The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors voted unanimously on Monday to approve a free two-year smart transit pass for eligible unhoused or housing-insecure customers.
“This is a win-win overall,” Board Member Eric Stratton said during a related public hearing, commending Capital Metro staff for their work on the transit pass program. “So thank you all because I know this has been a heavy lift in a very, very short period of time.”
Local service providers, including the Texas Harm Reduction Alliance, began advocating for improved transit access for unhoused and housing-insecure customers in summer 2022, following an intense heat wave. That fall, Capital Metro formed a work group to tackle the issue, ultimately launching a pilot transit pass program earlier this year.
Since then, the program has distributed more than 18,000 passes via 25 service providers, Edna Parra, manager of community engagement and involvement, told board members. Of those, 5,252 passes have been issued to customers, and 4,318 cards are in use, facilitating more than 101,000 local rides between Oct. 1 and Dec. 7.
Transit Pass for Unhoused Community
-Must be part of the Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS)
-Eligible on Bus, Rapid, Pickup & Access
-6-month pilot program, Title VI Analysis & Public Hearing completed
-18,100 cards distributed, 4,318 in use & 101,415 total rides pic.twitter.com/ZanpXlupWD— CapMetro (@CapMetroATX) December 18, 2023
Under the program, Capital Metro provides passes to local service providers working with unhoused and housing-insecure people in the transit authority’s service area. Customers who are registered in and receiving services through the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition’s Homeless Management Information System, or HMIS, are eligible for the pass.
Service providers also must be registered in HMIS, have signed a memorandum of understanding with Capital Metro and maintain inventory of the passes distributed to their clients.
“This pass is at no cost to the riders or to the service providers,” Catherine Walker, chief financial and risk officer, told board members.
Prior to implementing the current program model, Capital Metro had operated an emergency program that provided free bus passes to service providers. Although well used, the emergency program proved logistically challenging for the transit agency and service providers, sparking the idea for a smart card that lasts for two years, as the Austin Monitor previously reported.
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Capital Metro: The city’s urban transportation system.
ECHO: The Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO) is, according to its website, "a collaborative funding and planning nonprofit that is fiercely committed to ending homelessness in Austin, TX." The groups brings together resources to serve the city's homeless population and works with agencies to bring together leaders, volunteers and other nonprofits to help the cause.
