Train Travel

You, Too, Can Shop for Groceries by Light Rail!

When I tell people that my husband and I share a car, and have for the entire three years we have lived in Houston, we get a lot of funny looks. It's true that the logistics don't always work out, but we almost always make it work. Note the "almost" -- that's the little word that forced me to get ou ... More >>

Classic Downtown Macy's Shutting Its Doors

According to a report from the Houston Chronicle, the store those of us who grew up in Houston knew as Foley's downtown since it opened in 1947 will be shutting its doors as part of a move by Macy's to close underperforming stores. It will begin a clearance sale on January 7 that will run for about ... More >>

Dining on the Rails: A Guide to Light Rail Lunching in Houston

The Houston Press Guide to Lunch (or Dinner) on the Light Rail. When owner Staci Davis decided on a location for her restaurant, Radical Eats, one thing was extremely important to her above all: Davis wanted her vegan paradise to have access to the new Metro light rail North Line that's currently b ... More >>

East End Street Fest

Your Bus & Rail Is Free on New Year's Eve

If your New Year's Eve plans include drinking past the point where it'd be wise to get behind the wheel, Metro's got your back. All buses and light rail are free from 6 p.m. New Year's Eve until 6 a.m. New Year's Day, the agency announced. Metro says it "wants to help individuals celebrating the a ... More >>

Free METRORAIL Rides to and from Reliant Park for Texans Home Games

​Traffic around any sports stadium can be a serious pain on game day, so Reliant has teamed up with METRO to provide free light rail rides to and from Reliant Park for every Texans home game in the regular season. Free rides begin at 5:30 a.m. on game day and run until midnight. To promote th ... More >>

Metro Wants to Use Private Security Firms to Make Sure You Pay for Your Light-Rail Ride

They're watching you; they see your every move, baby.​Metro is making noises about hiring private security as fare enforcers on the light rail. Right now state law bars that, but Metro says Phoenix does it, so why can't they? "Adding civilian fare inspectors could not only increase fare insp ... More >>

Blues on the Light Rail: Ensemble Theatre to Ride & Sing

Making waiting for the train entertaining.​Well my mama told me, my papa told me too Now my mama told me, papa told me too Well I shouldn't be here tryin' to sing these railroad blues. Metro will ignore this parental advice Wednesday when they partake in a stunt that actually sounds like it c ... More >>

Metro Etiquette

Five rules that should be added to light rail.

Metro Prepares for Final Four Onslaught

Metro clearly wants to avoid this during the Final Four weekend.​Beginning next Thursday, college basketball fans will begin descending on Houston for the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, held at Reliant Stadium. In addition to the games, there is a fan festival at George R. Brown Convention ... More >>

Five Rules MetroRail Should Consider Adding

Do some crop dusting, go to jail. It's the law.​Houstonians are generally an amiable folk. We have a reputation for being friendly almost to a fault. So, when we read about the controversy stirred up in New York City over a video of a fight between a subway rider eating spaghetti and another r ... More >>

Remember: No Light Rail Service This Weekend

Another weekend without light rail​Things are back to normal with Metro light rail service -- it's out again all weekend. Construction on a new pedestrian bridge over Fannin in the Medical Center will once again force people onto the bus from 8 p.m. tonight to midnight Sunday. (You might wan ... More >>

Metro Danger Train Cure: Warning Labels

We don't think they will look like this​Ever since its debut, Metro's light rail system has experienced recurring trouble with vehicle collisions. They've redesigned the warning systems at intersections, they've installed enough glowing lights to make Vegas seem tame, and still the crashes ke ... 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 >>

Early Warning: No Light Rail This Weekend

Get on the bus​If you're planning to be all urban and hip and modern by rocking the light rail system this weekend, forget about it. You're back on the bus. Metro is closing the system starting at 8 p.m. Friday, and it won't be back up until midnight Sunday. The Texas Children's Hospital is ... More >>

Amtrak's Terrible Sunset Limited May Become A Daily

Improvements on the way?​Amtrak has a new plan out on how to improve service on the Sunset Limited, the long-distance passenger train that comes through Houston on its way between Los Angeles and New Orleans. Any plan would likely improve service, since the Limited is notorious for long, long ... More >>

Big Stop Sign On Metro's Light Rail Projects

Photo by Bryan WilliamsMetro's light rail expansion plans are slowing down. Big time. ​More bad news, at least for people hoping for more light rail in Houston, came from Metro headquarters this morning when the agency's president, George Greanias, announced that the light rail expansion budget fo ... More >>

Bullet Train Dream Still Remains Popular, If Not Likely To Happen

Houston to Dallas High Speed Rail Presentation When we wrote earlier this week about a Japanese executive giving a presentation about a bullet train between Houston and Dallas, we really didn't think much of it. They've been talki ... More >>

Bullet Train Between Dallas And Houston: It's Coming (Maybe)

How about a Lone Star flag on the front of that thing?​Houston business leaders got briefed yesterday by a Japanese company looking to build a bullet train between Dallas and Houston, with mostly private funds.It's part of a U.S. offense by the Central Japan Railway, which, according to media repo ... More >>

Metro Gets Bit By The "Buy American" Rule

An FTA ruling concerning light rail cars purchased from Spanish company CAF puts a whole lot of money in jeapordy for Metro. ​Metro has received just about the worst news possible: The Federal Transit Administration's "Buy American" investigation found that Metro did, in fact, violate federal guid ... More >>

Metro "Clarifies" That Feds' Ruling Will Delay Light Rail Construction

Metro: Upon further review......​Yesterday's bombshell announcement that the federal government had found Metro's purchase of rail cars to have violated "Buy America" laws brought with it assurances that the agency could still stick to its schedule of building the light rail system.That's not the ... More >>

Metro Ponders Galleria Real Estate, And Why The Uptown District Can't Deliver On its $70 Million Promise

The Uptown light rail line might be stalled, but Metro real estate buys are not. ​At a committee meeting earlier today, a couple Metro board members balked at the idea of rushing into a real estate deal currently in negotiation. The property in question is along Post Oak Boulevard, just north of H ... More >>

Metro's University Line: Start Digging?

Plans for Metro's University Line are one step closer to complete. ​Metro released news yesterday that the Federal Transit Administration has officially approved an environmental impact review of the University light rail line, giving Metro the authority to start buying land along the planned 11.3 ... More >>

Train Wreck

How Metro and its president Frank Wilson got so far off track.

Frank Wilson Survival Watch, Day 3: Spanish Bombs

​How long will the embattled Metro president last? Hair Balls presents today's installment of the Frank Wilson Survival Watch. 1. The Federal Transit Administration sends Frank Wilson a damning letter. Dorval Carter, the FTA's chief counsel, alerted Wilson at the end of last week that the feds are ... More >>

Don't Depend On Light Rail To Get You Anywhere This Weekend

​If you were thinking you could drink freely downtown this weekend and take the light rail home, think again. It's "Set Back the Clock" weekend at Metro, as they abandon the sleek 21st-century wonder of light rail and regress back to smelly old buses.A new pedestrian bridge is being installed over ... More >>

Metro Board Meeting: Near Heart Attacks, And No One Cares What Frank Wilson Thinks Anymore

​The newish Metro board got a wild introduction to the Metro-loving public at its first meeting this afternoon, where one Houstonian got so worked up that he nearly collapsed and later was taken to the hospital. DeWayne Lark, the man that almost collapsed, was talking about the light rail construc ... More >>

It's Not Turning Into A Good Month For Metro

​If the paper-shredding scandal were not enough ... it seems the Metropolitan Transit Authority aka Metro has more problems than it can handle.Remember the rail lines approved by voters in 2003 ... yeah that 2003 when Michael Jordan was still playing basketball and YouTube did not exist? Well, se ... More >>

The Polar Express 4D

Fun to the fourth power

Rider Agrees: Get Those Homeless Off The Light Rail!!

​Earlier this month we wrote about how a Metro vice-president blatantly told some citizens that he considered part of his job to be keeping those nasty homeless people off the light rail. Let them take the bus, he more or less said; the light rail is for winners.He has at least one supporter in th ... More >>

Truth in Advertising

Somers Town gets at the heart of working-class London. And might sell some train tickets, too.

Commuter Rail From Galveston And Hempstead By 2012!! Well, Maybe

​The Citizens Transportation Coalition is currently giddy with dreams of 90 MPH commuter trains speeding from Galveston and down 290 into the city...possibly by 2012, which sounds like the far future but is only three years away. There hasn't been much public movement on commuter rail since the HG ... More >>

High-Speed Rail Coming To Texas, Once Again

Last week, the Houston Business Journal reported that high speed rail  is coming to Houston. At a speech at New York's Penn Station, U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Mary Peters announced that her office will soon begin "accepting expressions of interest to finance, design, build, op ... More >>

An Open Letter to Metro

Metro: Are You Great, or Magnificent?

Learning to Crawl

To Do: Pub Crawl on Friday

Missing them Margs

Tale of Two Cities

Bullet Train to Vegas

Sunday, July 9, at Java Jazz, 2502 FM 1960 East, Spring, 832-482-2684

Best Use of Taxpayer Dollars

Training Day

Light rail's first day brings one high after another

Letters

Best Hype

Super Bowl 2004

Trainspotting

Here's how Metro wants to sell us on light rail

Great Expectations

Joe's Sandwich Shop is just one of the businesses along Main Street struggling to survive until Metro gets its light rail line up and operating.

Best Patio

The Terrace on Main, Warwick Hotel

Train In Vain?

Main street's light rail is on it's way, and boosters hope to see passengers lining up for a ride

The Katy: Railing On

Fears of a future light train trouble Katy Freeway expansion critics