03 June 2009
METRO's Quickline vs. John Nova Lomax...on a bike
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 06/03/09 05:55 PM |
28 May 2009
METRO: Your tax dollars at work
This is METRO in action.
This is METRO applauding itself.
This is Tom Bazan's latest on METRO's declining ridership numbers:
METRO fixed-route bus boardings again experienced a huge decline of -26.02% for April 2009 over April 2008. Bus boardings for first seven months of FY 2009 is -21.83% below the same FY 2008 period. In real numbers, there were 11,298,800 fewer bus boardings this fiscal year. The fixed-route bus boardings for the Jan-Apr 2009 period are -29.43% less than the Jan-Apr 2004 period when the tram service was initiated.
The fixed-route bus boardings have DECLINED each of the past NINE months, -20%, with a net loss of -13,240,300 boardings. There have been bus boarding declines in 11 of the past 14 months.
The tram boardings were again off -2.44% for April 2009, and the estimated tram boardings for the first seven months of FY2009 have declined -4.3%. The tram boardings have DECLINED each of the past SEVEN months as compared to the same 7-month period in FY2008. The total loss of tram boardings totals -307,800.
This is METRO applauding itself.
This is METRO's latest service "improvements."
This is local media skepticism of METRO's latest service "improvements."
This is METRO applauding itself, one and a half years behind schedule.
Your tax dollars at work.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/28/09 06:18 PM |
25 May 2009
METRO Solutions: $150,000 per new rail transit rider?
In a post today, blogger and blogHOUSTON commenter Neal Meyer takes apart the three-hour-commute prediction of Ray Chong, until recently one of the City of Houston's traffic bureaucrats. That's well worth reading in itself, but it gets even more interesting towards the bottom of the post:
One item that Mr. Chong's story may be more to the mark on is the assertion that public transportation's share of commuting trips will drop from 3.8 percent to 3.3 percent. One big story that has not been reported by the media concerning recent controversies surrounding eminent domain issues and cost estimates behind Metro's North and Southeast corridors is that in its FY 2010 report to Congress, the FTA is stating that spending $897 million on the North Corridor rail alignment is going to result in a mere 7,500 new riders being attracted to using transit (see page 221 of the report). The Southeast Corridor rail alignment is projected to cost $911 million and is expected to attract a mere 4,500 new riders to transit (see page 227 of the FTA report). Yes gentle readers, you read that correctly. The FTA is telling Congress that it is recommending helping Metro spend $1.8 billion to attract 12,000 new riders to rail transit, a figure that works out to spending $150,000 to attract a new rider to transit. Meanwhile, my yet to be completed FY 2008 - FY 2009 ridership numbers are indicating that Metro lost 10-20 percent of its ridership over the past year. If we continue to pursue such policies, then it is quite plausible that Houston's transit agency will end up bankrupting itself merely to substitute rail transit for bus transit, but not gaining any meaningful market share of transportation trips or doing anything to alleviate traffic congestion. Indeed according to Metro's federal enviornmental impact statements, the agency intends to cut off road lanes available to vehicle traffic along most of the routes where it wants to run rail.
That's some interesting insight into METRO and the FTA documents, and the entire post is recommended reading. Wouldn't it be great if the city had a newspaper that regularly engaged in cost/benefit analysis of such matters? Ah well, at least we got to hear from Christof Spieler and Robin Holzer in today's transit column!
BLOGVERSATION: Lose an Eye, It's a Sport.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/25/09 10:24 PM |
07 May 2009
Maybe topiary turtles would have been a better choice
Remember how METRO hoped sunglass-wearing elephants would make riders keep an eye out for terrorism?
Well, METRO's marketing department had another brainstorming session, and the end result is topiary bunnies to make riders think of the (not-so) Quickline bus service:
They are topiary bunnies designed to catch your eye and remind you of our new Quickline Signature bus service - the 402 Quickline Bellaire - we are launching June 1.
[snip]
Each bunny has its own sprinkler head built in it - and that sprinkler taps into our existing sprinkling system at the TMC Transit Center. The large ones weigh at least 200 pounds and are anchored into the ground.
JoAnne Lingenfelter, manager of marketing at METRO, came up with the idea of planting topiary bunnies to market our new Quickline service.
"It was something different, something kind of fun - and something most people wouldn't object to," said Lingenfelter.
[snip]
The 402 QL Bellaire will feature bus shelters with up-to-the-minute next bus arrival info, improved lighting and better benches. The buses will be hybrid diesel-electric and will sport high-end interiors.
The cost to ride? Just $1.25 - the same price as local buses.
Enjoy the bunnies....and get ready for our fast-as-bunnies Quickline service coming next month.
Well, maybe next month. METRO hasn't exactly been able to keep to the Bellaire Quickline timetable IT set more than a year ago:
Metro had been advertising the Aug. 25 launch — and painted large, circular logos into the pavement along the Bellaire Boulevard route.
There was no notification, though, of the delays
[snip]
Bellaire City Councilman Will Hickman was one Bellaire rider who tried to use the new service. Instead, Hickman complained at last week’s City Council meeting, he ended up on the old Bellaire No. 2 bus to the Medical Center.
It wasn’t the sleek, swift ride he had expected. Hickman complained that it took him more than an hour to get to work.
When he finally got to his office, Hickman said he checked Metro’s website. Sure enough, it said the Quickline service was scheduled to fly.
Metro updated its website Tuesday morning, announcing the new service was “coming soon.”
That's our METRO!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/07/09 04:54 AM |
03 May 2009
Reed: Questions about cost of rail expansion "remain largely unanswered"
The Examiner News' Michael Reed posts this update on the ongoing debate over the cost of METRO's planned light-rail expansion:
The Metro Transit Authority signed a contract last week with Parsons Transportation Group to build the next phase of four more light rail lines in Houston.
Still, questions about the cost of at least two of those lines, raised at the board meeting Feb. 19 by longtime Richmond rail foe Paul Magaziner, remain largely unanswered.
The contract, which was initially agreed to by the board last month, was valued at $1.46 billion with a portion of that Phase 2 funding going to the construction of North and Southeast corridors at amounts of $387 million and $441 million, respectively.
However, a March 23 letter of no prejudice from the Federal Transit Administration to Frank Wilson, Metro board president, said the current net project cost estimate for the North Corridor is more than double that amount — almost $896.8 million.
A similar letter from the FTA concerning the Southeast Corridor placed its net cost estimate at $911.2 million.
Adding to the confusion, each set of numbers was provided by Metro.
Confusion? How can this be, since Frank Procurement Disaster" Wilson assures us that METRO operates "in a completely transparent manner"?
PREVIOUSLY: KHOU's Desel exposes light-rail cost discrepancies; METRO refuses to comment.
BLOGVERSATION: Houston Strategies.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/03/09 09:57 PM |
"Move It" returns to the Chronicle
After a brief hiatus following Hearst Corp's latest bloodletting, the Chronicle's "Move It" transit column returned this week.
Carolyn Feibel, who previously reported on City Hall, will now be manning the beat.
Her introductory column (on HPD's truck safety activities) is here, and concludes with an invitation to email her local transportation questions and/or complaints ([email protected]).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/03/09 08:02 PM |
12 April 2009
METRO: Mary Sit fluffs the numbers; Frank Wilson is MIA
In the never-ending quest to pad ridership numbers, METRO's expensive blogger posted this statistic the other day:
METRO carries some 108 million riders every year.
That caused a reader to whip out his calculator:
108 million divided by 52 week averages out to about umm 2.07 million riders per week...
That's called METRO Math. Hopefully it will not soon be coming to a school district near us.
Meanwhile, KHOU-11's Jeremy Desel notes that Frank Wilson is doing his best impersonation of Clarence Bradford, minus the press release (via Barry Klein)
11 News has been trying to get clarification about the cost differences for the last two days. The explanation apparently needs to come from Metro President Frank Wilson, who has been unavailable for comment.
Has anyone checked with METRO's vendors to see if Frank's out looking for a new job? Or maybe METRO continues to be easily befuddled by the day-to-day intricacies of the transit business:
So maybe that's why the deal fell apart: Somebody says something that the people at Metro don't understand, so they just let it slide. If Parsons starts throwing around ideas Metro doesn't understand, we hope it asks for some clarification, considering all that money involved.
Our tax dollars at work. (Except Pasadena and Baytown, of course.)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 04/12/09 06:27 AM |
07 April 2009
KHOU's Desel exposes light-rail cost discrepancies; METRO refuses to comment
KHOU-11's Jeremy Desel has been examining what METRO is telling the public about the costs of rail expansion versus what METRO is telling the federal government about the costs of rail expansion, and -- shock! -- he finds large discrepancies.
The initial story is set up as one of those typically formulaic he-said/he-said standoffs between Paul Magaziner and Frank "Procurement Disaster" Wilson, but we're going to take on the role of really good editor, excise those elements, and give the facts center stage:
On March 4, the Metro Board voted on a contract with the Parsons Group to design, build and operate four new Light Rail lines.
The cost for the North Line would be $387 million, and the cost for the Southeast Line would be $441 million.
[snip]
According to letters dated on March 23 from Metro to the Federal Transit Administration, Metro indicated that the current net project cost estimate would be $896 million for the North Line and $911 million for the Southeast Line.
The numbers in the letters are more than double the estimated costs in Metro's contract with its builder.
Neal Meyer also takes on the part of really good editor, and offers this synopsis:
Last month, the Metro board announced that it had approved a deal (though it had not signed a contract) with Parsons Transport Group where Parsons would lead a consortium to build four of the Metro Solutions Phase 2 rail lines, but not including the Wheeler / Richmond rail alignment. This deal would involve building a total 20 miles of Metro's planned 30 miles light rail for a price $1.46 billion. The costs of the North Corridor and Southeast Corridors were announced to be $387 and $441 million respectively. Desel's accompanying news story showed footage of last month's board meeting where Chairman David Wolff expressed optimism of falling costs, presumably due to a fall in materials costs resulting from the current economic downturn.
However, apparently in an FTA Letter of No Prejudice communication dated March 23rd 2009, the costs of the North and Southeast Corridors were stated at $896,797,000 and $911,211,000 respectively.
[snip]
...Metro has been telling the public and Parsons one thing and the FTA something entirely different concerning project costs. At $897 million, the 5.4 miles of the North Corridor will run $166 million per mile. The Southeast Corridor will run at $134 million per mile. At costs like this, the 30 miles of Phase 2 will run $4.5 billion plus, a figure the Wizard predicted 18 months ago.
Taxpayers deserve better than this. The discrepancies between both sets of numbers is between $2 - $3 billion....
THAT is the punch line (not that Paul Magaziner and Frank "Procurement Disaster" Wilson dispute the amount of the discrepancy, or that Magaziner opposes wasteful METRO projects in general).
Unfortunately, Frank "Procurement Disaster" Wilson refuses to speak to Desel about the discrepancies. In a report tonight, Desel said a METRO vice president initially had something to say about the numbers, then decided that he did not have anything to say. Perhaps in the coming days, somebody at METRO will have something to say about what looks like a doubling in costs for METRO Solutions and an effort to keep the public in the dark. We hope it will be more helpful than Raequel Roberts rambling on nonsensically about nine-volt batteries or the organization's expensive blogger rambling on about China's ambitions to make significant quantities of electric cars.
BLOGVERSATION: Lose an Eye, It's a Sport.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/07/09 11:57 PM |
04 April 2009
Pasadena gets METRO service; far-flung Harris County suburbs still have nothing
Chron.com reports that METRO is unveiling a Park and Pillage, er, Ride, in Pasadena on Monday:
The city of Pasadena does not contribute sales tax revenue to Metro, so Harris County is using federal transportation funds to pay for the service, with Pasadena chipping in $39,000. Total annual cost is $212,800. Metro has a similar contract to provide bus service to and around Baytown, which is also not a Metro member.
Residents of far North Harris County, on the other hand, do contribute sales tax revenue to METRO and have nothing to show for it, which is by design. Remember when the Chron's Rad Sallee confirmed that METRO was punishing those who voted against wasteful, inefficient light rail?
So again we see that Harris County suburbs are taxed but not serviced, while Baytown and Pasadena are serviced but not taxed.
Something's wrong with this picture, but there's an easy solution: METRO should release the outer 'burbs from the taxing agreement, since it admits it has no interest in providing service for those areas, and that money should go to Harris County for road maintenance.
MORE: On METRO's Sit and Spin blog, Frank "Procurement Disaster" Wilson adds:
"It's important to remember that the people who ride transit also pay for it - not just with fares, but with tax dollars."
Not exactly.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 04/04/09 07:57 AM |
23 March 2009
Frank Wilson: The Main Street Line is irreplaceable
METRO's very expensive blogger posts an excerpt from a trade magazine interview with Frank "Procurement Disaster" Wilson, where METRO's CEO says:
"Before there was a rail line on Main Street, Houston didn't understand what rail was. And the first year after it was here, it was a curse that was sent here by the transit gods," said Wilson.
"And now it's irreplaceable in five short years. There's no [sic] here who's going to say we should roll it up and give Main Street back to the automobile," he continued.
It succeeded because of the locations the 7.5 mile line connects - the financial district, downtown and the Texas Medical Center.
"There is no other place that connects all that...Now people use this as a horizontal elevator. It's like a cable car but flat - on and off, on and off, on and off," said Wilson.
It's so irreplaceable, not to mention indispensable, that Frank Wilson has to have a $1,000 per month car allowance!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/23/09 05:53 PM |
A tale of two transit projects
Cory Crow comments on the news that METRO will not receive "stimulus" funds for light rail, while Harris County has been allocated almost $200 million for the Grand Parkway:
Metro has dithered, changed technology, changed plans and done pretty much anything but get started on the projects, with delays and significant slack-time already used up in the pre-implementation phase. This time last year it would have been fair to say that the Light Rail project was being held-up by Culberson and others in Congress. Today, if Metro wants to see the reason for the delay, they only need look in the mirror.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/23/09 05:34 PM |
17 March 2009
METRO: Our performance levels aren't bad!
METRO's expensive blogger has posted the organization's latest "web chat," this time with Andy Skabowski, associate vice president of operations (long titles and bureaucratic bloat are fun!). We didn't sit through it, but we think one exchange is representative:
Q : Why is METRO Houston's service so bad compared to other cities' mass transport systems?
A : Houston METRO's service performance levels are measured by industry standards, and our service levels and perfomance are equal to, if not better, than other major cities.
That is disappointing. We expected more exciting rhetoric, like "Our performance is world class!" Maybe Raequel "Nine Volt" Roberts can coach him up with more exciting talking points next time.
PREVIOUSLY: Area transit agency manipulating statistics? Just call it The Houston Way (blogHOUSTON).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/17/09 09:20 PM |
14 March 2009
When Georgia increased yellow light times, red light camera violations tanked
On January 1, a new Georgia law kicked in forcing a one-second increase in the duration of the yellow warning light at intersections with red light cameras. The result has been devastating for red light camera makers as violations -- and revenue -- immediately plunged for the months of January, February and March. Last week, the city of Norcross dumped photo enforcement. Now the UK-owned red light camera maker Lasercraft is offering its customers a 90-day suspension of service to prevent cities from dropping their automated ticketing contracts. The cities of Lilburn and Snellville accepted this offer yesterday and suspended their red light camera programs.
"With the passage of House Bill 77, effective January 1, 2009, there has been a precipitous decline in the number of citations issued through the program," Lilburn Police Chief J.B. Davidson wrote in a memo to the city council.
The mandated increase in signal time created dramatic and instant results. In 2008, Lasercraft issued an average of 1,559 citations each month. In January, that number dropped 80 percent to just 313. Norcross also saw an 80 percent drop in violations.
Not that MayorWhiteChiefHurtt would be interested in that approach for Houston.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/14/09 02:37 PM |
10 March 2009
At least the METRO blog's comments are entertaining
We previously noted that METRO's vice-president of PR something-or-another (sorry, we aren't going to look it up -- blogger's prerogative) Raequel Roberts sent a letter to the Chronicle expressing displeasure with the newspaper's recent coverage of METRO.
Apparently, the letter was edited to save space (or perhaps as a courtesy, to save the eyes and brain cells of readers), so METRO's expensive blogger posted the overly long, overly defensive letter in its full, umm, glory on the transit/land-development organization's blog.
That prompted some interesting comments from one reader of the blog. Since few people read METRO's very expensive taxpayer-funded blog (but many people read our small, privately funded blog), we thought we'd reproduce Don G's comments here:
Rosanna Ruiz was apparently correct in her statement about using the trip planner. It flunked my several attempts when I placed my house address and Ben Taub for a trip tomorrow. It correctly inserted my total address and after selecting the correct choice for Ben Taub, it inserted that data. I then clicked on the "Get Trip Plan" button and zip, natta, nothing happened. All it did was refresh the screen.
Prior attempts (before I read the story) required me to tell it the intersections where a bus might be.
What "SHOULD" happen is for it to tell you first, how far you have to walk and an estimated walk time, followed by the scheduled trips and the walk at the other end.
I seriously doubt Metro will every do that because it would show you how long it's going to take from your door step to the destination door step.
and
I use the Net all the time to locate and get to places.
I just now decided to try the Goggle Transit deal and lo and behold, it provided me with directions, total distance and the total travel time!
Of course...that was NOT using 'public transit'!
It showed me that to get from Beaujolais Lane (with exact address entered) to Maroneal :ane (with exact address entered) as a 15.7 mile trip taking 28 minutes.
Now, when I changed it to 'public transit' with the exact same parameters (and I used tomorrow morning at 8 AM BTW) it gave me this glorious statement:
"Sorry, we don't have transit schedule data for a trip from 1359 Beaujolais Ln, Houston, Texas 77077 to 2508 Maroneal St, Houston, Texas 77030 at the time and date you specified."
Now I want to ask, who should we believe? Metro spokeswoman Raequel Roberts who has a vested interest in selling Metro as a gospel? Or should we accept Rosanna Ruiz,who tried it and surely is a skilled user of the net?
Metro continually seems to sell puff stories rather than providing truth to the tax payers who make it what it is.
Remember, Raequel is the one who compared stray current to a nine volt battery1 Insanely depressing comment that time.
PS: I even tried Raequel's address...to my same destination and it worked PERFECTLY for car but failed to recognize public transit. And, FYI, her address failed also using their own "trip planner"
I would like for Mary to tell Raequel to write a apology correction to the Houston Chronicle to be published as a Letter to the Editor as well as a letter of apology to the author.
We won't be holding our breath for that to happen!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/10/09 09:30 PM |
CTC: HCTRA land development bad; METRO land development good
The CTC's Robin Holzer, one of METRO's biggest light rail cheerleaders, recently sent out a Grand Parkway action alert:
When you pay tolls on the busy Westpark and Sam Houston toll roads, do you ever think about what your tolls should pay for? For several years now, Harris County has "pooled" toll dollars from busy toll roads to fund other important transportation projects, like the Hardy extension from 610 to Downtown.
But this Tuesday, our toll dollars may start funding land development, at least if the County moves forward on Grand Parkway segment E without a traffic and revenue study. Read on for details...
Robin Holzer, Chair
Gasp!
Of course, METRO has been unabashedly working on land development for years, but we can't recall a CTC alert about that -- which is especially odd since METRO has the power to condemn privately-owned property within a 1,500 foot radius of any transit station.
Now, longtime readers know that I am no fan of the Grand Parkway because I think it's unnecessary, and it's being pushed by developers. However, one would hope the head of the "Citizens' Transportation Coalition" would show some consistency by demanding accountability (or transparency, or slowness of action, or whatever) from ALL local transportation agencies, not just the evil toll road-building one.
END NOTE: Here's Holzer on METRORail via the Chronicle:
Robin Holzer, chairwoman of Houston’s Citizens’ Transportation Coalition, told the Chronicle, “There’s a lot in this agreement to show that Metro has been listening to the community and trying to accommodate our concerns. The transportation infrastructure we build has a dramatic effect on the quality of life in our neighborhoods and people have a right to be involved.”
Here's Holzer on HCTRA via the Chronicle:
“Harris County has a responsibility to every toll road user in our region to slow down and do this right,” said Holzer, whose mobility advocacy group argues that Segment E will do little to address pressing traffic concerns while helping developers get rich building sprawling subdivisions on the Katy Prairie.
By the way, here's just one example of how METRO's been listening to the community and accommodating concerns.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/10/09 07:06 PM |
05 March 2009
Ready-Fire-Aim: METRO board approves rail contract nobody else has seen
METRO's board has unanimously approved the big rail contract that the public was not allowed to see or debate before the big vote yesterday and which, they contend, was still being negotiated right up to the vote (ready-fire-aim!).
Rosanna Ruiz's coverage for the Chronicle is here.
Instead of offering our opinion, we're gonna throw this one open to readers. What do you think about METRO's $1.46 billion deal (and the gazillion jobs that METRO says it will create)?
Okay, we'll offer one little bit of opinion -- here's hoping these projects turn out better than the Main Street line, with its fine record of collisions (with cars, people, and even wheelchairs), ongoing stray current problems and water art turned to eyesore (photo via Michael Berry). Because a lot of your money is at stake.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/05/09 09:00 PM |
03 March 2009
METRO: We'll release public information when we feel like it
The Chronicle's Rosanna Ruiz reports today that METRO refuses to hand over any information about the multi-billion dollar contract that it will vote on tomorrow:
The Metropolitan Transit Authority continued to withhold the anticipated overall price tag on its next four light rail lines Tuesday in advance of Wednesday's board vote on a contract with Parsons Transportation Group.
Metro spokesman George Smalley said the cost, which he described only as “more than $1 billion,” would not be disclosed until just before the board of directors votes on the contract Wednesday afternoon.
[snip]
Earlier this week, Wolff defended the agency’s silence, saying negotiations likely would continue until the last possible moment before the vote and the terms likely would change.
Ruiz quotes friend Jennifer Peebles of Texas Watchdog:
“If the public can’t find out what’s going on until two seconds before the board makes a decision, that’s just too late,” said Jennifer Peebles, of the nonpartisan Texas Watchdog. “If they are not giving details before the vote and not allowing us a chance to weigh in, they’re making decisions in a bubble.”
Peebles elaborates in this Texas Watchdog blog post.
Right on!
Readers of blogHOUSTON will not be surprised that METRO is being secretive with what should be the public's information, since frequent commenter Tom Bazan is regularly given the runaround by the organization when he requests information. Rosanna Ruiz's predecessors never seemed that interested in the organization's efforts to deny information to the public -- or, for that matter, METRO President and CEO Frank "Procurement Disaster" Wilson's shady background -- so it's nice to see Ruiz reporting more aggressively on the organization.
Unfortunately, it seems as if we're only going to get the information when METRO is good and ready for us to get the information.
BLOGVERSATION: Lose an Eye, It's a Sport, Fireballs, Lightning Bolts, and Hell Storms.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/03/09 09:44 PM |
02 March 2009
Chron Move It columnist recaps experiences riding METRO buses
Chronicle Move It columnist Rosanna Ruiz has been commuting by bus in recent days, and recaps some of the experiences in today's column, which is not exactly a ringing endorsement of transit in Houston:
For rookie riders, the bus system can take some time to figure out. You must first make sense of the tangle of routes and transfers that can require an abundance of time to get to a destination.
The trip planner on Metro’s Web site can frustrate, too. Intersections, rather than street addresses, are required, which then should result in a handful of options. Miss your bus and another may not arrive within the hour.
A trip from my home to the Chronicle took about 45 minutes on the bus, plus walking a few blocks. A typical drive into work usually requires 15 minutes.
The first day of my Metro odyssey involved six buses, two more than necessary.
After an assignment, I mindlessly took a bus heading in the wrong direction. The other was a case of the right route, but the wrong bus. The result was an additional hour to my commute.
The rest of the column contains various observations about other bus patrons, bus drivers, and even the mechanical condition of the buses.
Although not as *ahem* colorful as some of Laurence Simon's past recaps of the METRO experience, it's good to see the Chron transit columnist actually checking out the daily performance of the main transit organization on her beat. That's more curiosity than we saw from her predecessor over a number of years.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/02/09 10:11 PM |
21 February 2009
Thieves hit Kingwood Park and Pillage; METRO's $16 million security system takes a picture
Yesterday Cory Crow highlighted a yet another great moment for METRO PD's Chief Lambert: The Kingwood Park and Pillage was...pillaged:
Commuters were in for a nasty surprise when they got off the bus at the Kingwood Park & Ride Thursday afternoon.
Thieves reportedly broke into multiple cars there, leaving lots of broken glass and busted windows.
KHOU-11's story noted that it was unclear if anyone was watching the security camera feed at Transtar! Recall how METRO touted its $16 million "high-tech" security system back in 2006:
Now, finally, Metro is going to find out whether a camera can do the work of a human on the premises. The first camera was installed at the Kuykendahl Park & Ride lot in August and linked to the Houston TranStar control center, where Metro police can see what the camera sees, Lambert said recently.
Cameras are now being installed at six other lots: North Shepherd, Spring, Pinemont, West Little York, Northwest and Seton Lake. By the end of January, all 25 Park & Ride lots and the Hillcroft Transit Center will have them, Lambert said.
Since Metro eliminated full-time security guards at the lots, the remote security plan has become much more ambitious, with plans now calling for $16 million in new hardware.
"We've totally changed the project," Lambert said. "We didn't envision in the first phase that we would actually be able to remotely open and close and lock down a lot."
The sum covers the cameras, gates controllable from TranStar, call boxes that patrons can use to report crimes, loudspeakers to issue warnings and software to connect all this with the people who will run it.
The software can also identify cars entering the bus bays, suspicious objects left unattended, people moving suspiciously and people entering locations they shouldn't.
"Where Metro police can see what the camera sees." After the crime has been committed and the thief is long gone, that is. Nice job, Chief Lambert!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/21/09 11:37 AM |
05 February 2009
HPD: Let's expand red light camera program
In response to the city's questionable red light camera study which concluded that accidents increased at intersections with at least one red light camera, HPD is considering adding more red light cameras:
The Houston Police Department is considering changes — possibly even expansion — to its red-light camera program after a city-commissioned study showed that crashes went up at intersections where the devices have been installed.
“What we’re concerned about is safety, safety, safety at these intersections,” said Executive Assistant Chief Timothy Oettmeier, whose command includes the camera system. “We want fewer injuries, we certainly don’t want any death, and we want a reduction in accidents.”
How about lengthening yellow light times?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/05/09 05:03 AM |
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