Austin’s toll road agency is volunteering to be a financial backstop for the city’s transit provider should a bid for federal dollars to relocate a train station run off the rails. On Wednesday the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority Board of Directors voted 4-0 to approve the deal that would help the Capital Metropolitan Transportation […]
Transit
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Capital Metro gears up for no-pilot shuttle pilot
Austin, the “Kitty Hawk of driverless cars,” will likely see autonomous shuttles ferrying passengers through downtown streets by the end of 2018. The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Monday revealed new details about a planned yearlong pilot program that will run six electric driverless minibuses in an area between the Downtown Station and the Central […]
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Capital Metro picks up its customer service game
Austin’s transit agency is putting renewed emphasis on the customers who make up the bulk of its service. On Monday, Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority staff revealed to the board of directors details about a new initiative dubbed the Bus Customer Service Enhancement Plan. The multifaceted approach is aimed at all aspects of a bus trip, […]
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Capital Metro sets its sights on the sun
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority this summer is waging a two-front offensive on one of the most dreaded enemies of Austin bus riders: the Texas sun. The agency recently rolled out a pair of demonstration projects aimed at dulling the sun’s oppressive rays while also harnessing its potential for power. To battle the blistering heat, […]
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Cap Remap launch a success, despite a few wrinkles
Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority CEO Randy Clarke is hailing the rollout of the agency’s most significant bus network overhaul ever as a qualified success. In a statement sent out on Friday, Clarke hailed agency staff for what he said was 18 months of preparation for the launch of Cap Remap. The effort rearranged a majority […]
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Local group launches effort to enhance statewide transit funding
The launch of a grass-roots campaign to expand transit funding across Texas kicked off in Austin Wednesday night with input from regional officials and activists, and, from the audience, some impromptu criticism of the local bus service. Dubbed One Thousand Texans for Transit, the campaign is driven by the nonprofit organization Farm&City. “We have a […]
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Commissioners Court goes for Green Line
The Travis County Commissioners Court gave the green light last week to advance a study of a potential commuter rail line extending from downtown Austin out to Manor and possibly Elgin. The court voted 3-2 to approve the financial consulting firm PFM an estimated $39,000 to take a closer look at the viability of Capital […]
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Anxieties abound on the eve of Cap Remap
In its final meeting before a historic overhaul of Austin’s bus network, the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors heard another blast of concerns from riders and stakeholders over potential service disruptions. A handful of speakers complained about the loss of bus service in their neighborhoods, while Austin NAACP President Nelson Linder suggested the […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]