METRORail - Fares and Operations

Fares and Operations

The standard fare for this rail line is $1.25 for both cash and MetroQ Fare Card riders. The discount fare of $0.60 available for MetroQ Fare Card riders who are seniors, disabled, Medicare cardholders, or full-time students (elementary, high school, and university). All discount riders must show ID (except for elementary and high school students). Free transfers to METRO buses are available with the MetroQ Fare Card only, for 3 hours in the same direction only. The MetroQ Fare Card holders can earn "Rider Rewards" of 5 free trips for every 50 paid trips. Tickets and cards are purchased from machines at the stations. No charge applies to Houston Texans home game days.

Tickets and cards are checked by inspectors randomly aboard trains. Failure to pay the fare is a Class C Misdemeanor and is subject to a fine of up to $500. Consumption of alcoholic beverages is prohibited on the train platform and subject to the same fine as a Class C Misdemeanor.

The light rail line operates all 7 days of the week. On weekdays, it operates from 4:30 A.M. to 2:20 A.M. On Saturday it operates from 5:30 A.M. to 2:20 A.M., and on Sundays from 5:30 A.M. to 11:40 P. M. Scheduled train frequency varies from 6 minutes throughout the day (4:30 A.M. to 7:30 P.M.) on weekdays, to 20 minutes after 9 P.M. on all days.

The scheduled time for an end-to-end trip through the entire 7.5 mile route is exactly 30 minutes.

METRORail operations are controlled from Houston TranStar, a traffic and emergency management centre for the city and surrounding region. One source claims that the trains have priority signalling at intersections. However, another source claims that the trains do not have signal priority at intersections in the vicinity of the medical centers, but at several intersections north of the medical centers the traffic lights for road traffic in all directions turn red when a train crosses the intersections.