The Chronicle‘s Rosanna Ruiz does a nice job with this METRO press release posing as a news article:
Houston residents and out-of-town travelers can rely … on taxis, shuttles and now nonstop bus service to George Bush Intercontinental Airport.
Metro has added nonstop bus service to the airport for $30 round-trip.
The buses, similar to those used by Park and Ride commuters, run every 30 minutes to and from Metro’s downtown passenger plaza, 815 Pierce, to Bush airport’s Terminal C.
[snip]
In comparison, SuperShuttle vans cost $23 for a trip to the Bush airport and $44 round-trip.
Yellow Cabs cost $44.50 to downtown, $51 to get to the Galleria area and $55 to travel to Reliant Stadium.
This is a needed, long overdue service that METRO should have been shamed into offering years ago.
That being said, it’s also an expensive, needed, long overdue service.
The Chronicle reporter might have done some comparisons on large cities that offer similar services, and how much it costs to get into the central business area. Chicago, St. Louis, and Philadelphia (to name a few) all offer train rides into their central business areas for less money. Surely other cities offer express bus service. But the reporter doesn’t take the initiative to provide those comparisons, which probably weren’t included in METRO’s press information either.
