Texas Transit Association

The second of two major mayoral candidates in Houston has stated his support for passenger rail in the city, leaving city voters to watch the third candidate that has yet to specifically state his emphatic support or opposition. Decision day nears.

White predicts rail will play key role in Houston’s growth
By JOHN WILLIAMS, Houston Chronicle Political Writer Sept. 23, 2003

Houston mayoral candidate Bill White predicted Tuesday that the area will have a system of light and heavy rail lines in 25 years that will influence the city’s growth patterns.

“Let’s get to the heart of it,” White said during an interview with the Houston Chronicle editorial board. “Our city has been growing 10 times faster than the rest of America.

“That’s incredible; that’s one of the things that makes us a city of opportunity, where people like me and others can move here and make a better life for our families,” said White, who moved to Houston after completing law school at the University of Texas in Austin. “And we are not going to be able to grow unless we find some way that more people can get to and from work — easy.

“That means you have to have a lot of people moving pretty fast in a narrow space because you just can’t triple the size of interstate highways.”

White’s prediction about expanded rail comes as he faces criticism from one of his major opponents, state Rep. Sylvester Turner, that White is lukewarm in his support for rail.

White backs a compromise rail plan that the Metropolitan Transit Agency will put before voters Nov. 4. It will share the ballot with the mayoral election and other local races.

The agency originally considered a rail and bus expansion plan that would have added roughly 39 miles of rail by 2019 to the 7.5-mile light rail line nearing completion on Main Street.

Amid pressure from anti-rail forces who didn’t want the transit agency to stop spending money on roads, Metro reduced the plan to 22 miles by 2012, with an option to have another referendum for more rail in 2009.

Turner has argued for the 39-mile plan, though he told the editorial board Monday that he will vote for the 22-mile proposal.

The third major mayoral candidate, former city Councilman Orlando Sanchez, has not yet taken a position on the referendum.

If the referendum passes, White said, he will work for expanding the system over time because rail helps direct growth in a city.

By 2025, White said, Houston likely will have a light rail system inside Loop 610 that occasionally travels below ground so it can move faster. Spreading out from that backbone will be higher-speed heavy rail lines along existing rail rights of way running to suburban areas and beyond, White said.

The rail lines will be part of a flexible transportation system that will include a lot of cars, buses and flexible working hours, White said.

“What you do when you build rail is you create a corridor for the development of the future Houston,” White said, comparing such development to what has occurred along highways. “You look at every city where rail has been in place for a long period of time, and the city has been built along the rail line.”

If the referendum fails, White said, he will work on building a consensus for another rail system.

In the meantime, he wants to build credibility in Metro through better management, which he said will help the agency build better relationships with its critics.

“We need to let everybody know that Metro will be well managed,” White said. “Last year, the operating budget for buses went up more than $20 million … ridership went down, boardings went down.

“That would be unacceptable in the private sector,” he said. “We need to give people assurances that every penny that Metro takes from taxpayers is well spent.”