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Not-so-quick launch for new Metro express busline
By MICHAEL REED
Metro’s Quickline express bus service along Bellaire Boulevard didn’t roll out last week, and there’s still some confusion about why — and just when it will launch.
The line was announced in the spring with the intention of speeding trips to the Texas Medical Center from west Houston.
Metro had been advertising the Aug. 25 launch — and painted large, circular logos into the pavement along the Bellaire Boulevard route.
There was no notification, though, of the delays (see accompanying story).
One Metro spokeswoman Carolina Mendoza said the delay involved “development issues” involving elements of the special stops and not separate road construction along the roadway, which planners knew about in advance.
She said the line would be running “as soon as some of those issues are resolved.”
Another Metro spokeswoman, Raequel Roberts, also indicated the new bus service had been delayed by “some final construction work and tweaks to the system.
“Once we are satisfied everything is working to our satisfaction we’ll announce the start. Nothing major — just want to make sure it’s providing the service we want and that people understand completely how it works,” Roberts said in an e-mail.
But Bellaire City Manager Bernie Satterwhite received a timetable and a different reason from Metro.
“They say start will be in 30-60 days depending on the progress on Bellaire Boulevard in Southside Place,” said Satterwhite in an e-mail response to an Examiner query about what Metro was telling the city.
The new service — with only eight stops along the way —will feature upgraded $700,000 buses with the technological capability to communicate with travel signals for quicker departures from the Bellaire Transit Center.
The Quickline service in Bellaire will run at peak traffic times of 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
In a blog conversation Aug. 26, Metro Vice President John Sedlack also addressed the issue.
“Construction installation of shelters, equipment and on-going street construction have delayed this start-up of service,” he said. “We will post information on a new start date as all program elements are completed and taken through start-up testing.”
Burt Ballanfant, the Metro board’s small cities’ representative, said of the postponement, “I don’t think it will be a long delay.”
TICKET TO RIDE
Bellaire City Councilman Will Hickman was one Bellaire rider who tried to use the new service. Instead, Hickman complained at last week’s City Council meeting, he ended up on the old Bellaire No. 2 bus to the Medical Center.
It wasn’t the sleek, swift ride he had expected. Hickman complained that it took him more than an hour to get to work.
When he finally got to his office, Hickman said he checked Metro’s website. Sure enough, it said the Quickline service was scheduled to fly.
Metro updated its website Tuesday morning, announcing the new service was “coming soon.”
—Examiner staff report
The line was announced in the spring with the intention of speeding trips to the Texas Medical Center from west Houston.
Metro had been advertising the Aug. 25 launch — and painted large, circular logos into the pavement along the Bellaire Boulevard route.
There was no notification, though, of the delays (see accompanying story).
One Metro spokeswoman Carolina Mendoza said the delay involved “development issues” involving elements of the special stops and not separate road construction along the roadway, which planners knew about in advance.
She said the line would be running “as soon as some of those issues are resolved.”
Another Metro spokeswoman, Raequel Roberts, also indicated the new bus service had been delayed by “some final construction work and tweaks to the system.
“Once we are satisfied everything is working to our satisfaction we’ll announce the start. Nothing major — just want to make sure it’s providing the service we want and that people understand completely how it works,” Roberts said in an e-mail.
But Bellaire City Manager Bernie Satterwhite received a timetable and a different reason from Metro.
“They say start will be in 30-60 days depending on the progress on Bellaire Boulevard in Southside Place,” said Satterwhite in an e-mail response to an Examiner query about what Metro was telling the city.
The new service — with only eight stops along the way —will feature upgraded $700,000 buses with the technological capability to communicate with travel signals for quicker departures from the Bellaire Transit Center.
The Quickline service in Bellaire will run at peak traffic times of 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
In a blog conversation Aug. 26, Metro Vice President John Sedlack also addressed the issue.
“Construction installation of shelters, equipment and on-going street construction have delayed this start-up of service,” he said. “We will post information on a new start date as all program elements are completed and taken through start-up testing.”
Burt Ballanfant, the Metro board’s small cities’ representative, said of the postponement, “I don’t think it will be a long delay.”
TICKET TO RIDE
Bellaire City Councilman Will Hickman was one Bellaire rider who tried to use the new service. Instead, Hickman complained at last week’s City Council meeting, he ended up on the old Bellaire No. 2 bus to the Medical Center.
It wasn’t the sleek, swift ride he had expected. Hickman complained that it took him more than an hour to get to work.
When he finally got to his office, Hickman said he checked Metro’s website. Sure enough, it said the Quickline service was scheduled to fly.
Metro updated its website Tuesday morning, announcing the new service was “coming soon.”
—Examiner staff report
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