The Next Stop: METRO's Podcast Episode 50: The Benefits of Riding METRO Even Just One Day a Week Ed Ryland: We spent the entire day traveling to meetings on public transportation, traveling from our home and back, and everything that we had to do that day, we did it on public transportation. Doug Delony: I’m Doug Delony. On this edition of the Next Stop: Parking your car and using METRO instead, even for just one day a week, can have a big impact on your wallet and your mental health! [Introduction Music Plays] Doug Delony: Today, we welcome father/daughter duo Ed and Tiffany Ryland. Ed is the President of ARVO Realty Advisors, and Tiffany is the Associate Director. I’ll start this off with you, Mr. Ryland. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Thank you for joining us to tell your story. Ed Ryland: Great, thank you so much. I’m glad to be here. So, I’m Ed Ryland. I’m President and CEO of ARVO Realty Advisors, and we are a for-service commercial real estate firm, and we’ve been very, very happy to be a part of this community and to support organizations like METRO. Not only with our business service that we can provide them, but also supporting their mission that’s so very important for this region. Doug Delony: And certainly, partnerships with businesses and with community leaders, like yourself, really makes METRO and the community stronger overall. Recently, you reached out and inquired with METRO about parking your car and using only public transit instead. Ed Ryland: I’ll tell you what was the inspiration behind that. It was called “Public Transportation Day.” Doug Delony: Okay. Ed Ryland: With METRO. Doug Delony: Okay. Ed Ryland: Public Transportation Day with METRO, and my car stopped on me, and I had to put it in a shop for an extended period of time. And while it was in the shop, I started to think about what do people do when they do not have their own personal transportation. And it just led me to think more and more about METRO. So, I talked to my daughter, and I said, “You know what we should do? We should take one day and do everything that we would normally do in a workday and in our personal lives and do it on public transportation.” So, that we can really understand not only perhaps the challenges that an individual would have if they didn’t have any transportation at all, but also understand the resources and the value that METRO brings to this region. And so, we decided to do that. We spent the entire day traveling to meetings on public transportation, traveling from our home and back, and everything that we had to do that day, we did it on public transportation. And we ended up using the bus system and the rail system to move around. And it was a very eye-opening, rewarding day, and I got a greater sense of appreciation for not only METRO but those that work for METRO as well. The bus drivers, the people that we met along the way, and Kimberly Williams was just fantastic. She was just overwhelmingly supportive, shared a lot of information about resources that METRO has, connected us with a number of different people within METRO, and she was just fantastic and very open and accommodating with this effort. Doug Delony: That’s great. Kimberly Williams is on our staff, of course, here at METRO. What’s great is that anybody can put their destination in, where they need to go, and I really like the live tracking. You know, when it shows you on the map where the bus is because I’m sure part of your experience was, and this is just the nature of public transit, you know, you can take any city in the world, it probably took you a little longer to get around, right? Ed Ryland: Yeah, you know, I think one of the main things that I picked up from that day of experiencing Public Transportation Day is that you really have to plan. Doug Delony: Right. Ed Ryland: You have to plan that, and then you not only have to plan, but you do have to know what tools and resources are available that can assist you. And I didn’t do any of that. I just, you know, said, “I’ll go to the bus stop. And, you know, I’ll find out.” And then, fortunately, my daughter was with us. She’s more of a techie person than I am, and she was given us the app to kind of find the bus routes and to figure out, you know, what we needed to do, what time they were there, and how we transferred over, and how we pay for it. All of that stuff… Doug Delony: Right. Ed Ryland: …you know, that I didn’t know anything about. And so, I had to have to learn it. And we had to plan around it. Doug Delony: Yeah, it can be a little overwhelming if someone hasn’t done it before, you know, but once you do it a few times, it’s very easy to catch on, and it’s an asset to be able to know how to use public transit. But it really doesn’t take long to catch on to the METRO system and realize that you can, you know, pay via the app and mobile ticket in, or you can have the queue card, of course, still paying cash. Tiffany, what did you think when Mr. Ryland said, “Hey, we’re going to try and do METRO for a day?” Tiffany Ryland: Initially, I thought he was insane, but I’m so happy that we got an opportunity to participate, and it really just opened my eyes to honestly just the possibilities if you’re without transportation or even if you are with transportation. It was so easy, especially once we got to Downtown, where you could just hop on a train, and it was almost like you’re just sitting there one moment, and the next moment, you’re at your destination. Doug Delony: Looking to people who are addicted to their cars and encouraging them to give public transit a try, it kind of reminds me of something like “Meatless Mondays.” Like, if you’re going vegetarian or vegan, but perhaps for just one day a week, not all the time. In the same notion, you don’t have to give up your car 100 percent of the time to make an impact. Just try METRO for once a week, and you’ll save money, and it’s better for the environment. I know there are people who do “No Car Fridays,” for instance. Now, I’m not going to try and put you on the spot and ask for a commitment for you to give up your car for good, but would you consider doing a personal public transit day again? Ed Ryland: I would try it again. I would tell you some of the challenges we had coming from our house, right, is that depending on where you live, you have to walk to those bus stops, right? And some of the walking is not completely concrete, and so you have to walk in grass, right? Doug Delony: Right. Ed Ryland: And depending on the day, it may be raining outside. That’s stuff that we have to navigate around. So, walking from your house to the bus stop and understanding what time the buses come. But I would absolutely do it again. Doug Delony: Yes, and that is one of the challenges we have in the Houston region, covering such a large area, are those what we call “Last mile connections.” They’re just that last mile. It’s also why METRO has plans to improve sidewalks, crosswalks, and overall accessibility as part of the METRONext Moving Forward Plan. And in particular, you may have heard us talk before about the BOOST Network. The BOOST Network, in particular, includes enhancements to 17 of our high ridership bus routes. Mr. Ryland, let’s go back to commercial real estate. In general, how important to you is access to public transit? Ed Ryland: I think it’s critical. I think when companies look at re-locating, you know, they take all that into consideration. Maybe most of the employees have personal transportation but not all. So, you know, when you’re looking at, when we’re looking at re-locating companies, they want to know where public transportation is. You know, how close is it, the facility to public transportation? Particularly when we’re working with other government entities or quasi-government entities. That’s one of the main things they ask, “How close is public transportation?” Doug Delony: Sure. Ed Ryland: We had a client that’s a county government entity, and we provide commercial real estate services for them. And they were looking to identify another location to build a new facility in. One of the top questions was, “How close is public transportation?” And so, mapping out, we use METRO’s information online to help us map it out. And we were fortunate enough to locate a site for them that was very convenient to METRO. And in some cases, we understood that if there’s not a site there, and there’s a big enough demand, METRO will make a route there. Doug Delony: Tiffany, what would you tell someone who is on the fence about even trying public transit? Whether or not they’re in the Houston region. Maybe they’re in another town, and they’re just listening to this. We all know that mass transportation is good for the environment. It reduces congestion, improves mental health. What would you tell someone to try to get them to try it? Just for a day. Tiffany Ryland: The convenience of being able to do your work for an hour commute, especially here in the City of Houston, and especially as transportation or our cars start to get congested back on the highway, being able to work for an hour between your location A and location B is probably one of the most convenient things that you can do. Doug Delony: Mr. Ryland, same question for you. What would you tell someone to try and encourage them to use METRO? Whether it’s the Park and Ride or the light rail, or even bus. Ed Ryland: I would say, you know, it’s so stressful driving in traffic these days and, you know, it’s so much pressure on you, and then, you know, you multi-thinking and multitasking while you’re driving. But when you get on public transportation, particularly the rail system that’s really smooth and, you know, comfortable, when you get on public transportation, that stress level goes down, right? Doug Delony: Right. Ed Ryland: Because you’re not multi-thinking and multitasking. And so, you’re able to just sort of breathe and relax, and you’re able to really focus on being more productive. When you’re on the road driving, I mean, your primary goal is to get to where you’re going safely, and in the middle of that, we’re always thinking about, you know, what we’re going to do when we get there and how we’re going to do this. But when you’re on public transportation, it takes that pressure and that stress off you so that you can be more focused, you know, more engaged in conversations. And just make you more productive. I have a greater appreciation for the challenge that METRO has but also for the resources it brings. I would hate to think that METRO didn’t exist because there are people who use it for their livelihood, for their jobs, you know, for their quality-of-life stuff. And what I would like to see METRO do: 1. Look at those areas where, you know, you talk about the last mile, but where folks are having to walk through, you know, deep grass and difficult time walking to get to a METRO station. I would like to see something like that done. Doug Delony: Yes, absolutely. I think if anyone or any company or organization would try and claim that they’re perfect, well, that right there should be a clear sign that there’s probably some flaws. There’s always room to grow for anyone and to improve. And so, at METRO, we look forward to continuing our efforts under METRONext. Ed Ryland: Oh, absolutely, and I would definitely try it again. I mean, I would definitely do it again. I’m a lot more comfortable with it, and I know the system a little better, and I would definitely do it again. Doug Delony: Especially when that cooler weather rolls back around, right? [laughs] Tiffany Ryland: I would add to that, just from an employer’s standpoint, knowing some of the incentives that METRO has to encourage their employees to ride the METRO. You know, again, we never knew what it was like to have to use public transportation to get to and from work. Or I didn’t. Doug Delony: Right. Tiffany Ryland: And so knowing that METRO does have a program, and maybe it’s an incentive that some companies can offer to their employees, especially if they’re in the Downtown area where you can just hop on a train, I’m sure a lot of them, you know, have offered it before, but if they haven’t thought about it, it’s something that I would for sure add to an incentive, ____ for a company to say, “Hey, in addition to working for us, we also pay for your METRO pass every month.” Doug Delony: Yes, that’s a great point. I know many people are working from home these days, or maybe they’re in a hybrid position. But we still have a rush hour here in Houston and the region, and we still have traffic jams, so, yes, many people are still going Downtown to work or going elsewhere. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, those tend to be the busy travel or transit days, and it’s always a great thing when employers offer to pay for their employees’ METRO passes, whether it’s the rail or our Park and Ride. Having said that, that wraps it up for this edition of the Next Stop. Thank you to both Ed Ryland and Tiffany Ryland for joining us and spreading the good news and good word about METRO. Ed Ryland: Thank you. Thank you so much. Doug Delony: Thank you so much. Ed Ryland: Enjoyed talking to you. Doug Delony: Thank you both. And as always, thank you to our listeners and all of our riders out there. I’m Doug Delony. If you’d like to check out more episodes of this podcast and subscribe, you can find all the links you need on ridemetro.org. And don’t forget, you can always drive less and do more with Houston METRO! [Music plays to end] RMETRO/pti:kh Page 1 of 1