Passenger Transportation

Free Cabs at HPMA Showcase Sunday!

Rocks Off wants you see as much as Sunday's HPMA showcase as possible, so we have teamed up with our presenting sponsor Yellow Cab to offer free cab rides between the 11 showcase venues. Here's how it works. First you'll need to download the Hail a Cab app for your iPhone. Get it right here. (Sorry ... More >>

City CM Helena Brown Never Visited Any South Korean Airlines On Publicly-Funded Trip To Asia

Houston City Council Member Helena Brown issued a press release Wednesday touting her recent trip to Asia, which she funded with $11,000 in public money, as a "successful business trip" -- but it's become clear her journey to Asia was anything but, and, in fact, completely different than the city's ... More >>

United vs. Southwest Deathcage Match: Your Campaign Donations Scorecard

Houston City Council is currently in an uproar over Mayor Annise Parker's tentative proposal to allow Southwest to have international flights out of Hobby Airport. Councilmembers have said the proposal is rushed and would harm United Airlines, which, of course, merged with Continental and flies int ... More >>

The A380 Superjumbo Jet Coming to Houston

Upstairs, downstairs.​The double-decker Airbus A380, the largest commercial jet in the world, will begin making regular landings in Houston next year. Bush Intercontinental will be the first Texas airport, and only the fourth in the U.S., to have flights from the massive jet that began regula ... More >>

"All Fags Will Burn In Hell": Your Lovely Yellow Cab Greeting?

Homophobia with your video entertainment​Nathan Joel Kasselder and a couple of friends were in F Bar in Montrose last night when they needed a cab, so they called Yellow Cab. The cab came equipped with three video monitors for passengers, all of which were playing a reggae music video. The v ... More >>

Bayport Cruise Terminal: Still Empty and Unused, Except for Wayne Dolcefino

We noted last month the interesting sidelight to the big Disney announcement that they'd be sailing a cruise ship out of Galveston -- that sidelight being that Disney was flipping the bird to the Port of Houston's boondoggle of a cruise terminal. KTRK's ever-intrepid Wayne Dolcefino has now taken a ... More >>

Disney Cruises Coming to Galveston (Instead of Bayport)

M-I-C -- See you real soon....​Good news if you're the type of person who enjoys a Disney cruise, and may God have mercy on your tortured soul if you do: Galveston is one of the new ports of call. Disney announced today that beginning in September 2012, a dozen seven-night cruises each year w ... More >>

Some Good Metro News: Light Rail Will Be Working This Weekend!

Metro's light rail will actually be working this weekend​Hey, here's some good news for a change from Metro: the light rail system will be working this weekend! Hey, you take your good news any way you can these days. All of you saying, "Shouldn't a light rail system be designed to work on a ... More >>

January Weekends: Don't Expect Much Light Rail

Construction for the ages​How long does it take to build a freaking pedestrian bridge across Fannin? Long enough that -- on the heels of Metro having to suspend light rail service on some December weekends to accommodate construction -- they'll be doing the same for most of January, the agenc ... More >>

Guy Robs Bank, Gets Away In Taxi -- In Houston(!)

Photo courtesy FBITaxi!!​We've had bicycling bank robbers, banks robbers who waddled away, and now we've got a cool customer who takes a taxi.In Houston, where taxis are way down the list of transportation options, that's a nice twist.The perpetrator, described as "white male, 35-40, approximately ... More >>

Annise Parker Says Fear Not Tthe Continental/United Merger

Continental -- just a memory now​Houston's Continental Airlines is seemingly about to be taken over by the Yankee corporation of United Airlines in a $3 billion merger than will create the world's largest airline.That airline will not be named Continental.Bad news for Houston? Not necessarily so, ... More >>

Top 5 Airplane Snacks

​Last week, Continental announced that complimentary meals would no longer be offered for most passengers. Starting this fall, healthier meals will be available for purchase to economy passengers. Continental will reserve complimentary meals for first-class passengers, international flights, a ... More >>

First, They Came For My Legroom...Then They Came For My Food

​Earlier this month Houston's Continental Airlines announced that it would be improving its customer service for tall people by charging them for legroom.Today the airline announced it would be improving customer service for everybody in coach by no longer giving them free food."Continental Airlin ... More >>

Who Lied During The Dispute Over How Much The New Rail Lines Would Cost? Maybe No One

​We may finally have some answers to the questions that emerged after it was reported that Metro lied about the cost of two proposed light rail corridors. During a Metro meeting in April, Houstonian Paul Magaziner told the board that the projects would cost $1.8 billion. Frank Wilson, Metro's pres ... More >>

Continental Airlines Manages To Piss Off India

Continental Airlines is having a tough stretch -- its CEO quit, its recently announced earnings are dismaying Wall Street (What do those two things have in common? Hmmm....), its laying off a bunch of workers, and now it's got the parliament of India all in an uproar.Indian politicians are shocked, ... More >>

Feds Say Metro Has Violated Civil Rights Laws (Without Specifics)

We reported yesterday on things looking up for Metro, but today Hair Balls learned that our transit authority is violating the federal government's definition of civil rights. According to a letter dated April 27, the Federal Transit Administration conducted a Title VI Compliance Review of Metro ... More >>

The Former Chron Employees' List, So Far (Updated April 3)

So far we've been limiting our list of laid-off Chron people to names readers might recognize; we've heard from some current and ex-Chronsters that they'd like a master list, since no centralized information is coming anywhere else.With that in mind, here's what we've heard so far. Other names are s ... More >>

The 1940 Air Terminal Museum’s Aviation History Day

Web exclusive!

Life On The Rodeo Road: The Road Was My Home

Photo by Paul KnightScotty Drennan Rodeo cowboys basically live on the road, traveling with a herd of men and women crazy enough to ride, rope and wrestle live animals for a paycheck. Each day, Hair Balls is asking a different cowboy to tell us a little bit about himself and his wildest story from a ... More >>

What, The Name "Death To Jews" Was Taken?

Photo courtesy Qatar AirwaysQatar Airways is making a big move in the Houston market -- it's got ads on the air touting its luxurious service, it's got a giant new 777 plying the new Houston-Doha route.One thing it's probably not doing -- advertising in Houston's Jewish Herald-Voice. Or, if they are ... More >>

Houstonian Survives First Day Of Amazing-ness

Photo courtesy CBSHoustonian Jodi Wincheski and her partner have (apparently) survived to live another day on The Amazing Race.The reality-Tv show's 14th season premiered last night, and Wincheski was on one of the teams, partnered with a fellow Southwest Airlines flight attendant.According to this ... More >>

That Snowstorm Was No Fun For Fliers Or On-Time Statistics

Remember that freak snowstorm that hit Houston late last year? Fun, right?Not if you're an airline worried about your on-time statistics.The federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics has released its latest report, and while overall airline performance improved -- mostly because there's fewer flig ... More >>

The East End Doesn't Like Metro's Light-Rail Overpass (Updated)

The Houston East End Chamber of Commerce, the Eastwood Civic Association, and some East End residents are up in arms over Metro's plans for a light rail overpass on Harrisburg Boulevard. So what's their problem, you say? Why would anyone have anything critical to say of Metro? Yeah, Hair Balls found ... More >>

Southwest Airlines Going All International On Us

You are now free to move about...another country?Has Southwest Airlines, the little Texas company that introduced cattle-call boarding, going all international on us?The airline announced today it's taking the first steps to offering flights to Canada, which is a country somewhere to the north of th ... More >>

Southwest Adding Flights To See Obama Get His First Executive Experience

As we've noted before, Houstonians are going wild over the chance to be in DC for Barack Obama's inauguration (assuming it still goes on, after the world discovers The Truth about his birth certificate.) More proof: Southwest Airlines is adding flights to Washington just to handle the increased ... More >>

Aftermath: The Black Keys at Meridian

Good News For Metro! A Political Speech!

The Mayor's right -- Houston Is Never, Never Trendy

Proletariat’s Denise Ramos: “It Just Didn’t Make Sense for Me to Keep Dealing with This”

To Do: Pub Crawl on Friday

Letters to the Editor

Breaking News, Sorta

So Long, Friendly Skies

Upward Mobility, My Ass

Sole Sister

The Alley Theatre's Bad Dates is a shoe-in

Best Contribution to Downtown Redevelopment

Perfect Fit

Metro's new president already has a Houston attitude

Masters and Commanders

A cruise is a great way to take a break � as long as you're not belowdecks

Stealth Statue

Sssh! There's a secret project under way for the senior Bush

Image-Free Art

Julian Dashper gives us audio but no visuals in his recordings of the museum exhibit environment

Best Place to Buy Roses

Fannin's Flower Row

Best Hype

Super Bowl 2004

City Blames Metro for Cash Crunch

A transit official says delayed payouts are Houston's problem

Access Denied

Once the handicapped come aboard Norwegian Cruise Lines, they may never leave -- no matter how badly they want to

Air Sic

In cargo holds or plane cabins, critters are taking more than flights of fancy

Best Japanese Restaurant

Kaneyama Japanese Restaurant

Cowboy in the Kitchen

Welcome The Houston Press's new food critic, Robb Walsh

News of the Weird

Cotswold Unspun

A group of weathy benefactors have a "gift" for the city. They say it won't cost taxpayers a nickel. But the fleecing may have already begun.

Stadia Watch