Great idea. Be sure to update this topic if you find that there is an easier way to pay for a bus ride from IAH or get day passes there if you don’t already have a pass.
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METRO confirmed that it is not possible to purchase day passes at IAH, and that the simplest option is to carry $1.25 per person to board bus 102. METRO suggested that we buy day passes at the Downtown Transit Center near the end of line 102 once we reach it.
However, we probably won’t make it by 5pm, so this is not a great plan.
METRO then suggested that one adult install the Q Mobile app, which would allow said adult to electronically purchase up to 30 full-price day passes from a single phone (no need for students to install the app). Those day passes would include free transfer, so would be a good option to get to the hotel, as we will all be traveling together.
We plan to do this and then have an adult go purchase plastic day passes downtown early on Wednesday morning so we can get the discounted passes for the students for the rest of the stay and have more flexibility.
I wish though that METRO would install a day pass vending machine in the airport!
EDIT: While METRO told me that one could buy up to 30 tickets at once with the Q Mobile app, it’s clearly limited to 20 tickets (either $1.25 Local Single Ride valid 3 hours that includes free transfers, or $3 Local Day Pass unlimited rides that expires at 2am the morning after day of activation)
We are staying at the Indigo (no breakfast), and would LOVE to be able to stop and get breakfast on the way!
We are rookies and have never been to Worlds/Houston before - is this food court the Chick Fil A on Dallas St, Louisiana St, or McKinney St?
Thanks so much!!
I am not sure of the actual building but the streets you are describing are the correct location. The Chick Fil-a is in a food court (It was under construction last year and is hopefully done) with other breakfast offerings. It was easy because it was on the walk from the bus stop.
Not the poster, but the Chik-Fil-A described is almost certainly the one at 1200 McKinney. There is a food court on the 3rd level of the Houston Center at that address. The “mall” is called The Highlight at Houston Center. It used to be called the Shops at Houston Center. It has been under construction, but still open. Not sure if the construction is complete. It is extremely popular with the FIRST Champs crowd because of the proximity to GRB and the dining options. It may not be open for breakfast on Saturday.
Confirming that it’s easy to buy tickets using the Q Ticketing app.
Of note, bus 102 leaves from Terminal C, so if you arrive at another terminal you need to take the free underground airport subway to Terminal C and then get to the bus stop outside clearly labeled METRO.
Made this mistake last year. Yup. Pay attention to this lol.
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Thank you all for your advice. Now that we are back at home, I’d like to consolidate all the relevant info in one post and add my personal observations.
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Houston’s METRO bus system is good and the way to go for low-budget teams that stay in the Galleria area.
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It’s best to order the special FRC-branded day passes 10 days ahead so you can get them directly mailed to you before you leave for Houston (especially for students as the student FRC-branded day passes are cheaper than other options).
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Every adult should install the RideMETRO, METRO Q and METRO TRIP apps upfront on their smart phone, as well as Google Maps or equivalent. Use METRO TRIP and/or Google Maps to schedule trips. Use METRO Q and/or FRC branded day passes to pay for trips. METRO Q let you buy and/or activate up to 20 tickets at once. Paying cash is not very convenient as you need exact change and can be the most expensive option as it does not include free transfers. Local Single Ride tickets purchases using METRO Q do include free transfers for three hours, and Local Day Pass tickets include unlimited rides until 2am the next morning. Nice concept in the METRO Q app is that buying and activating tickets are two different steps. So, you can buy tickets up to two years upfront and wait to activate them as you board the bus.
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Bus 102 is a great option to go from IAH to downtown (or from downtown to IAH) as the airport is considered a local trip. Bus 102 is quite comfortable, and fairly fast even if it stops at numerous corporate buildings in the airport area. It should be noted that it only stops at Terminal C, and that there is no obvious indication of that in the other terminals. So, if you arrive at another terminal, don’t follow the Ground Transportation signs, but rather go catch the “subway” at the lower level that will take you to Terminal C. Note that if you are a very large (50+) team, you might need two rounds of “subway” as the capacity is limited. Once in the Terminal C follow the Ground Transportation / METRO signs to get to the bus stop.
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Bus capacity is limited. If you have a large or even medium (30+) team and that a bus is already crowded, you might have to split the team. We always prioritize the critical subset of our team. Should the situation arise, be clear who is part of the critical subset and have enough adults to keep an eye on the students that will have to wait for the next bus (or even potentially next buses).
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Between lines 20 and 82, we found line 20 to be nicer as it gets closer to the convention center and takes a road that is in good condition through a beautiful park with a limited number of stops on the way, while line 82 takes a road in poor condition with numerous stops and does not get that close to the convention center. On the other hand, line 20 is a low frequency line (~30 minutes between buses at rush hour) while line 82 is a high frequency line (~10 minutes between buses at rush hour). We typically would take line 20 in the morning as we could plan exactly when to be at the bus stop, and line 82 in the evening (getting on whatever bus would arrive after we reached the bus stop).
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