Pearland’s Park and Ride system will end April 3 after not meeting its minimum expected rider numbers.
According to Community Impact, the bus program started in July 2019 as a way for Pearland residents to transit to the Texas Medical Center and downtown Houston.
Deputy City Manager Jon Branson said the minimum required number of riders to keep the program being run by Kerrville Bus Co./Coach USA was 50 per day. The program was only averaging 20-25 riders a day.
“They approached the city and said they wanted to provide a Park and Ride service from Pearland to the Med Center,” Branson said. “The city is not paying any subsidy for the service, so the company is paying for the operation through revenue from the program.”
City Councilmember Adrian Hernandez said pricing was not a big issue in the failure of the program, but that the partnership was started at the wrong time. Due to the construction on Highway 288, riders found that being on a bus for their commute was not really that helpful, Hernandez said. Many of Pearland’s residents work in the Houston metro area, but the transit system simply was not thought-out well enough to continue.
Hernandez believes that it will be another decade before the Park and Ride format will work for Pearland’s residents who commute into the metro area, both due to the necessary infrastructure improvements and better financial agreements.
Hernandez also said it would be a clear benefit to the concept of Park and Ride to get more regional participants from the Brazoria County area.
The City of Pearland will, in the meantime, continue to look for other service providers for the Park and Ride system.
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