The future of the Houston area’s transit system now lies in the hands of voters.

Metropolitan Transit Authority board members voted Tuesday to ask voters in November for permission to borrow up to $3.5 billion, without raising taxes. The money would cover the first phase of what local leaders expect to be the start of shifting Houston from a car-focused city to a multimodal metro region — even if it does not put everyone on a bus or train.

“Even if you ride in your car, it is more convenient if there are less cars on the road,” Metro chairwoman Carrin Patman said.

The item will be on the Nov. 5 ballot, the first vote for new transit projects in 16 years for the Houston region.

The bond proposition would authorize Metro to move forward on a $7.5 billion suite of projects including extending the region’s three light rail lines, expanding the use of bus rapid transit — large buses operating mostly in dedicated lanes — along key corridors such as Interstate 10 and to Bush Intercontinental Airport, and creating two-way high-occupancy vehicle or high-occupancy toll lanes along most Houston’s freeways.

“It doesn’t do everything we would like to do, but it does everything we can afford to do,” Metro board member Jim Robinson said.

In addition, the ballot item calls for extending the general mobility program, which hands over one-quarter of the money Metro collects from its 1 percent sales tax to local governments that participate in the transit agency. The 15 cities and Harris County use the money mostly for street improvements, but they can use it for other projects such as sidewalks, bike lanes and, in limited cases, landscaping and traffic safety and enforcement.

Local elected officials and business leaders will soon stump for the plan, which has not drawn sizable or organized opposition but is likely to require some persuasion.

“There will be plenty for people to scrutinize and criticize with this plan or any infrastructure plan for that matter — everyone wants to know what’s in it for them,” said Andrea French, executive director of Transportation Advocacy Group - Houston chapter, made up largely of engineering and construction companies and transportation planners. “The reality is that we in the industry need to better illustrate that a region that invests in public transportation is a region that thrives and therefore lifts us all up for a better quality of life and more competitive economy.”

Supporters of additional transit options welcomed putting the plan in front of voters.

“The proposed enhancements promise to provide faster, more frequent, and more reliable service, improved access to the system, and better customer experience,” said Dexter Handy, chairman of the Citizens Transportation Coalition, a local advocacy group. “For this to work, I look forward to a Metro network where users have a seamless integrated transportation network from their doorstep to the destination.”

Metro chief communications officer Jerome Gray said a “robust” educational plan will ramp up in the coming weeks explaining exactly what officials intend to do.

Metro cannot spend public money to stump for the bond referendum. As has happened in past transit bond votes, local business leaders have formed a political action committee to drum up support.

The bonds, if approved by voters, would be repaid by future sales tax revenues. No new taxes or fees are factored into the plan, though approval commits Metro to make bond payments, likely for the next 20 years.

Transit officials would also need to secure an estimated $3.5 billion in federal money, most likely via the Federal Transit Administration, which doles out money for major transit projects. Federal officials contributed $900 million of the $2.2 billion cost of the 2011-2017 expansion of light rail service.

The federal approval will largely dictate when many of the rail and bus rapid transit lines are built as well as where the projects run, Patman said. Though officials have preferred routes for certain projects — such as light rail to Hobby Airport or bus rapid transit along Gessner — those projects and others could change as the plans are studied further.

“Routes will only be determined after discussions with the community,” Patman said. “I don’t think anyone needs to worry about a route being forced upon them.”

Metro would have some latitude to prod some projects along faster than others, based on other regional road and highway projects. Speedier bus service between the Northwest Transit Center at I-10 and Loop 610, for example, could happen sooner if a planned widening of Interstate 10 within Loop 610 remains a priority for the Houston-Galveston Area Council, which has added the project to its five-year plan. Work on widening the freeway is scheduled for 2021, giving Metro officials a chance to make it one of the first major projects.

Many other projects employing various transit modes would follow across the Houston area:

Extending the Red Line light rail nearly six miles north to the North Shepherd Park and Ride, at an estimated cost of $634 million.

Extending the Green and Purple Lines to a common point and continuing both light rail lines along shared tracks to Hobby Airport, at an estimated cost of $1 billion.

BRT service from downtown to Bush Airport, partly relying on a controversial widening of Interstate 45, estimated to cost $242 million.

BRT service along a 25-mile route from Tidwell and Interstate 69 to the University of Houston area, through Midtown and with service to Greenway Plaza and westward to Westchase near the Sam Houston Tollway, at an estimated cost of $1.56 billion

Two-way HOV or HOT lanes along most major freeways so buses can move in limited traffic between suburban areas and downtown and other major job centers, at an estimated cost of $1.37 billion.

Various improvements along more than 260 miles of streets and 16 new or upgraded park and ride lots or transit centers, aimed at improving the speed of service or reliability of routes, at an estimated cost of $513 million.

Metro board members noted the planned project represents the various needs across the 1,285-square-mile service area —a terrain that includes dense urban areas such as the central business district, enclaves within Loop 610 such as Bellaire, suburban office campuses and neighborhoods as far away as Katy and Cypress.

“It meets the needs of what I think people in various areas want,” Robinson said. “In particular it meets the needs of people in northwest and west Harris County.”

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LINK Houston, which has pressed for greater investment in some neighborhoods where residents are more reliant on transit, estimates nearly 1 million Houston area residents need improved access to buses or trains. In addition to the service itself, the needs include usable sidewalks and streets enabling riders to access stops.

“We tend to spend too much time focusing on the means - light rail versus bus rapid transit, for instance - than the end goal - whether this transportation plan connects real people to real opportunities,” said Oni Blair, executive director of LINK. “We have to have a transportation network that quickly, easily, and cost effectively works for people inside the (Sam Houston Tollway), in the suburbs, and people visiting the Houston region.”

Patman, however, said the design of the plan was not predicated on trying to curry political support across the region.

“It is only appropriate that it contain impacts all over our service area,” she said.

French and others agreed the coalition Metro is amassing must have something they can take into neighborhoods and support, without a lot of offerings that those residents oppose.

“The potential conflict could be if voters think their ‘side’ is being short-changed in the plan,” said Renee Cross, senior director of the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston. “For example, voters living in Cypress may not see the need for extensive funding of rail inside the Loop, particularly with the perception of low ridership, while they think the bus rapid transit plans in the suburbs aren’t receiving enough funding.”

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The current plansets a good tone for a first round of projects without being too pricey in any one part of the city, observers said. At the same time, it provides big projects — even if they are not as massive as some transit advocates would like.

“Our total investment needs in this arena are enormous and perhaps some will feel this isn’t enough,” French said. “However on the flip side, when we ask the voters to support larger amounts, there is a sticker shock risk.”

Not starting work on some of these projects, however, would be far more destructive, Patman said.

“I think if it doesn’t get passed we are in a world of hurt for our mobility needs,” she said.

dug.begley@chron.com