The Chronicle‘s editorial board has written a (mostly) good editorial on Metro’s continuing ridership woes. The editorial glosses over the fact that Metro inflates light rail ridership, but it does take Metro to task for the way it’s handling bus service:
As the Chronicle’s Rad Sallee reported, the Metro evaluation counted ridership losses from bus route cancellations and adjustments earlier this year as one time events, and then deducted those same totals from the previous year’s ridership in order to come up with the increases that Wilson touted. The unadjusted figures indicate actual ridership for the entire system dropped 1.5 percent, with the bus component down 9 percent. Since commuter traffic grows at approximately 3 percent a year in the Houston area, Metro is actually losing more ground than those figures indicate. If fewer people are taking advantage of the agency’s most basic service, adjusted statistics can’t hide the fact that mass transit in Houston has a serious problem.
[snip]
According to a performance audit of Metro by consultants Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., passenger fare revenues plunged more than 14 percent during the last four years while operating expenses per passenger rose 35 percent.
The audit found that passenger complaints increased significantly last year. A majority concerned driver behavior. The study recommends that Metro consider factors other than route changes for the decline and identify potential bus riders.
Metro’s bus program needs fresh thinking and new strategies. Instead of ending low-performing routes and isolating low-income communities such as Acres Homes, planners should consider contracting for low-cost private van service.
It’s refreshing to see the Chronicle begin to acknowledge some of Metro’s problems, but inexplicably the editorial comes days after Rad Sallee’s excellent reporting.
One more point the Chronicle should consider: most people don’t WANT to use public transportation. Once someone has the ability to own a car, that person doesn’t want to depend on Metro for transportation, especially if the transit options are inflexible (light rail) or require a one- to two-mile walk to reach it (bus service). That’s just a fact of life.
