Transportation

George Bush Intercontinental Is One of the Top Hookup Spots; Who Knew?

You thought the only action you were going to see at George Bush Intercontinental Airport was from that one airport security guard who always gets a little handsy in the pat-downs, but you've got another think coming. Turns out, if you're looking to get a little lovin', IAH is the place to go, speci ... 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 >>

Metro Board Gets Input On Whether To Keep Subsidizing City Budgets

The recent outbreak of hysterical excitement around the city can only mean one thing: the Metro board will soon decide on ballot language for the General Mobility Program referendum. With this fateful day closing in, the board convened last night to accept more public input on the issue. Speakers ... More >>

Southwest Rolls Over United In Hobby Battle

In the end, it wasn't even close. The epic battle between Southwest and United was won by SWA, with council voting 16-1 today to allow expansion that will enable international flights out of Hobby. United flies internationally out of Bush Intercontinental, and wanted to keep that status very much ... More >>

Comment of the Day: United, Southwest & Loyalty

We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula involving wit ... 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 >>

Houston: Only Two U.S. Cities Have More Dangerous Drivers

As you head out for your commute, keep this cheery thought in mind: You are about to hand your life over to some of the most dangerous people around: other Houstonian drivers. Space City drivers are the third-most dangerous in the nation, according to another one of those pseudoscientific studies b ... More >>

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 >>

Howard Hughes Gets a Light-Rail Station Named After Him

Bring your own urine jars.​The world's cleanest, germ-free light-rail station -- albeit one in which you no doubt will be encouraged to piss in jars -- will be Stop 3 on Metro's new East End line. That stop will be officially designated the Altic/Howard Hughes stop, the agency announced today ... 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 >>

Southwest Pilot Caught on Open Microphone: You Are Now Free to Denigrate Gays and Your Female Flight Attendants

Times haven't changed (for some).​KPRC has broken the story of a Houston-based Southwest pilot who got a little chatty without realizing his cockpit microphone was on. Air-traffic controllers were treated to a rundown on how the unnamed pilot thinks most Houston flight attendants are ugly, wi ... More >>

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 >>

Unidentified Male, 30-35, Bayou Body Count No. 34

Man killed in fatal traffic accident.​HPD is investigating a fatal traffic accident at 4400 South MacGregor Way around 7:25 p.m. Friday, March 18. The victim, a 30 to 35-year-old male, is currently unidentified. According to the incident report, the victim was driving a tan Jeep Wrangler east ... More >>

The Mechanic: Is This the Latest Metro Crash?

SUV Meets Bus The Mechanic at MOVIECLIPS.comAds for the subtle coming-of-age film The Mechanic, starring Jason Statham, Ben Foster and plenty of guns and bombs, have been all over the air recently. Last night we actually bothered to watch one when it came on. And we could have sworn we saw ... 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 >>

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 >>

Red Light Cameras Can Not Be Killed Quietly

The battle over red light cameras in Houston rages on. ​Paul Kubosh wants to give voters a voice in the ongoing battle over red light cameras in Houston. Kubosh, who started Citizens Against Red Light Cameras, filed today a "motion to intervene" in a federal lawsuit that was filed against the city ... 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 >>

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 Light Rail Expands Hours For Bike Riders

The Iron Horse welcomes velocipedes​Metro and BikeHouston have reached an agreement that expands the hours bike riders will be allowed on light-rail trains.Bikes are still barred during peak travel hours in the morning and afternoon, but the definition of "peak hours" has changed.Bikes can now be ... More >>

Beyond the Motor City

Getting Detroit residents out of their cars and onto a bus or train won't be an easy job

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 >>

Stay The Hell Away From The South Loop If You Know What's Good For You

The West Loop is a disaster area right now. An 18-wheeler has shut it down.From TxDot: EMERGENCY CLOSURE OF IH 610 WEST LOOPAt the request of the City of Bellaire, the Texas Department of Transportation has closed IH 610 West Loop southbound mainlanes and frontage road at Bellaire and is in the proc ... More >>

The Polar Express 4D

Fun to the fourth power

Saying Goodbye: A serial killer's victim is finally buried and Metro kicks the homeless off the light rail.

Highlights from the Blog at HOUSTONPRESS.COM

Metro Vice President To Homeless: Stay Off Our Train

​Todd Mason is the vice president of real estate services for Metro. At the time of his hiring, there was some concern that by hiring Mason and dabbling in big-time real estate development at and around Metro properties, the transit organization was extending itself far beyond its mission statemen ... More >>

Truth in Advertising

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

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 >>

Metro's Light Rail, Directed By Martin Scorsese

Houston METRO Light Rail from NC3D.com on Vimeo Via Swamplot comes pretty, pretty pictures of the proposed light-rail lines Metro is building.See!! Swooping visuals as you zoom in from the skies and glide past trains and Second Life pedestrians!!Hear!! Light-rail trains that sound like Santa's slei ... More >>

Tempers Flare At The Metro Board Meeting

Some important things could have been resolved at today's Metro board meeting, particularly the absence of a contract between Metro and an outside company to design and build four proposed light-rail lines, the cornerstone of future mass transit in Houston.Instead, we got wife-beating. It starte ... More >>

Continental Wants Its Pilots to Work Harder, Fly Righter

If you're flying Continental to Mumbai in the near future, you might want to pay close attention to how rested the pilot is. Are her eyes bloodshot, or are the lids propped up with toothpicks? Or is she perhaps knocking back little pills with gallons of coffee? Well, the FAA seems a bit worried tha ... More >>

Tough Month To Be A Houston Flier

October was really a tough month to be an air passenger in Houston.The federal Bureau of Transportation has released its latest survey of flight delays, and Houston plays a prominent role in it.The third-worst airline when it came to on-time arrivals was our very own Continental. Almost 19 percent o ... More >>

News Chopper Crash Shows The Dangers

The Osteen Trial: Let The Feasting Begin

Bobby Lee

MADtv’s funny man clears it up: He never starred in Grey’s Anatomy

So Long, Friendly Skies

Letters to the Editor

On the Right Track

Sole Sister

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

Best Place to Pretend You're in Blade Runner

Ship Wrecked

A Houston firm certified the oil tanker Prestige as good to go. It broke apart in the Atlantic, causing the worst environmental disaster in Spanish history.

Training Day

Light rail's first day brings one high after another

Best Activist

Tom Bazan

Best Performance by Out-of-Towners

Charlie Victor Romeo, Collective: Unconscious

Best Patio

The Terrace on Main, Warwick Hotel

Letters

The Great Non-Communicator

Houston's new mayor is working as hard as, or harder than, his predecessors. Now if only he could find a way to tell people about it.

Just Don't Breathe It

What Houstonians can -- and probably won't -- do to clean up the air they drive through