Before he was killed, 14-year-old Alexei Bauereis had quit the backyard stunts like jumping from trees onto roofs and downhill skateboarding that defined his childhood. He was saving his legs for ballet. “Dance was so important to him,” said Eric Bauereis, Alexei’s dad. Just past 10 p.m. on June 7, 2016, a driver hit and […]
Transportation
Posted inTransit
Cap Metro launches outreach campaign ahead of its June 3 redesign
In just over two weeks, more than half of all the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s bus routes will be altered – and some will be eliminated altogether – when the transit agency rolls out its Cap Remap plan. Ahead of that launch, Capital Metro is launching a major outreach effort to get the word out […]
Posted inTransit
Capital Metro: Perhaps a stopgap plan for fill-in-the-gap stops
Reversing course, the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority is now planning to use temporary signs and posts for at least some of the agency’s long-awaited new MetroRapid stops. Since announcing in 2016 the eight pairs of stops intended to fill in key gaps along the Nos. 801 and 803 routes, the agency has declined to expand […]
Posted inTransportation
Transportation Department revises sweeping taxi recommendations
The Austin Transportation Department staff has scaled back a set of draft recommendations aimed at saving the city’s flagging taxi franchises. On Tuesday evening, Acting Mobility Services Division Manager Jacob Culberson revealed to the Urban Transportation Commission a revised version of the proposals he initially debuted during the UTC’s Feb. 13 meeting. “Some of our […]
Posted inTransportation
Are electric scooters eco-friendly? It depends on what they’re replacing
When electric scooters flooded into Austin, the companies that rent them touted their environmental benefits: “Riders were able to prevent 445,334 pounds of carbon emissions,” a press release from Bird said. The startup LimeBike estimated its scooters reduced 8,500 pounds of CO2 here in just two weeks. But those numbers are based on some shaky […]
Posted inRoads
Stuck in park, the CTRMA looks beyond tolls
The agency primarily known for building toll roads in the Austin region is spitballing some new ideas as state policy keeps its activities largely in a holding pattern. Last week, board members of the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority briefly discussed the effective prohibition mandated by the Texas Transportation Commission against building new toll projects. […]
Posted inTransportation
Dockless companies suspend operations after Council approves regulations
Traffic-burdened Austin has one fewer mobility option after this weekend. On Sunday, both LimeBike and Bird appeared to have removed their shared-use electric scooters from the city’s streets in response to City Council’s vote on early Friday morning that created a governing framework for so-called dockless mobility services. Users of the LimeBike app were greeted […]
Posted inTransportation
Council votes to clarify the road ahead for Austin’s $482M corridor plan
Austin voters now have a clearer road map for a slate of bond-funded projects intended to relieve congestion and improve city infrastructure on a massive scale. With little more than a guarantee from City Council, voters overwhelmingly approved a $720 million mobility-focused bond in 2016. Council voted Thursday to approve a construction plan for some […]
Posted inTransit
Capital Metro votes on paratransit provider contracts
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s board of directors voted Monday afternoon to put the agency’s paratransit operations in the hands of a single contractor. The pair of votes to authorize agency CEO and President Randy Clarke to negotiate agreements with Ride Right to run MetroAccess from the service’s north and south hubs marks a change […]
Posted inBonds & Propositions
Mobility Committee doesn’t not want Council to add Project Connect to November bond
After some brief dais drama on Tuesday, City Council’s Mobility Committee unanimously endorsed the idea of at least talking about putting $15 million in Project Connect seed money on the November ballot. The 4-0 vote nudged forward a request made by the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors last month aimed at funding preliminary […]
Posted inTransportation
Dockless scooters and bikes zip through Mobility Committee
City Council’s Mobility Committee learned on Tuesday afternoon that when it comes to dockless bikes and scooters, the last foot is the technology’s biggest problem. That was the message at least from Jason JonMichael, assistant director of smart mobility with the Austin Transportation Department. Along with Austin Transportation Director Rob Spillar, JonMichael briefed the committee […]
Posted inTransportation
After two dockless scooter companies launch in Austin, city speeds up rule process
Jumping the gun works, it seems. While city staff was devising a pilot program to govern dockless bikes and scooters, expecting to bring a proposal to Council members in June, two companies dropped their electric scooters throughout the city. Now the Austin Transportation Department has proposed fast-tracking approval of the pilot program. In a memo […]