Archive for the 'rail' Category
Is Metro’s budget train about to derail?
Closed Published by Tory Gattis December 6th, 2007 on Houston StrategiesThis post is actually not about Metro’s FTA problems. Instead, it’s about this ominous Dallas Morning News article on DART rail budgets spiraling out of control. A new line from downtown through Irving to DFW airport has a new cost estimate that is a…
The last-mile problem with high-speed rail
Closed Published by Tory Gattis December 3rd, 2007 on Houston StrategiesIn a Sunday Chronicle op-ed, Paul Mangelsdorf of Texas Rail Advocates laid out the case for high-speed rail in the Texas Triangle. I have to admit it sounds pretty cool, being whisked between cities at a comfortable 200-mph without most of the hassles…
Summing up my views on transit
Closed Published by Tory Gattis November 19th, 2007 on Houston StrategiesI’ve caught a little flak recently for a string of posts that were a tad hard on transit. Sorry if I offended some of my readers. Sometimes my posts are less thoughtful and balanced than I’d like them to be - just depends on my mood and time crunch w…
The problem with transit polling
Closed Published by Tory Gattis November 15th, 2007 on Houston StrategiesA new, expanded version of the 2007 Houston Area Survey came out today, and the Chronicle story notes the high support for transit as a “solution to traffic congestion.” If “solution” means “alternative” - then maybe - but if means “alleviate” - then …
IAH, deconstructing rail, planning probs, Kotkin, NYC car boom
Closed Published by Tory Gattis November 8th, 2007 on Houston StrategiesThe second half of this week’s list of smaller miscellaneous items:Joel Kotkin in, of all places, Details magazine, “Is it time to move to the suburbs?” - “Homogeneous cities are making the cul de sac the new downtown. PLUS: Our guide to the hippest  
The Metro board met today to make some big decisions on the rail plan (Chronicle story). The bombshell is that all the lines they thought were going to start as bus rapid transit (BRT) are being upgraded to full light rail (LRT). Evidently the numbe…
Industrial Houston and packets/cars vs. circuits/transit
Closed Published by Tory Gattis August 16th, 2007 on Houston StrategiesA couple quick pass-alongs tonight. The first is from a Joel Kotkin editorial in the Wall Street Journal on the myth of deindustrialization in America, which argues that manufacturing is alive and well in this country. A couple paragraphs on Houston:…
Moving freight, bus vs. rail, and congestion vs. productivity
Closed Published by Tory Gattis July 22nd, 2007 on Houston StrategiesSome good stuff in Bob Poole’s newest Surface Transportation Innovations newsletter over at the Reason Foundation.First, he covers the limitations of freight rail to reduce urban truck traffic congestion. He discusses rail shuttles to get containers f…
Urban Corridors and learning from Dallas’ transit mistake
Closed Published by Tory Gattis June 22nd, 2007 on Houston StrategiesWell, I’m finally back from a very successful conference for OpenTeams. Today’s super busy with conference followups, so I’m just going to pass this blurb from Planetizen along on the importance of the Urban Corridors initiative in Houston to get the …
Reason analysis of the feasibility of commuter rail in Atlanta
Closed Published by Tory Gattis May 11th, 2007 on Houston StrategiesIt’s a very busy time at my software startup, so just a quick pass-along this morning from Reason. They look at how realistic commuter rail is for sprawling Atlanta, a city not unlike our own. Although we do have almost twice the density they do (I t…