Houston Metro is asking voters’ permission to borrow a busload of bucks to add a robust bus rapid transit network, new rail service to Hobby airport and badly needed bus improvements.
It’s abig ask, and if voters agree, the agency will add up to $3.5 billion in debt to its balance sheet.
But Houston needs abetter set of transit options. Metro has promised to add the borrowed billions to a giant plan for the future, dubbed MetroNext, and all together the $7.5 billion spending plan is an enormous step forward for the agency and for the city. We strongly urge Houston voters to support this first step, by voting yes on the ballot proposition to give Metro permission to issue the bonds it needs.
Voters should know that the proposal won’t add a dime to the taxes all of us already pay for Metro. Our penny in sales tax is already committed, and the additional borrowing won’t change that. Metro simply wants to sell bonds so it can leverage its future sales taxes to pay for projects right now, rather than wait for the accumulation of annual revenues to grow large enough to finally pay for them. By pooling future revenues, it can fast-track improvements for which users in Houston would otherwise have to wait years, or even decades.
It’s areasonable argument — so long as the plan to spend the money is sound. We’ve looked at the details of the proposal and heard from those who support it and from those who loathe it. On balance, we think voters should readily support it.
What’s in the plan? A big bet on buses, to begin with. That’s not as sexy as the kind of investment other agencies, Dallas’ for instance, have made in light rail over the past decade. But it’s likely to benefit far more riders.
The biggest slice of new spending on buses will be on capital investments to create a Bus Rapid Transit network, something new in Houston. BRT will send express buses along sped-up corridors to and from high-volume employment centers. Metro plans to invest $4.1 billion in capital funds and another $1.5 billion in operating and maintenance costs between 2020 and 2040.
Houston has long supported light rail, and it remains a critical priority. But this plan’s focus on commuter buses is long overdue and promises to speed rush-hour trips for riders as well as for drivers glad they’re sharing their highways with fewer motorists.
Speaking of rail, the plan doesn’t desert light rail entirely. In fact, it expects to spend $3 billion expanding the light rail service all the way to Hobby airport, and to spend an average $20 million annually maintaining it over the next 20 years.
That’s a smart investment, and prudent too.
We wish there were more dollars directed to improving local bus service, especially for those who depend on the buses to get to work or church or to doctors. Metro told the editorial board that it plans to spend an average of about $19 million on operating and maintaining local buses between 2020 and 2040, if the plan is funded. That’s encouraging, but considering the agency’s bus O&M costs in 2017 were $335 million, the increase isn’t exactly mind-blowing.
Still, rail and BRT stations close to far more residents, especially low-income residents, will pay big dividends. When a car-less house is close to transit, the number of jobs, groceries and hospitals within a reasonable trip suddenly soars.
Metro predicts that the number of car-less households within ahalf-mile of a light rail or BRT station in 2040 will be 242 percent higher than if the improvements are not built.
That’s a strong reason to support the plan. We urge voters to do so and then keep up their advocacy for any changes they feel the agency should. There’ll be plenty of time to make one’s voice heard. Meanwhile, the agency will have the funds it needs to grow Metro into the system Houston needs.
BIBLE VERSE
O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.
Psalm 84:12