I’ve been meaning to hitch a ride in one of these cool new green electric cars that are roaming midtown and downtown. They’re run by a Houston-based startup called REV Houston. Apparently, they’ll take you anywhere in the downtown/midtown area for free–all they want in exchange is tips.

I’m happy to see more public transportation in Houston. Especially cheaper and greener transportation. I am, however, a little concerned about REV’s legal troubles. The city has been ticketing REV for operating a taxi service and electric vehicles without a license. REV argues that they’re not a taxi because they don’t charge fares and their cars only go 25 mph. Sorry, REV, I don’t buy it. But I wish you luck in getting the city ordinances changed. I’d love to see your service and others like it cover the entire inner loop!

The Chronicle has more.

photo credit: ultramega

This is good news! Apparently Mayor White has a plan to remove 800 billboards from the city streets by the end of this year. The 100th billboard was removed last Thursday. I’m glad to hear these eyesores are going away.

Now if only we could bring down those big billboards sitting on the highways. Unfortunately, they’re protected by federal laws for reasons I’m afraid to ask.

Before I moved to Houston, I had deep respect for one-way streets. Where I grew up, short of plowing into a parked police car, there were very few things you could do behind the wheel that were as embarrassing as driving the wrong way on a one-way street.

So I have been surprised to witness, on numerous occasions, folks intentionally darting up one-way streets. It’s always when the driver wants to pull into a driveway that’s half-way up the block. Or, say, when a driver’s pulling out of a driveway and just wants to make a quick turn at the corner. People are also willing to drive the wrong way on a divided road to get from one parking lot to the next.

To be clear, they never drive the length of the block. It’s always a quick dart up a the wrong side of the road a few feet.

DrivingWhileTexan.com actually came from observing wrong way one-way street jaunts.

My theory is that it reflects the general attitude among Texans towards government and personal freedom. The fact that the state legislature is limited to meet only once every two years to avoid any mischief is a perfect example. Government has a purpose, but that purpose is limited. Likewise, those drivers are probably thinking, “If there aren’t any cars coming the other way and it’s safe, it’s just silly for me to have to drive all the way around the block.”

Now I know there are people who will argue that darting a short distance up a one-way street is flat dangerous and illegal. They’re right. I’m not going to argue with that, and I’m not encouraging it either. I’ve just observed the behavior and tried to propose a theory for why it occurs.

What do y’all think?