Election 2018: Faster Danger Train: Kill! Kill!

Houston's light rail has been effective, at taking out cars, bicyclists and pedestrians one person at a time.

And proponents are hoping that the victory by Lindsey Pannill Fletcher over John Culberson will increase the miles of at-grade, Danger Train miles that Houston has to navigate around....

Can Lizzie Fletcher Unmoor METRORail? Jeff Balke, Houston Press

While Fletcher campaigned primarily on inclusiveness and healthcare, one portion of the platforms on her campaign website should not go unnoticed. "We need to partner with cities, counties, and METRO to bring additional resources and improvements to our region," she says on her website. "We need an advocate for policies that both maintain and expand our region’s mobility infrastructure. And we need to make sure that Houston receives its fair share of transportation funding to move our citizens across the region."

Similar hopes were echoed by the unproductive class' transportation Wunderkid on Twitter:

Christof Spieler on Twitter.

So @Lizzie4Congress beat longtime incumbent Republican John Culberson for Congress. This is very relevant for transit, since Culberson was unusual in his strong and determined fight to keep federal transit funding out of his district.

It was probably inevitable that this was going to happen post-Culberson, and there are good arguments to be made for increased public transportation, when done the right way.

A continuing argument should be made that a toy-train, built at-grade that doesn't do anything to alleviate congestion from the exburbs and suburbs to Houston's many employment centers is nothing more than a pretty play-thing for wealthy elites to get married and throw parties on.

Also: the rise of Lyft, Uber and the coming of self-driving cars is going to make the car and pedestrian killing Danger Train all but worthless anyway.

Granted, Siemens and the thousands of people who make their living as lampreys on the public teat won't like that too much.  As a Houstonian who gives a shit about getting around the region you probably should.

A better solution would be robust commuter buses coupled with a flexible, efficient last-mile solution would be a much more productive solution than expanding the Danger Train.