Austin’s new CapMetro Rapid lines debut with buses every 20 minutes

Capital Metro rolled out its long-awaited Rapid lines this weekend, but “rapid” for now will mean a 20- to 30-minute wait for the next bus.

Originally slated for 2023 with ambitious plans for an all-electric fleet, 10-minute frequency and end-of-line park and rides, the Rapid routes – formerly known as MetroRapid – launched with reduced service and diesel vehicles instead of battery-powered.

Neither of the two park and rides is ready yet, so the routes will end at temporary stations nearby. Pleasant Valley Route 800, from Southeast Austin to Northeast Austin, will stop at the southeast corner of Slaughter Lane and Vertex Boulevard. The Expo Rapid Route 837 will have a temporary stop at the northwest corner of Loyola and Decker lanes.

CapMetro views this “introductory service” as a way to offer increased connectivity in areas historically deprived of transit while working to get the full service up and running. The timeline is two years behind the expectations outlined before the 2020 Project Connect vote that authorized the largest transit expansion in Austin history.

“We didn’t want to wait until we could give the perfect frequency on the perfect route with every single possible sign already lit up and all the bells and whistles going when we knew we could start providing service today,” CapMetro CEO Dottie Watkins said at the new Delco Center Rapid Station, where a 185-space park and ride was unveiled.

Full service with electric buses arriving every 10 minutes should begin in 12 to 18 months, Watkins predicted, but said there wasn’t an exact date set. The main cause of the delays in rolling out battery buses is a lack of charging infrastructure, CapMetro has said. But the agency has faced ongoing reliability issues with electric buses and is still dealing with the fallout from one of its suppliers going bankrupt.

“By mid-2026, we expect to be having the Grand Poobah of celebrations on these routes,” she said.

A park and ride at the Travis County Expo Center has been under construction since last summer. Work on another park and ride in Goodnight Ranch hasn’t even started yet. CapMetro blamed delays in closing the deal on a 1.79-acre tract of land at 2401 E. Slaughter Lane. The CapMetro board approved buying the site for $2 million last April.

Exactly when construction on the Goodnight Ranch Park and Ride will begin is unclear, according to Roberto Gonzalez, CapMetro’s senior director of service planning.

“They’re finalizing some of the final paperwork for the transition of the property,” Gonzalez said on an electric bus tour of part of Route 800.

CapMetro’s planned switch to a Tap-to-Pay fare system, originally scheduled for March, is also facing delays. The agency says getting certification to conduct those transactions wirelessly is taking longer than expected, and could push back the rollout by one to two months or more.

“We’re working with (payments processor) FISERV to approve our new validators for use with open payments, and seeking certification from FinServe to process secure credit card transactions on the vehicles,” Sam Baez, a CapMetro executive vice president who oversees rider satisfaction and outreach, said. “These steps are taking a little longer than anticipated, but we’re getting there and will roll out tap-to-pay as soon as the system is ready.”

CapMetro’s branded app will stop working in March. Transit users will have to pay with cash – the preferred option for about half of Austin’s transit users – or a combination of the Umo and Transit app. Some older plastic payment cards will still work on the fare box till April 1.

UT students and employees will still be able to use their identification cards to board for free. CapMetro says it may need to transition some schools or government partners to new fare cards.

Service on the new Rapid lines will be every 20 minutes most of the day on weekdays and weekends. Frequency will be 30 minutes in the evenings, starting around 7 p.m.

Buses will begin running around 5 a.m. on weekdays and between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. on weekends. Service will wrap up after midnight from Monday to Saturday and end around 11 p.m. on Sundays.

This story was produced as part of the Austin Monitor’s reporting partnership with KUT.

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