Commuting in Katy / Houston
 

Hello!

Well, we are continuing to plan our move and I am keen on the Katy / Cinco Ranch areas - my question is, my hubby will be working at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston - any idea what kind of commute that would entail? Horrible or tolerable?

Thanks as always for any info.

Helen :)

Re: Commuting in Katy / Houston
 

Med centre? Depends of time of day. My next door neighbour does that commute every day so I guess she considers it fine. She leaves at 5am though.

Re: Commuting in Katy / Houston
 

Hi,

Your hubby could take the park and ride from Katy to downtown then the tram to the med centre - not sure if this is where he is based?? It would take him about an hour but he would not have to worry too much about the traffic. The bus gets to use the HOV - high occupancy - lanes and avoids a lot of the congestion.

Adele.

Re: Commuting in Katy / Houston
 

I'm sure tomorrow the other Katy folks will be on here...they know better. (We chose not to live in Katy in order to be closer to work.) However our friends, doctors and certain shopping are out in Katy, so I'm out there a few times a week and plan accordingly for traffic (as one does everywhere here in Houston, it seems.)

But also a lot depends where in Katy you decide to live. South Cinco has access to Westpark tollway and the more east (say Fry and east) you are gets you faster onto I10 if you choose that way. The problem with I-10 and 610 is that interchange - it can be murder.

I'd look to be accessible to Westpark tollway.

Many folks simply adjust their schedules to avoid the 7-9 AM rush and 4-7 PM rush. Timing all depends on traffic which can't be ever assumed as flowing. I'd say 30 min with tops 45-to unknown...again, all depends where in Katy you'll be living!

Everyone's different on 'horrible' or 'tolerable.' LA and suburban Londoner transplants love the "only an hour" commutes vs the 2+ they had back in LA. Folks from other parts of the USA bemoan such a commute time for about 20 miles or so!

Re: Commuting in Katy / Houston
 

Thanks guys, all really helpful as always :)

Re: Commuting in Katy / Houston
 

Hello!

I work at Baylor and I've been commuting from The Woodlands to the Med Center (45 miles) for 4 years, so although I can't comment on the Katy commute, I definitely agree that the Med Center can get crazy during the morning/evening rush hours, and all day during public holidays when everyone in Houston seems to want to visit the Zoo, which is pretty much next door to Baylor.

If I haven't left the house by 6am, I'll wait until 9am to avoid sitting in the car for 2+ hours, and the same thing on the way home - I need to be in the car before 4pm, or wait until 6. Even with that though, it only takes one wreck to turn your "reasonable" 1.5hr commute into a nightmare 3 hour one . . . and if it's raining, forget it, it will add 50% onto your commute time whether there's a crash or not (which there will be).

There's no private/dedicated parking for Baylor employees, so the parking garages are shared by the public/patients, and can fill up pretty quickly. If I get in at 7:30, I typically already need to park on the 4th of 7 floors. By 9am, you'll be on the roof, which is brutal in the summer heat. The subsidized parking for Baylor ties you to one parking garage, so if that's full, you'll need to pay $12 to park in another one. Oh, and watch out for the trams. They put left turn lanes on top of the tram lines!

There are a couple of BCM campuses - the main campus in the middle of the Med Center which I describe above, and a more administrative building a couple of miles away with its own parking, the McGovern campus, which seems to be easier to negotiate in terms of congestion.

Hmmm, that sounded a bit negative, sorry, but honestly, you'll just get used to the Houston commute after a while and accept it for what it is. Every day has awful traffic, but some days are better than others.

Hope that helps, and good luck! :unsure:

Re: Commuting in Katy / Houston
 

Seriously, what is that about?! I nearly had a heart attack when I first drove down there and couldn't figure out if I was just being stupid or if the turn lane was on the tram line!! :eek:

As mentioned, commuting in Houston can be bad at any time if there's a wreck but for the majority of the time it's dependent on the time you travel in and out. If possible, you may want to adjust your working hours to avoid the worst commutes.

The I-10 widening works pretty well and if you're close enough to get onto I-10 easily the managed lanes are generally okay even if the maion freeway is a little busy. If you can travel early you should be okay but the downtown/medical center and I-10/610/59 interchanges can be manic from 4.30 onwards.