A recap of the bicycles on Houston light rail issue

SUMMARY

• Houston needs to develop transit in order to continue to grow and prosper. We cannot continue to build roads and promote single-occupant private car use as in earlier decades and hope to address congestion, ozone, energy efficiency, economic justice, human health, and global climate change
  
• The key question is - how to get Houstonians out of their cars and onto transit?
  
• If people aren't in their cars, then they are either walking to transit or bike riding to transit
• Many bicyclist customers need to have their bicycles with them in order to complete their journey. The transit vehicle must accommodate it
  
• METRO has a very good bicycles on buses program, which is experiencing astronomical growth rates
  
• METRO has a highly restrictive bicycles on light rail program which completely misses morning and afternoon rush hour. Bikes banned from start of day until 9:00 am, then banned again from 3:00 pm - 7:00 pm
  
• One reason why METRO cannot accommodate more bikes in a safe manner on the trains is that they failed to install simple, inexpensive, bike hanger hooks on the Red Line
• Another reason why METRO cannot accommodate bikes on the Red Line is due to sheer overcrowding of the train on that line at peak hours at some locations
  
• Concerning bike parking - the University Corridor Final EIS specifically excludes the possibility of installing bike racks at transit stops. This is of great concern. Pages 11-98 and 11-99
  
• Conclusion - the impression left on bicyclist customers is that METRO wants to make the light rail system a "bike free zone"
  

THE WAY FORWARD

Other cities with newly-built light rail systems are able to accommodate bikes on light rail at all times - Phoenix, Dallas, Austin, Denver, Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland. Why not Houston? METRO needs to:

1. Hire a full-time AICP-certified bicycle planner
2. Involve the bike community. Don't treat bicyclists (and other customers, for that matter) as lepers, unclean. Customers are the reason for METRO's existence
   
3. Order the bike hangers for the train cars, four per car. Doing it right the first time is cheaper than retrofit and rework
4. Shrink the "no bikes" time periods based on actual data, not arbitrary fiat. We know that the currently policy is arbitrary in nature, because bikes are banned at 4:30 am on weekdays. What is the occupancy of the light rail at 4:30 am? For the central spine of the system, the Red Line, it may not be possible to ever allow bikes on during the most congested periods. But Red Line conditions may not exist on the other lines. Some lines may be able to carry bikes at all times. But if they don't have the right hardware (bike hangers), it's going to be harder for them to do that
5. Provide safe, secure, abundant bike parking at all transit stops
   
6. Prepare to enjoy swiftly growing light rail ridership involving bicyclists and a DNA-level transformation of the Houston transportation scene. Houston could become a Bicycle City
   

ENDORSEMENTS

The bikes on light rail concept supported during the 2008 Mayoral campaign by Mayor Annise Parker, Peter Brown, and Gene Locke

Letters of support for bikes on trains sent to METRO by County Judge Ed Emmett, and Commissioners Steve Radack, Sylvia Garcia, Jerry Eversole, and El Franco Lee in 2008

Letter of support for bikes on trains sent to METRO by Councilmember Anne Clutterbuck in 2008

Letter of support for bikes on trains sent to METRO by UH Chancellor Renu Khator in 2008

Endorsed by the Houston Sierra Club

Endorsed by Citizens' Environmental Coalition

A joint project of Citizens' Transportation Coalition,BikeHouston, and Texas Bicycle Coalition


MEDIA COVERAGE

KUHF Radio Story, October 12, 2009 by Rod Rice

Houston Chronicle Traffic Column, May 17, 2009 by Carrie Feibel,with quote from CM Clutterbuck

Off The Kuff blog by Charles Kuffner

Meeting, Thursday, February 11, 2:00 pm

Support Bikes on Trains at the Houston Transportation Committee Meeting.
If you ride in Houston, please attend this important meeting!

Houston-area cyclists-

This Thursday, February 11, the Houston City Council Transportation, Infrastructure and Aviation Committee will discuss the METRO light rail construction.

Please attend and insist that METRO accommodate bicycles - both in the light rail cars and with on-street bike parking at stations.

Please take time off work if possible to attend this meeting - it is that important.

Please ask the City Council and Mayor to influence METRO to include accommodations for bicycles in the light rail construction. For maximum multi-modal connectivity, any light rail project MUST allow bikes in the rail cars, and provide plenty of bike parking at the stations.

The meeting will take place at 2:00 pm, in City Council Chambers, 901 Bagby, 2nd Floor.

METRO was slow to accept the benefit of bike racks on their buses until cyclists spoke up - and as of January 2010, there have been more than 117,000 bike boardings on METRO buses. We can make a difference!

Bikes on Public Transport

The Journal of Public Transportation recently published "Integrating Bicycling with Public Transport in North America," a review of bikes and transit policies in eight North American cities by researchers John Pucher of Rutgers and Ralph Buehler of Virginia Tech. The authors conducted case studies of San Francisco, Portland, Minneapolis, Chicago, Washington, New York, Vancouver and Toronto.

Houston Public Radio: Cyclists want more access to light rail

by: Rod Rice, KUHF News
October 12, 2009

While Houston is not the most bicycle friendly city, cycling advocates say commuting by bike here is growing. To increase what's called "inter modal" transit METRO has installed bike racks on its buses. Now cyclists want METRO to do something similar on its trains. Rod Rice reports.

Bicycles & METRO become a mayoral campaign issue

One of the challenges facing commuting cyclists is in using their bikes in conjunction with public transit. If METRO could find a way to better assist cyclists, we would all collect multiple dividends in the form of reduced congestion and pollution, and improved public health and energy efficiency. In a hot, sprawled-out city, bikes can help people roll a mile or two to a transit line, completely replacing a car trip.

During the Mayor Bill White / METRO CEO Frank Wilson era, METRO installed bike racks on its buses, and the usage of these racks has grown at a phenomenal rate. METRO failed, however, to extend rush hour access to the light rail train, despite exemplary equipment and policies that have been successfully deployed in other American cities. Now is the time for cyclists to ask for full, unencumbered access to the light rail train.

I emailed the four major Houston mayoral candidates and asked each of them whether they would influence METRO to install bike hangers in the light rail vehicles and allow bicycles in the vehicles during rush hours. Here's what they had to say, in order of their reply:


Annise Parker's answer -

"The answer to your question is 'yes.' We must have a multi-modal transportation system in Houston, including bicycles and bike lanes."


Roy Morales called me personally on the phone, which I appreciated, and said that he wants to chose a new METRO CEO who will be sensitive to the needs of cyclists.


Peter Brown sent me the following email -

"My comprehensive transportation blueprint, which you can view on my website, calls for making Houston a more bike-friendly city, along with expanding access to livable, walkable neighborhoods and effective, efficient mass transit. And it’s important that all these different transportation options function effectively together. My blueprint specifically calls for “a transit system that facilitates biking,” a commitment to find ways to make METRO more accessible for bicyclists. Peak-period access and bike hangers are two options that I would definitely take a close look at, as long as we can make sure that they are feasible and safe for commuters. But a bike friendly Houston doesn’t end there. I think it’s also important that we continue to expand our network of dedicated bike lanes, trails, and other routes. And we need to make sure our law enforcement officers are trained to acknowledge the rights of bicyclists, and protect them on the road. I’m committed to expanding transportation choices, and that includes promoting bicycling as one of those choices."


Finally, Gene Locke had this to say:

“I believe we can work towards finding a way remove the peak hour ban on bicycles access to the light rail. We need to take a serious look at the feasibility of putting bike racks on light rail cars. We will balance the desire to carry bikes on light rail cars with the safety needs of a high used line such as the red line.”


Cyclists should celebrate the fact that this issue has risen to the attention of the next Mayor of Houston, whoever he or she may be. Clearly, our work is cut out for us. We need to:

1. Vote on November 3. Early Voting starts October 19.
2. Ask the Mayor-elect to appoint a CEO to METRO who has a solid track record in their previous employment of creating and managing transit systems that fully accommodate bicyclists and pedestrians
3. Show up at the METRO Board and Houston City Council meetings, and Harris County Commissioners Court to continually ask for bike access to the trains

Candidate Annise Parker steps up

"She said Metro was not 'bike-friendly' and that, if elected, she would rescind the rush-hour ban on bicycles on the light rail."

Houston Chronicle (Carolyn Feibel), 10/5/09, page A7

Presentation to METRO Board, 1/22/09

January 22, 2009


BikeHouston acknowledges that METRO applied to FTA recently for funding to buy a large number of light rail vehicles. Our preference was that these vehicles would have been spec’d for vertical bicycle hangers for the cabin interiors; however, we do not want to fixate on this decision. The bicyclist community wants to work together with METRO in 2009 and beyond to make the Houston region more mobile, greener, healthier, and more sustainable.

Specific topics and projects for 2009 we would like to see addressed:


• We salute METRO for allowing bicyclists on the train after 7 pm on weekdays. We would like to ask for Early Bird bicyclist hours, from 4:30 am – 6:00 am, so that both late and early bicycle commuters may be accommodated

• Please expedite bike rack installation on the old articulated buses, and formulate consistent policy for the use of folding bicycles on artics

• We salute METRO for recently installing bicycle racks at the Cypress Park & Ride. This was an oversight that was corrected when the community spoke out. Every Park & Ride should have bike racks, and every light rail stop should have bike racks at the stop itself or on adjoining non-METRO property; please work with the City and private property owners within the corridors to make this a reality

• We propose free public “lunch & learn” training classes on how to use bicycles on METRO, given by BikeHouston volunteer instructors

- How to use bike racks on buses
- How to use under-bus storage compartments on Park & Ride buses
- Rail hours, and how to ride safely
- Folding bicycle technology
- General bicycle safety information

• Bicyclists are still being passed too closely by METRO bus drivers. Texas CDL Manual recommends 6 ft clearance, but distances less than 3 ft have been experienced – extremely hazardous!


Peter Wang, LCI
Advisor to the BikeHouston Board of Directors