus and the dollar-cost in public services
to the dead and/injured).
"They know the cost of everything and the value of nothing."

At least in Houston, with your water-table, I naively could see if the mass-trans planners
would argue that putting the system below ground-level and keeping it from flooding
would be prohibitively expensive.

Voters approved another few billion for expansion. Sigh. . .

Amazing. I can see $$$ for a system that works. But to repeat a screw-up.
That's just sad.

I wasn't saying the buried (semi-buried) systems in Boston and Dallas were perfect...
but building a people moving system that conflicts with existing traffic...
that's so dumb as to be unbelievable.

[Flyer]

what do you hillbillies do when you see a microwave oven

Hey, we ain't hillbillies!

We're hicks!

[hummingbird]

Hillbillies are further north, Senator (I'm 3/4 hillbilly myself..heh, heh.) Lot of the people "reaching out" are in Houston for the Superbowl and for the week of street parties preceding the big event. The locals are wising up to staying out of the death trains' way...unless they're "drinkin' or sumtin."

[Flyer]

keeping it from flooding would be prohibitively expensive.

Even at street level is is prone to shutdowns with minor flooding. It hasn't happened yet, but it's only been running for a month.

[VOA]

beautiful photoshop work!

You'd think that some smart city newspapers would occasionally print
submitted work like yours on their editorial page.