There always has been a connection between celebrity and cars and trucks. Whether it is Ricardo Montalban and the promise of rich Corinthian leather or Matthew McConaughey musing in a Lincoln, people associate the person with the brand when the ads are running.

Whether the star would be seen in the car is a different matter, considering many could afford something nicer than what they put their names on.

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They are way, way, waaaaay down the ladder in terms of star-power, but Houston’s transit officials also get a perk – free Metropolitan Transit Authority use – but differ wildly on how they chose to use it.

In the spirit of all those people who wonder whether transit decisions are made by bus riders, the answer is mostly no. The board isn’t the average, daily rider, with perhaps a couple notable exceptions. All of them, however, at least stepped on board a bus or train in the past 18 months, which is an improvement from the last time their trips were assessed.

Maybe that’s a low bar, but it is the extent of their hopping aboard in some cases, as Metro considers what’s next for transit in the region.

It should be noted these are the trips using their official Metro-issued Q Cards, which allow board members to ride for free. This would not cover things such as HOT lane use, which some said they often use, or any trips they paid with cash, using the smartphone app or with another Q Card.

(Some people take advantage of different payment methods. For example, this reporter uses a Q Card, smartphone app and cash, depending on the trip and purpose, and swaps loaded Q Cards with homeless residents to avoid Metro tracking his bus use.)

With those disclaimers aside, here’s a breakdown of the board’s bus and light rail use.

Carrin Patman

The board chairwoman swiped her Q Card 47 times from June 1, 2016 until Nov. 30, with only three of those coming on buses. The vast majority of her trips were along the rail from three distinct spots: The Downtown Transit Center, Ensemble and Main Street Square rail platforms.

Jim Robinson

Similar to Patman, the vice-chairman trends toward rail. Of his 54 swipes of his card, 42 occurred at the Downtown Transit Center or Preston stops. Robinson’s use also syncs with trips between Harris County offices and Metro’s headquarters.

Lisa Castaneda

Castaneda, a deputy director of the Harris County Toll Road Authority, is among the few Metro folks whose transit travel doesn’t largely center on the downtown transit hub right outside the headquarter’s doors. Her use shows a couple of park and ride trips in September 2016 and 13 rail trips to and from various stops, including along the Green Line.

Don Elder

Elder, a former Katy mayor who lives on the outer reaches of the transit service area where the only actual Metro buses are park and ride routes, has logged a single train trip – Sept. 28 from the Downtown Transit Center – in his time on the board. Based on the timing on each of their cards, he rode with Jim Robinson.

Lex Frieden

Frieden, a disability rights advocate and user of a motorized wheelchair, travels largely by MetroLift, the region’s paratransit system. It is not unlikely for him to log six-to-ten trips per week. According to Metro data, he took 315 trips between Jan. 12 and Nov. 30. Most of those were round trips, with Frieden scheduling them via online and with phone agents.

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His Q Card use, however, remains unclear. While he does ride the train, Frieden’s limited arm movements have led to confusion in the past of whether taps to his Q Card are registering.

Sanjay Ramabhadran

He’s one of only two board members to log more than 100 non-paratransit trips since June 1, 2016, with 107 total trips. His use also is more varied than most of the others, with buses in four different parts of the city. While the vast majority of his light rail trips are along the Red Line, he’s one of the very few who made it to the end of the Purple Line.

Cindy Siegel

The former Bellaire mayor did a round-trip on June 20, from the Downtown Transit Center to Ensemble and back.

Christof Spieler

There is absolutely no doubt Spieler’s board tenure has been a net positive to his wallet – and in a way Metro is totally OK with. A transit advocate who was appointed to the board, Spieler uses the bus and light rail as his main mode of travel. Being a board member makes that free. According to his Q Card, he took 750 trips from June 15, 2016, when he got a new Q Card, to Dec. 7.

If you added up all the other board members, including Frieden’s MetroLift use, you’d still be 200 trips short of what Spieler logged, along mostly the rail, but also two dozen or so buses.

Troi Taylor

The son of a former Metro bus driver, Taylor has returned to riding after a hiatus. When he was appointed by Mayor Sylvester Turner in April 2016, he said it had been years since he’d ridden a bus. Since March, he’s hopped the route 82 Westheimer bus thrice and logged another 11 light rail trips, all along the Red Line, mostly from the Downtown Transit Center.