I normally keep up with all transit projects in the U.S., but these last couple of years have been so depressing with transit funding that I only really follow those that beat the odds. Nevertheless, I am late to the party when it comes to Houston. I remember the regions METRONext initiative being overwhelmingly approved and thinking FINALLY, this huge city will get more transit. But today after a lengthy discussion with some foamers on how to get high speed rail to downtown Houston, I decided to do some digging into Metro to see what they're up to these days, and boy was I disappointed. What I'm seeing, also with Atlanta, Austin, and other cities, is that Houston voters were BAMBOOZLED!!! 67% of Houston voters wanted more transit expansion, but apparently these projects would be scaled back or on hold for the foreseeable future such as the Metro proposed blue line (University line) which was SUPPOSED TO BE light rail, but watered down to BRT. Now THAT isn't even happening as of right now. Utterly disappointing, especially when I read funds were redistributed (for the most part) for roadway improvement projects *COUGH COUGH, MIAMI VOTERS FROM THE 2002 BALLOT 👀*!! The bait and switch has became too common. For example... Austin loosing its downtown rail tunnel, Atlanta turning darn near every rail project into BRT and as mentioned above Miami as well with Metrorail. Any Houstonians in here?? How do you guys feel about the current state of Metro??

On Christmas Day 2024, West Japan Railway Company (JR West) Series 221 set 67 enters Tōfukuji Station as a northbound Nara Line train for Kyoto Station.

Tōfukuji sits east of the Kamo River between Gion and Fushimi-Inari, and is named for the nearby 800-year-old Zen Buddhist temple, so the station and trains had a lot of tourists including myself. 

PS: the train on the southbound track to Nara is an ex-JNR Series 205 train.

I think Hong Kong wins on reliability and affordability. Signal failures or the very rare weekend closures is front page news in Hong Kong, whereas in London it is a part of the system. However I think London is underrated from other countries but overrated from locals.

What do people think?