Metro officials next week are set to spend at least $11.2 million on buses for bus rapid transit service along Post Oak, committing the agency to spending on the controversial project after years of discussion.

Metropolitan Transit Authority board members discussed the purchase, and an agreement with the Uptown Management District which is rebuilding Post Oak, Wednesday. The full board meets on Feb. 20, and at that time could approve both the purchase of 14 buses and the agreement.

"This project does exactly what good transit is supposed to do," Metro board member Christof Spieler said. "It goes to a crowded area and delivers service that connects conveniently to the rest of the service area."

Many details of the bus purchase and agreement with Uptown will be worked out in the coming week, after a discussion among board members at the capital and strategic planning committee.

UPTOWN UPROAR: Construction doesn't dampen controversy over bus rapid transit lanes

Despite the loose ends, Metro Chairwoman Carrin Patman said she expected the board to approve the requests, so the agency will be ready for the rapid transit service by May 2019. That is around when Uptown officials expect to be ready, but about a year before the Texas Department of Transportation is set to open a bus-only system along Loop 610 that will speed transit times to the Northwest Transit Center north of Interstate 10.

The southern end of the planned bus rapid transit system will be a new transit station near Bellaire. Design of the station has been watched closely by Bellaire residents and officials, including Metro board member and former Bellaire mayor Cindy Siegel.

"The concern is there won't be sufficient parking," Siegel said, noting plans call for 237 spaces in a lot at the Bellaire station, far less than initial ridership demands indicated were warranted. "Otherwise, people are going to be parking in Bellaire and walking there."

Officials also were undecided on some specifics of the agreement and whether officials should buy buses with doors only on the passenger side or doors on both sides.

The discussion between three-door and five-door buses hinged on how the vehicles could be used in other bus rapid transit projects.

"We are buying buses that last 12 years, and I would surely hope we have more (bus rapid transit) in 12 years," Spieler said.

By having doors on both the left and right of the bus, the buses could share a single central platform for entering the exiting the vehicles. The platforms would be similar to those of Metro's light rail line, where trains traveling in different directions share some platforms, such as the Central Station Main stop in downtown Houston.

MAJOR CONSTRUCTION: Loop 610 at I-69 near Uptown headed for rebuilding

If buses could be used from either side of the platform, it could reduce how much right of way Metro needs to operate along certain routes, or allow buses to also use rail platforms in special circumstances, such as rapid service to the George R. Brown Convention Center via the light rail stops on Rusk and Capitol.

The extra doors come with higher costs. The three-door buses would cost $10.5 million, while five-door models would cost $11.4 million, based on the 14 buses needed to operate the Uptown service.

The board also will spend $730,000 on ticket vending machines for platforms along Post Oak, making Metro's totals costs - not including operations - between $11.2 million and $12.1 million.

Uptown, meanwhile, is responsible for the $192.5 million project adding bus lanes to the center of Post Oak, along with pedestrian amenities and other drainage and road improvements. Work started on the street in mid-2016.

Residents and some business owners along Post Oak bitterly oppose the project, saying it will worsen traffic along Post Oak, which already has near-constant congestion. A legal challenge to the project was unsuccessful, but opponents have kept up their criticism even as construction continues.

Opponents stymied efforts by Uptown from receiving an additional $15.9 million in federally-controlled funds from the Houston-Galveston Area Council. Uptown said the money would allow for upgrades to the project, and allow Uptown to use some of its money - collected via property taxes captured in the district, with the agency's capital budget subject to Houston City Council approval - for other purposes.

The request, after the outpouring of complaints in October, has not returned to the council's Transportation Policy Council for approval.

Uptown officials have said the project will proceed with or without the contribution, but that one of the elements that would be improved is adding parking at the Bellaire transit center.

FUTURE OF TRANSIT: Metro drawing up long-term regional plan

Metro officials, meanwhile, said the project will perform far better than opponents have predicted.

"All the modeling we have seen and all the surveys we're seen of employees in that area show there is interest in the service," Metro CEO Tom Lambert said. "We think the ridership is going to be there."

With Metro all sorts of expansions of commuter bus and express service around the region, Lambert said he certainly was not concerned the buses would sit dormant.

"You can always use that equipment somewhere else," he said.