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Eastern Harris County Transit Gets Two New Routes

Eastern Harris County residents have new bus service.
Harris County Transit Services used a 2.6 million dollar
grant to add two routes to an area that hasn’t had much
mass transit since it opted out of Metro in the ’80’s.

Rod Rice reports.

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About a year ago bus service was started in Baytown. That line has been successful and Transit Service Director Ken Fickes says other communities were interested, but money was an issue.  Then a grant became available from the Houston Galveston Area Council and beginning today bus service has been expanded. 

“This is very basic service that we’re starting.  We’ve only got four busses in the South Houston to La Porte corridor and they circle-eight about every forty minutes.”

The other line connects Crosby, Barrett Station, Highlands and Baytown. Fickes says stops include locations that connect with shuttle services that extend the coverage area even more.  The service is free for the first two weeks and then it cost a dollar.  Seniors and the disabled will pay 50-cents and students with school IDs can ride for free.

Fickes says if the lines prove popular they should be able to fund them once grant money is no longer available.

“We can get 50% of the funding through the Federal Transit Administration to pay for this service, but it’s going to be up to the local jurisdictions to come up with the local funds to help pay for it.”

You can get details on the routes at Harris-County-transit-dot-com.

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