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Houston area transit officials Wednesday approved a historic redesign of local bus service that supporters say will connect more people to more workplaces than ever before.

Leaders of the Metropolitan Transit Authority will spend the next five months preparing hundreds of thousands of riders for the massive changes and convincing skeptics the plan can succeed.

Metro's board gave unanimous, final approval to the so-called reimagining plan, authorizing agency staff to plan public meetings to explain the changes.

Interactive: Mobility and more at a crossroads in Houston

Between now and August, Metro must replace every sign at every bus stop, revise every bus schedule and prepare a massive educational campaign.

"This will be the biggest outreach effort in the history of the city," Metro board chairman Gilbert Garcia said.

Under the new system, routes focus less on a network of buses that converge downtown. Instead, the plan uses a grid pattern of routes that aim to take riders anywhere in the city and better connect other job centers such as the Energy Corridor, Uptown and Greenway Plaza.

In making the changes, Metro is moving to a system of specific arrival intervals rather than times. Riders will know whether a bus comes every 15 minutes or less, every 30 minutes or every hour, but schedules will not list specific arrival times.

"It is freedom to let people live their lives and do what they need to do," said Metro board member Christof Spieler, who spearheaded reimagining.

Spieler called the change "amazing and transformative" for riders, and a step toward Metro responding to changing travel patterns in the area.

Others remained wary.

"You obviously have not had enough boots on the ground," frequent Metro critic Daphne Scarborough told board members, saying the plan lacked consensus in many Houston neighborhoods. "You are still leaving the ones who need transportation the most out of the equation."

Metro officials said the system was approved after almost a year of community discussions, meetings with elected officials and dozens of sessions with bus drivers, riders and local businesses.

Metro plans to spend around $7.5 million replacing signs at bus stops, reprinting maps and schedules and conducting the educational campaign. The need for these steps led to a two-month delay on starting the new routes, which had been scheduled for June.

"The day this goes into effect, I intend to be standing at a bus stop helping people out," Spieler said.