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Would Free Transit Incentivize More Riders?
/in Blog /by COUTransit agencies around the country, including in Houston, are considering whether to eliminate or reduce their transit fares. Tory Gattis from the Center for Opportunity Urbanism said he’s been encouraging METRO to take a fresh look at its fares.
Three perfect days in HTX, growth forecasts, increasing our density, reducing homelessness, protesting property taxes, and more
/in Blog /by Tory GattisThe Greater Houston Partnership has released its 2020 Employment Forecast. Only time will tell if their vision is 20/20… (sorry, couldn’t help myself! 😉
2019 Highlights
/in Blog /by Tory Gattisby Tory Gattis — Time for our annual roundup of the best posts of the year 2019. Looking at the list, I think it was a very good year relative to most of my others. Hard to believe we’re coming up on the 15th anniversary of this blog.
Why METRO Should Eliminate Transit Fares
/in Blog /by Tory Gattisby Tory Gattis — The big item this week is my mention in this Chronicle article for getting Metro to reconsider spending $100 million on new fare-collection equipment while they’re still looking at going completely fareless
World Series Houspitality, HTX #1 for entrepreneurship higher ed, cities Americans are leaving, Austin’s fantasy, and more
/in Blog /by Tory Gattisby Tory Gattis — Houston Region May Account for Majority of Economic Gains in Texas over the next 25 years – roughly 30% of the state’s growth, which is more than Dallas’ 24%, but less than DFW combined.
Promoting the Houston model in South Africa, Morocco, and California
/in Blog /by Tory GattisI’m back! Apologies for the sporadic posts in October – it was quite the travel month for me: two smart cities workshops (Johannesburg, South Africa and Marrakesh, Morocco), another workshop on the California affordable housing crisis with this guy (Irvine, CA), work in Connecticut, and fill-in mini-vacations in Cape Town and Barcelona (and I highly […]
Proposing an Autonomous Transit Service for Houston
/in Blog /by Tory GattisTory Gattis covers transit issues: Houston needs a forward-thinking solution when planning transit that will be in place for the upcoming decades. Autonomous vehicles are that solution and Houston can be the leader in pioneering autonomous systems for public transit..
Ten Worst Things About Houston, Best State Rankings, Economic Diversification, and SF vs. TX Homes
/in Blog /by Tory GattisTory Gattis covers the Ten Worst Things About Houston, Best State Rankings, Economic Diversification, and SF vs. TX Homes in this weekly roundup. Texas ranked near the top for residents that feel their state is the best place to live: standard of living and trust in state government are key reasons.
Should You Vote for MetroNext 2040?
/in Blog /by Tory GattisBack in January, I wrote an op-ed in the Chronicle giving MetroNext’s draft 2040 plan a grade of B-, with the primary penalty being too many miles of extremely expensive, low-ridership light rail, including two redundant lines to Hobby airport. Since then, they’ve made some good improvements to the plan, the most dramatic being consolidating […]
What Hawaii Can Learn From Houston, Our Tourism Niche, Metro Population Racing, and More
/in Blog /by Tory GattisJust a few items from the Houston Strategies blog this week: Very cool animated “bar race chart” of metro areas adding the most population between 2011 and 2018. As you can see, Houston was #1 much of it while oil boomed and the rest of the country struggled to get out of the 2008 crash. […]