Metro tells bike riders to take a hike
As the City of Houston and Metro continue to rake in windfall sales tax revenues month after month (we know this thanks to the tireless efforts of Tom Bazan), Metro is refusing to honor another of its 2003 referendum promises (Rad Sallee's Move It! column):
Last week, Metro officials told biking advocates that the agency has no immediate plans to put bike racks on all its buses — as called for in the 2003 transit referendum — but will consider phasing them in through 2008.
A perennially hopeful suitor, the city's biking community is accustomed to disappointment from Metro. There are far more bus riders than bikers, and when money is tight, guess who loses out?
Both sides were all smiles in 2000, when the agency said it would have all its buses equipped with racks the following year. The money went to Park & Ride expansion instead.
Hopes flourished again in 2004, when a $1.5 million to purchase and install racks was expected to be in the agency's 2005 budget. But a slumping economy and falling sales tax revenue hit Metro with its first annual shortfall, and the item disappeared.
As recently as May, a Metro spokeswoman said "we're reconsidering our timeline" based on cycling advocates' request that racks appear sooner than the 2008 time frame envisioned now.
At Wednesday's Metro board meeting, BikeHouston chairman Woody Speer made the perennial plea. He added that the newest bumper-mounted racks can be locked and unlocked quickly, minimizing bus delays, and do not interfere with automated bus-washing equipment.
Speer said the Houston-Galveston Area Council has $1.2 million in federal air quality funds that Metro could use for the program, but the money runs out this month.
[snip]
After Speer's remarks to the board, Metro President and CEO Frank Wilson responded that the agency would consider phasing in bike racks through 2008. But he said bike fans have taken an "all or nothing" approach.
"We look at this like we look at any other expenditure of funds, an investment in service," Wilson said. "We've heard all the arguments, we've done all the research, and to summarize as best I can, we're going to spend a significant amount of money to carry very little ridership in our estimation."
Oh gosh, I thought Frank Wilson was talking about light rail there for a moment.
So sorry bike riders, Metro has screwed you again. But you all must be used to it by now, since Metro has been breaking its promises to the biking community for five years now. Bus riders in poor communities feel your pain -- instead of that 50% increase in bus service that was promised in 2003, Metro has been slashing and rearranging bus routes right and left since the Main Street Line began operation.
As any kid will tell you, when Mom says "maybe," she means "no." The same is true with Metro -- when Metro says "we'll consider it," that means "forget about it."
MORE: Mayor White's a big biking enthusiast...I wonder what he thinks of Metro's unwillingness to put bike racks on buses?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 08/28/06 03:03 AM | Print |
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