Since his vision began failing two years ago, Guillermo Contreras has relied on Metro buses for trips he takes when his wife is busy or working. He relies on pure luck to get him to the bus stop.

“Sometimes it’s hard,” said Contreras, 74, who lives south of Mason Park on Houston’s east side. “I don’t feel safe. … If I fall, I’m not sure cars will see me.”

His route lacks sidewalks until he arrives at 75th Street. Even then, Contreras worries about tripping or being knocked over by a bicyclist.

As a result, he dreads riding the bus – and it has nothing to do with the bus. A national study released Tuesday is shedding light on how he’s not alone, and how transit agencies need to get back to basics to solve some of biggest hurdles to hopping aboard.

“The reality is that whether or not they own a car, transit riders are concerned with quality,” said Steven Higashide, senior program analyst with TransitCenter.

In the report, titled Who’s On Board 2016, researchers with New York-based TransitCenter concluded most riders are concerned about quality access to buses and trains, and frequency of those transit options. Across 17 regions, including Houston, researchers interviewed 3,000 transit riders, then held more in depth discussions with riders in Denver, Raleigh and New York.

Rather than luring riders with offerings such as Wi-Fi and USB power outlets – which some agencies have touted – officials argued for better service for more people.

“Transit needs to bring people into the center of the action,” Higashide said.

First, however, people need to get to the bus. Many agencies have focused on improving cycling connections and working with paid ride companies such as Uber and Lyft to solve what’s called the “first mile/last mile” challenge of transit. But the recent research showed the vast majority of transit users – a mix of people who ride by choice or because they have no other options – walk to the bus stop or train station.

“The most important first mile solution is walking,” Higashide said.

Once they are at the bus stop, riders also expect their ride to show up soon in order to have decent access. Buses and trains need to come every 15 minutes or less, and provide a trip that doesn’t get bogged down.

“A transit line that comes every 10 minutes and doesn’t get stuck in traffic will have riders who are satisfied,” Higashide said.

In addition to more frequent service, researchers said bus-only lanes in some spots and the ability to have people prepay for boarding help expedite transit trips by getting buses moving faster or avoiding traffic.

TransitCenter held Houston up as a model of a system moving in the right direction.

“I am convinced a lot more cities can do this,” said Metropolitan Transit Authority board member Christof Spieler, who joined TransitCenter authors for a telephone press conference on Monday.

In the past 12 years, Houston has added 22 miles of light rail that serves major job centers such as downtown, the Texas Medical Center and University of Houston, but also traverses many center-city neighborhoods. The original Red Line, which opened in early 2004, remains the most successful modern light rail system in the country when judged by ridership per mile.

“The only light rail systems that beat Houston in that metric are San Francisco and Boston which had a head start on us,” Spieler said.

Last year the entire bus system was redesigned to focus on frequent routes that criss-cross Metro’s service area. Officials have said the increases in ridership over the past nine months – particularly on weekends -- demonstrates the system is improving transit access for most riders.

The process, however, has not been seamless. Some riders have complained the changes disenfranchised their neighborhoods or made trips much longer. Critics have also said the system has created transfers, inflating numbers, though Metro disputes that conclusion.

Further transit development also has been a bumpy process. In the report, analysts advocate for bus-only lanes that can speed up trips and make it a better system for riders. Efforts to add bus lanes to Post Oak in the Uptown area, however, have run into stiff opposition from residents in the area and some business owners that fear the lanes will impede traffic and are a poor investment for the city.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, who has advocated for options other than driving, remains a supporter of the lanes, however. He reiterated his support on June 29.

“The congestion that exists within our city is not going to go away if don’t do anything,” Turner said when asked about his support for the bus lanes. “The answer is not to do anything.”

Still, he said he understood some people take convincing to come around the transit as a viable option in Houston.

“We have a lot of work to do to make buses more attractive,” he said.