Riders and transit advocates told the Houston City Council on Oct. 7 that a recent change removing traffic‑signal priority for the METRORail Red Line through downtown has substantially slowed trips and disrupted commutes.

Peter Echols of Link Houston presented data to the council and said the change — which left trains stopping at every light in downtown — increased travel times by roughly 10 minutes for some trips and shifted larger delays onto riders. "The prudent solution, the equitable solution, is to turn traffic signal preemption back on," Echols said.

Other speakers echoed that removal of preemption has made the Red Line less reliable and that Metro and the city have provided mixed messages when asked for explanations. Passenger Corey Dastoor, general director and CEO of Houston Grand Opera, and other downtown stakeholders said reliable transit is important for arts workers and downtown businesses.

"Why slow down something that really works?" said one rider, urging the council to press Metro to restore the priority. Several speakers said the Red Line carries about 34,000 riders per weekday and that the cumulative time lost by riders outweighs the time saved by drivers through downtown intersections.

Daniel Aragon, a transit critic, told the council that Metro had retreated from the MetroNEXT plan approved by voters in 2019 and criticized the agency for abandoning planned expansion projects. Others said Metro's operational change may have been intended to improve vehicle mobility downtown but had instead destabilized transit reliability.

Councilmembers asked staff for clarification about responsibilities between the city and Metro and noted that some technical fixes might be achievable through coordination. No formal binding action was taken at the council meeting; riders and advocacy organizations said they will continue to press Metro and the city to re‑examine signal settings and to restore rapid passage for trains where safe and feasible.

Provenance: Discussion of the red‑line signal preemption and downtown delays began with public comment from Link Houston and multiple riders, including Peter Echols and others who described increased trip times and asked for signal priority to be restored.