motoring on

Luxury bus service with $15 fares revs up with another Houston stop

RedCoach has added a Katy stop.

Courtesy of RedCoach

Since launching in Texas in 2021, RedCoach, a luxury motorcoach company offering reasonable rates, has really taken off. Already boasting a presence in Houston, Dallas, College Station, and Waco, the bus line has now added service in Katy and Richardson, Texas.

The new Katy stop will be located at Buc-ee’s: 27700 Katy Fwy. This joins the Houston stop at the Residence Inn Houston Downtown/Convention Center (904 Dallas St).

Meanwhile, the new Richardson stop is located at 170 W Campbell Rd, Richardson, just 5 minutes from the University of Texas at Dallas.

For the uninitiated, RedCoach bills itself as an affordable option for luxury transportation and offers first class (27 seats), business class (38 seats), and economy class (56 seats). Perks for first and business class include extra legroom (always a plus) and the ability to recline seats up to 140 degrees.

Amenities include free Wi-Fi, power outlets, onboard entertainment, complimentary snacks and water, and no baggage fees.

Prices start as low as $15 for one-way trips (Houston to Dallas and Houston to Austin, for example). A RedRider program allows users to rack up travel points and score free tickets.

So far, RedCoach’s nonstop routes in Texas connect:

Houston with Austin, College Station, Dallas, and Waco
Dallas with Austin, College Station, Houston, and Waco
Austin with Dallas, Houston, and Waco
College Station with Dallas and Houston
Waco with Austin, Dallas, and Houston

Here are RedCoach’s current pickup and drop-off points in Texas:

Houston — Residence Inn Houston Downtown/Convention Center, 904 Dallas St.
Katy — Buc-ee's, 27700 Katy Fwy.
Dallas — Curbside adjacent to Café Herrera and Omni Dallas Hotel entrance, 593 S. Lamar St.
Austin — Embassy Suites by Hilton, 300 S. Congress Ave.
College Station — Texas A&M University’s Wisenbaker Engineering Building, 188 Bizzell St.
Waco — 249 Daughtrey Ave. (new address)

transportation vacation

what's new at the zoo

Houston Zoo welcomes Kirby, a newly-born Asian elephant

The Houston Zoo Asian elephant herd increased by one last week.

Photo by Kevin Kendrick/Houston Zoo

Kirby is a healthy baby girl elephant!

The Houston Zoo is going to need a very big rattle for its latest addition. On Friday, November 15 at 3 pm, the zoo’s amiable Asian elephant matriarch Shanti, 34, gave birth to a baby girl named Kirby. This is Shanti’s seventh baby with longtime pachyderm boyfriend, Thailand, 58.

Kirby weighed 314 pounds at birth, quite a bit smaller than her older sibling Nelson, born in 2020, and slightly larger than her big sister Joy, born in 2017. Shanti’s pregnancy lasted 21 months, a common length for Asian elephants but still the second longest gestation in the mammal class after their African cousins.

Within six minutes, Kirby was on her feet, and she was walking within a half hour. The birth took place in the McNair Asian Elephant Habitat cow barn, where Shanti and Kirby will spend several more days before being sent out to public viewing.

The Houston Zoo’s elephant breeding program has been a vital part of increasing the Bornean elephant population since it began in 2007. Portions of entrance fees go toward the work of Dr. Nurzhafarina “Farina" Othman, who specializes in local education and activism in Borneo to ease the tensions between humans and elephants. Elephants have been known to decimate crops leading to conflict. Othman’s work has helped landowners in Borneo fund solutions that keep the elephant population alive. The zoo’s support was partially responsible for doubling the Bornean population in 2018.

Elephants have been a part of the Houston Zoo since it was founded. In 2017, the zoo opened the McNair Asian Elephant Habitat, a massive new enclosure with walkways for visitor viewing and pools for the elephants to frolic in and escape the Texas heat. The exhibit includes everything from fountains to a specialized puzzle tree that elephants can blow into for treats.

The zoo has also been on the cutting edge of animal medicine. In June, 40-year-old Asian elephant Tess was given the first ever mRNA vaccine for elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV) 1A. Baylor College of Medicine pioneered this fight against a particularly deadly disease among elephants. All in all, it has been a big year for the zoo’s biggest residents.

houston zoo elephant