06:46 PM CDT on Friday, September 24, 2004

By Mike Zientek / 11 News

Driving is drudgery most of the time on the Katy Freeway. That's why riders of Metro's 210 route let someone else take the wheel when going to work downtown.

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For 19 years, it served the West Belt Park & Ride but next month, this ride will disappear. That is a bad travel forecast for riders like Ricky Crawford.

"Well, it's kind of upsetting, because it really creates an inconvenience. I've been using this route for about a year now, and I took a job downtown, and now I'm going to have to make different arrangements," Crawford says.

Metro officials say the reason they're eliminating the route is because of the hundreds of empty parking places that are left day after day. Metro's Vice President of Planning says it's costing $240,000 a year to serve an average of only 115 passengers a day. This doesn't mean that he thinks the Park & Ride idea as a whole, has hit a speed bump.

"We are looking at additional Park & Rides, it's just that the market for Park & Ride service is a little further out," says John Sedlak, of Metro.

Another rider says that by eliminating his route, Metro is creating a bigger problem on the roads by putting another 245 cars a day on I-10.

Metro insists there are other avenues. They say they would like the 210 route riders to take another nearby route or join a vanpool.

Metro says it will be eliminating another 21 routes by the end of next month in a move it says will save at least $9 million.