METRO Houston Guide: Routes, Fares, and What It Actually Connects

Houston is a famously car-dependent city, but METRO — formally the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County — runs three light rail lines, more than 75 bus routes, and a Park & Ride network that hauls commuters into Downtown from suburbs as far out as Cypress and Kingwood. Used well, METRO can replace a rental car for half a tourist's itinerary and most of a Downtown professional's commute. Used wrong, it strands you somewhere awkward at 11 p.m.

This guide covers what the system actually does, what it costs, where it falls short, and how to use it without burning afternoon hours in a heated bus shelter.

The three light rail lines and what they connect

METRORail has three colored lines totaling 22.7 miles. The Red Line is the workhorse: 7.5 miles from Northline Transit Center through Downtown, Midtown, the Museum District, Hermann Park, the Texas Medical Center, and out to Fannin South. This single line covers half of a visitor's typical itinerary on its own. The Green and Purple lines split off Downtown and serve the East End, EaDo, and the Theater District. Trains run roughly every 6 minutes during rush hour, 12 to 15 minutes off-peak, last train around midnight (1 a.m. on weekends).

Fares: $1.25 single ride, $3 day pass, free transfers between rail and local bus within three hours. Buy at the platform ticket machines (cash or card) or via the METRO Q app. There are no turnstiles — fare inspectors do spot checks, fines are $75 for fare evasion. Don't try it.

Buses, BOOST, and the local network

Local buses fill in the gaps. The BOOST routes — high-frequency limited-stop service on the busiest corridors (82 Westheimer, 4 Beechnut, 28 OST/Wayside) — are the closest thing Houston has to bus rapid transit. Off the BOOST routes, frequencies drop to 30 minutes or worse, and route changes can leave you 15 minutes from a connection on hot pavement. Use the METRO Trip Planner or Google Maps transit layer to time it; do not assume a 'soon' bus is genuinely soon.

Park & Ride: the suburb commuter solution

Park & Ride is METRO's best-kept secret for suburban commuters. Routes run from 26 lots — including The Woodlands, Kingwood, Cypress, Katy, Sugar Land, and Pearland — directly to Downtown on dedicated HOV lanes. Buses run morning and evening commute windows only (most lots are dead midday), with one-way fares of $3.25 to $4.50 depending on zone. For a commuter living in Katy and working Downtown, Park & Ride is faster than driving I-10 most rush hours and saves $15-25 a day in parking.

Where METRO falls short

Two things to know up front. First: METRO does not connect either Houston airport. Neither IAH nor Hobby has a rail link — local buses serve both, but the transit-to-airport trip from Downtown is 60 to 90 minutes vs. 30 in a rideshare. For airport runs, use rideshare or the Super Shuttle. Second: METRO coverage gets thin north and west of the Inner Loop. If your destination is the Energy Corridor, the Galleria's western edge, or anywhere off Beltway 8 in the suburbs, you will likely need a car. Most of the city's job growth in the last 20 years happened outside METRO's effective service area, which is the structural problem the system has been trying to solve since the 2003 Bond Election.

Visitors planning a weekend in Houston can lean on the Red Line for Downtown-to-TMC-to-Museum-District-to-NRG runs and rideshare the rest. Residents are usually best served by a car for the home-to-work commute unless the home is near a Park & Ride or directly on the Red Line corridor. METRO is a real system — just not a comprehensive one yet.