
Houston's sprawl drives up transportation costs - prostoalex
https://www.texasmonthly.com/news/houston-affordability-transportation-costs/
======
S_A_P
The problem as I see it with Houston is that there are few inhibitors to the
sprawl, and few options to navigate it. Land to the west of town(where a
significant part of the growth is happening) is plentiful and relatively
cheap. I sometimes joke that Houston and San Antonio will merge at some
point.(they are technically ~180 miles apart)

There are now 3 rings around the city: 610, 8 and 99. The best way to get in
and out of the city is by car, there just isnt a comprehensive public
transport system to be found. There is talks of rail every few years, but they
usually end up being shot down because

a) nobody wants to give up their land to build it(imminent domain fighting)

b) the city is so damn big it would be cost prohibitive to build a rail
system.

The only way I manage to deal with it is to work 6am to 3pm so that my commute
is in front of rush hour. I'm admittedly part of the problem, as I live 30
miles southwest of the city. If I were to commute at the 8-5pm time, I would
be on the road for 110 minutes each commute. As long as I get on the road by
5:30am, I cut that to 45 minutes in the morning and 55 in the afternoon.

~~~
rjkennedy98
> the city is so damn big it would be cost prohibitive to build a rail system.

But yet there is endless money for roads and parking lots as if they are free
or cheap. I'm so sick of people acting like there is no money for public
transit.

In my hometown of San Diego they are spending close to a billion dollars
adding a single lane to a freeway.

Also, public transit is not the same thing as rail. Public bus systems work
amazingly well in other parts of the world. But in America they are
stigmatized (as being for poor people) to the point that they aren't even
mentioned as public transit options.

~~~
kodablah
Cost prohibitive doesn't mean there's no money, it means money used wouldn't
be worth it. The Dallas area has the longest light rail system in the US, yet
it barely covers the sprawl. Same with buses. There are too many people,
living dozens of miles away from each other, going in all directions at all
times which makes public transit often cost prohibitive. Of course they try
anyways to service their citizens. But without a mind shift change _and_ a
recentralization of people _and_ a significant increase in expenditure, it's a
real waste to grow the barely used system. Especially since most of the people
we're talking about with the sprawl don't live in the city anyways.

As for road expenditures, in both Houston and Dallas, a large amount of new
money towards them use private money on toll roads. This includes joint
ventures for toll lanes on public highways which is of course regressive, but
keeps at bay this kind of comment complaining about public funds.

~~~
rjkennedy98
> Cost prohibitive doesn't mean there's no money, it means money used wouldn't
> be worth it.

Yes, light rail sucks (you will get no argument from me on that). Its
basically the least functional of all public transit, and often times I
believe is put in to make people hate transit since it is less functional

> As for road expenditures, in both Houston and Dallas, a large amount of new
> money towards them use private money on toll roads

That's great that they have toll roads. I still think most people completely
underestimate how unsustainable this type of development is. In 50 years these
sunbelt cities will be falling apart with strip malls collapsing and pot holes
in the roads.

~~~
tmm84
I remember when light rail was proposed. The thing that got me at the time was
it was a single line and it went a very short distance (the goal was to have
people not park in downtown if I remember because downtown Houston is a pain
to park). After the first line was built the number of people who had traffic
accidents with the light rail trains were staggering. The light rail even
switches lanes from one side of the street to the other with cars having to
stop for the train to cross. Downtown is where they aimed it but there wasn't
much room to properly develop and design a line there. If they had
developed/designed it to bring people into town from the suburbs it would have
been better I think.

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Merrill
According to the Citizen's Budget Commission >The Citizens Budget Commission
(CBC) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit civic organization whose mission is to
achieve constructive change in the finances and services of New York City and
New York State government. Our mission is rooted in serving the citizenry at
large, rather than narrow special interests; preserving public resources,
whether financial or human; and focusing on the well-being of future New
Yorkers, the most underrepresented group in city and state government.

[https://cbcny.org/about-us](https://cbcny.org/about-us)

See Figure 1 of their Report at [https://cbcny.org/research/rent-and-
ride](https://cbcny.org/research/rent-and-ride) for a comparison of housing
plus transportation costs for a median income household for 20 cities. Miami
is the lowest; San Jose is the highest. Figure 3 shows housing and
transportation as a percentage of median income. Washington, DC is the lowest;
Phoenix is the highest.

The study appears to be based on the city, not the metro area. Cities vary
considerably in how much of the metro is covered by the city, what percent of
city workers live outside, what percent reverse commute, etc.

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spodek
Turns out building in a flood plain leads to flooding too. Maybe no zoning
laws has drawbacks.

I stayed with a friend in Houston for a week. As a New Yorker, I took the bus
a few places. I also found a farmers market within walking distance to his
home and organized a few people to shop there. They were pleasantly surprised
at this wonderful, affordable source of delicious, healthy produce.

But these social activities were swimming hard upstream. Telling people I took
the bus to meet them prompted reactions like I came from another planet. Not
many people looked like they ate a lot of vegetables. They liked it far more
when I told them I went to a firing range and shot a gun for the first time.

~~~
sillyquiet
This sounds exacty like the kind of bigoted drivel you'd get from someone who
_thinks_ they know what Houston is like, but has never actually been there.
First, Houston has pretty strict zoning laws, second, the metro system is
pretty widely used where it is built out, and thirdly, Houston with some
exceptions, is one of the blue-est (and some areas are the red-est, to be
fair) cities in the state, with a pretty wide spectrum of political opionons
represented in between. Where exactly in Houston were you? Edit: 'zoning laws'
is the wrong term. Houston, does not, in fact have zoning laws as we we think
of them traditionally, but are instead governed by
'[https://houstontx.gov/planning/DevelopRegs/'](https://houstontx.gov/planning/DevelopRegs/')

~~~
RandomBacon
> Houston has pretty strict zoning laws

My understanding is that Houston does _not_ have zoning laws. In fact from
their newspaper:

> The city of Houston does not have zoning but development is governed by
> codes that address how property can be subdivided. The City codes do not
> address land use."

Houston is also the 4th largest city in the US and extremely diverse (not just
in race), I imagine depending where you are in the city is whether or not
you're more likely to see mostly healthy people or mostly unhealthy people

[https://www.chron.com/news/houston-
texas/houston/article/Wei...](https://www.chron.com/news/houston-
texas/houston/article/Weirdest-images-from-Houston-s-lack-of-zoning-
laws-9171688.php)

~~~
sillyquiet
Yep, I was wrong, and the OP and you are correct - there are no zoning laws as
such, only a series of what would be considered building codes in other
cities.

~~~
jcliflee
From the standpoint of land-use regulation, there are "de facto zoning laws":
[https://kinder.rice.edu/2015/09/08/forget-what-youve-
heard-h...](https://kinder.rice.edu/2015/09/08/forget-what-youve-heard-
houston-really-does-have-zoning-sort-of).

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ljoshua
One thing unaccounted for in the comparison is the type of housing that each
respective city affords. Housing costs may be similar (Houston is still less
compared to NYC in the article), but Houstonians are certainly getting much
more space, both inside and out of their home, than NYC residents. This
matters when it comes to things like larger families. Spending time on the
road is definitely a huge pain in Houston, but in the end where you live
doesn't just come down to a numerical comparison.

You pick your priorities.

~~~
rjkennedy98
> getting much more space, both inside and out of their home

I recently visited Dallas (which I assume is similar to Houston) and I asked
my airport Uber driver what there is to do in Dallas and he couldn't name a
single thing. I ended up spending my small time there at a Texas Roadhouse (on
recommendation) which is some horrible corporate restaurant chain getting
served luke-warm mushy green beans that were mostly inedible.

Say what you will about space, I don't know how anyone could live in a place
as culturally dead as Dallas.

~~~
criddell
You visit a city apparently without doing any planning or research, you rely
on an Uber driver for recommendations, then declare the city culturally dead
when you end up at (what is essentially) Applebee's?

I currently live in the suburbs of Austin and I hope that one day I have a
self driving car so that I can live further out of the city and have more
space because I want a big workshop. I'll gladly trade easy access to
restaurants and museums for access to tools and quiet.

~~~
imtringued
How does a self driving car help you live further out? You're still limited by
speed limits, traffic lights and so on.

~~~
o-__-o
The monotonous drive between Texas cities

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omarhaneef
It would really be interesting to see the amount spent on fuel -- as a proxy
for driving -- in the summer vs the fall/spring.

While everyone on here advocating for fewer cars and more alternatives
(walking, biking, public transportation) is correct for all the usual reasons
(environment), there are several issues that make it harder in Houston:

1\. The heat in the summer

2\. There isn't mixed use housing. Walking by restaurants and cafes and people
in NYC is a pleasant experience. Walking over sidewalks in the heat without a
person in site is not as pleasant.

I think if they start more mix use housing (several brave souls try every
year), and as they become successful, we will see more walking in the good
seasons.

I know, it feels like we don't have that kind of time, but hopefully we can
plant more trees in the meantime to slow it all down.

~~~
xseparator
Native Houstonian turned New Yorker (25 years!) here. I often say to my
Houston family and friends that while it may be hotter in Houston, we New
Yorkers deal with the summer heat way more than they do. They go from their
air conditioned houses to their air conditioned cars to their air conditioned
destinations. We New Yorkers are out in it all day...we walk a hell of a lot
more, and stand around in the ovens otherwise known as subway stations. And
there are just way more spaces that simply lack A/C in NYC.

Yes we do have smaller living spaces, but I will say that my household
electricity usage is about 50% less than most of my Houston cohorts,
especially in the summertime.

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esotericn
I've not spent much time studying this but is it not the case that there's
basically some sort of 'ideal suburban-ness' beyond which things start to get
horribly congested?

If you want the sort of front and back garden, big detached house lifestyle,
then it feels like you want to get in early whilst a city is still small. Once
it's beyond a certain size, even if you can afford it, traffic is just awful
at any time of day so you're not getting anywhere.

Public transport isn't the answer either - taxi services can work, but if you
bought in to a place for the sprawl, you just can't get buses and trains to
every corner of it. (It's theoretically possible, but people who move to these
places don't want it by definition - the whole point of having that big old
house is to fill it with big toys, the workshop in the garage, the big chest
freezer, etc etc).

~~~
CydeWeys
There's a natural push-pull here, though. Big cities have the best, most high-
paying jobs. People move to Houston for the earning opportunity and then put
up with the traffic because they have to (not realizing how much it's costing
them). Small cities with less sprawl and less traffic don't have those same
job opportunities. The network effect is very real for companies.

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javagram
> However, median transportation costs were $1,152, a figure 38 percent higher
> than for New Yorkers. In total, the study found, living in Houston was only
> $79 cheaper each month than New York.

What isn’t clear to me from this if if the median transportation costs are
higher in Houston because they have to be, or because people have more free
income and are simply choosing to spend it on more expensive vehicles. I’d
guess you’d find plenty of SUVs and trucks in and around Houston, which are
expensive luxury vehicles that are not _needed_ to commute. So you’re paying a
higher lease price and higher gas prices for your gas guzzling status symbol,
but that’s your own choice - you could drive a used beater sedan and have
lower costs.

~~~
jeffasinger
Not an expert on Houston, but did spend the past weekend there.

There's definitely a big car factor there. I had reserved a mid sized rental
car to get to and from the airport and around the car centric area I was
staying. When I got to the rental car center they apologized and said they
were out of mid sized cars and said I could take a truck, a large suv, a jeep
wrangler or what she referred to as a 2 door. It turns out a 2 door was a
dodge challenger (large, overpowered and fuel inefficient car). The
representative said they got rid of all the smaller cars because no one would
be willing to rent them.

The concentration of pickup trucks being driven as day to day commuting
vehicles seemed quite high as well.

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senectus1
Perth Western Australia needs to look _very_ hard at this.

Its rapidly becoming affordable to live and work in the States capital, and
the rest of the state gets their costs driven up and resources strangled off
to try and pay the escalating cost of sprawl.

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mjparrott
News flash: general living activities, working and housing being far apart
from each other is expensive. See Mr Money Mustache for supporting evidence.

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HoustonRefugee
Former Houston native here so I will weigh in. Houston being less affordable
that NYC is debatable. I have lived in 3 other states and 5 other major cities
and everywhere I have been has been a give and take situation.

For example, property taxes in Texas are legalized robbery. But in Ohio,
property taxes are pretty low. But I get to pay state, and local city income
taxes so my savings in that category is made up for in another. Same goes for
food, rent, transportation, etc.

Sprawl has to do with annexation. Texas allows larger cities to annex smaller
ones and that is how Houston is getting bigger via sprawl. Last thing Houston,
Dallas, or Austin wants is to be locked in geographically. Houston would
rather go to court to fight Dallas to annex a city than build skyscrapers used
for housing.

It's money and power. Cost of living...eh...

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collective-intl
Sounds like a success. The city grew huge until an equilibrium was reached
that slowed growth. With restrictive zoning, you would just have a smaller,
poorer city which fewer people would have wanted to move to.

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helen___keller
Every growing city reaches peak suburb eventually and going back to normal
(transit, bike, and walk oriented) land use patterns just harder and harder
the more car-oriented your city gets

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magwa101
Yep, lived in Texas and LA. Sprawl is expensive.

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cartercole
yea but a bunch of stuff is a ton cheaper and we actually have enough
housing... fuck city planning

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dublin
While transportation in Houston's sprawl is a factor (and yes, duh, requires a
car for almost everybody commuting), the quality of life in Houston, even
considering the heat, humidity, and potential for flooding if you buy too
close to a flood-prone bayou, is literally orders of magnitude higher than
NYC. Seriously, NYC (or any other congested city like it) is just below Hell
on the list of places I NEVER want to be, much less live...) . I lived in
Houston for 10 years, and although I like Austin better overall, there are
things I really miss about Houston. I would not live in NYC for any level of
income. Seriously - offer me $3M/yr and I'll say you're not even close...

~~~
gameswithgo
As a Houston native I strongly disagree. You spend a huge % of life in a car
there, and not in a fun way driving down twisty roads either. That is much
more unpleasant than being cramped in NYC for many, where at least you can
walk everywhere.

