16 million journeys are made between North Texas and Greater Houston each year, nearly half of which are trips to visit friends and family. The size of the travel market between Greater Houston and North Texas is expected to grow at 1.5% per year until 2050, almost twice the national average, resulting in a total population of just under 20 million journeys in 2022 and just over 34 million journeys in 2050.

Today, more than 90% of journeys between the DFW and Houston Metro areas are made by road, where drive times can range anywhere from 3.5 to 5.5 hours, and – once congestion is factored in – may take significantly longer than anticipated. Along I-45 vehicle counts have increased at a rate of over 6% per year since 2012.

Approximately 1 million journeys are made by air each year with scheduled flight times ranging between 60 – 75 minutes. However, when all stages of the trip (check-in, bag drop, security, etc.) are accounted for, travel by air is not much faster than by road.

There’s evidence Texans and other Americans are already leaving their cars. We see this with the increase in adoption rates for “Mobility as a Service” (MaaS) technologies, including rideshare, bikeshare, e-scooters and beyond.

The Texas high-speed train will be part of this tech-enabled transportation network that puts you, the consumer, in charge of your journey, creating smart, integrated, on-demand mobility at your fingertips. MaaS offers travelers custom mobility solutions based on their travel needs, letting consumers tell providers what they want and where they want to go. It’s a shift from the traditional model of transportation entities dictating routes and schedules.

And, as ride-hailing options continue to expand, access to and from stations will become easier, even if you don’t have your own car. Texans’ use of ride-hailing services, such as Uber and Lyft, has been growing steadily. In fact, the proportion of travelers using ride-hailing to travel to and from airports in North Texas and Houston has doubled in only two years! Further, an even greater number of travelers that use ride-hailing services indicated that either they “definitely” or “probably would” travel by the high-speed train on their next journey.

The high-speed train will provide Texans with a faster, safer, more convenient and reliable alternative to driving or flying. This research has illustrated that the high-speed train will not only save travelers time on their journeys, but Texans are already excited by the prospect of high-speed trains, and say they will make more journeys because of it. For all of these reasons, the high-speed train is set to transform travel in Texas and bring a new high-tech industry to the country and the Lone Star State.