Rail and buses charge a fee for their services. Toll roads are expensive and the tolls were supposed to go away once the roads were paid off. They never do though.

Seriously, the train moves a lot more people than buses do. I don't know how you get that the buses move more.

The future is autonomous vehicles. Any city would be foolish to be putting down new rail at this point. Metro should be investing into the development of autonomous buses.

@Texan72 Autonomous vehicles would NOT solve the problem of large amounts of traffic. It would just mean sitting in traffic while the car drives you.

@Dorothy No it would be stupid and pointless. Pearland has stupid people as it is. This is just asking for my wrecks and people dieing

I'm not a fan of bus or rail. The areas they are set up in seem to go down hill after awhile. Park and ride is what I'd favor if there was a vote.

@Ldavis18 How are commuter rail lines asking for wrecks? You don't hear of very many wrecks on any of the commuter rail lines in Chicago, Boston or New York City. I don't think there have been any in the Chicago area since 1972. Now the autonomous cars might be prone to wrecks, but those have not been tested at this point.

@Deanne I have no idea where you get the idea that areas that use rail go downhill. Most of the cities and suburbs that use them are vibrant and have a good middle class or wealthy base who commute into the inner cities. The area around Penn Station in NYC is certainly not going down hill. Neither is the area around Union Station in Chicago which is an interesting one because you can commute from Union Station by boat across to downtown. The area around Ogilvie Station in Chicago is a really good place to be and to walk to downtown from.

@Dorothy Thanks for sharing, would make the commute easier!

Whoa! Just makes me glad I'm retired and very seldom need to go anywhere during rush hour. I can't cut out trips to Houston, though -- my grandkids are there! Seriously, Pearland traffic issues are not going to go away. I've been here nine years and I'm constantly stunned by how much we've changed in such a short time. I have no answers. We loved Park & Ride when we lived in Dallas years ago, and my relatives in other parts of the country love their bus lines and fixed rails. A big difference is that their cities are much more compact, less spread out, even if very large.

I guess if someone moves here, after living in a different part of the country for so long, and wants things to change to accomodate what they are used to then can I have a reserved parking spot at the med center, the museum district and midtown? I'd rather have my own vehicle versus public trans. with a bunch of strangers.

@Dorothy That's an unfortunately 20th century mindset. Maximizing the coverage with autonomous vehicles that can sense their surroundings and communicate with each other as they travel would allow for much faster overall traffic flow even with the roads we already have.We'll get to level 5 autonomy far sooner than Houston could lay enough track to make a meaningful dent in our people moving issues. With it's large spread out metro areas, the transit authorities of Texas should be leading the way in this effort. Instead, it's small minded efforts to built small trains in the city, and an even dumber idea to build a train line between Houston and Dallas.

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@Stealth83 I just can't bring myself to sit down and think about THAT far into the future but as for now, my technology (sort of) despising self does appreciate some things about vehicles becoming run by computers.

@Texan72 I'm surprised not every major city in this state isn't connected to Houston by high speed train, what with the world renowned medical center being here. And, I agree with you about that line being a dumb idea....4.5 hr travel reduced to, what was it, 2 hrs.?