The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority will soon outfit 67 local service buses with 29-inch wide-screen digital displays, initiating a new era of dynamic passenger information delivery. Last week, the agency’s board of directors unanimously approved a contract with Clever Devices, a transit technology company, to purchase 110 information screens. The displays allow for multiple simultaneous […]
Capital Metro
The city’s urban transportation system.
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Red tread redemption?
Red dawn(s again)… Austin Transportation and the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority are partnering up this month to add more red lanes – or “fresh Elmo,” as they’re called by transit advocates – to the city’s central transit spine. Beginning last week, work crews are painting existing bus priority lanes red on Lavaca and Guadalupe streets […]
Posted inBonds & Propositions
Activist-led transportation bond vision adjusted and finalized
The team behind the Wheel Deal, a community-led concept for a 2020 transportation-focused bond, released its final plan Wednesday after making several adjustments to its initial plan based on public input. While the group sharply cut proposed funding in a number of areas, including the active transportation and improved local bus service components, new estimates […]
Posted inTransportation
City, Capital Metro, to consider new vision for Red Line trail
In the past week, the city of Austin and Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority have each passed resolutions to renew interest in creating a 32-mile transit- and trail-oriented corridor with hike and bike trails, parks, and easy access to transit stations and development along the Metro Rail Red Line. Capital Metro marked 2019 for completion of […]
Posted inTransit
Capital Metro to get close-up look at neighborhood circulators
In the face of ongoing regional sprawl, the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority is taking strides to connect low-density areas outside the city’s public transit network to its fixed-service routes. The transit agency began that effort in June with an app-based pilot project serving the city of Manor. That program, Pickup, is now also available in […]
Posted inTransit
Capital Metro to begin building first electric bus yard
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority is laying the groundwork for an electric bus yard to store and charge the city’s first battery electric buses as early as next fall. The agency’s board of directors unanimously approved a $7.5 million contract with M.A. Smith Contracting on Monday to build the North Operations facility, which will eventually […]
Posted inTransit
It’s not just light rail. Capital Metro wants to expand rapid bus service, too.
Austin’s regional transit agency, Capital Metro, is taking feedback from the public on a plan to add up to five new rapid bus lines. It comes as ridership on the existing rapid bus lines, known as MetroRapid, has been rising. In September, Capital Metro saw a 10.1 percent increase in passengers over the same month […]
Posted inBudget
Capital Metro board approves 2020 budget
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority may still be playing catch-up with some basic comforts like benches, shelters and waste bins at bus stops, but the agency promises to accelerate those smaller efforts while preparing for a high-capacity transit future in the upcoming fiscal cycle. The Capital Metro Board of Directors unanimously approved the Fiscal Year […]
Posted inTransit
Capital Metro updates ETA for journey-planning app
Recovering from a rocky start, the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority says its new and improved mobile transit application will soon be live and ready for mobile users to download. The agency launched its new application for Android users on Monday, promising, among other features, the ability to purchase electronic tickets using both Apple Pay and […]
Posted inTransit
Commission stresses need for better TOD planning along Green Line
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority is studying the potential for placing transit-oriented development districts along Project Connect’s rail commuter Green Line, but the Planning Commission says that effort may be somewhat futile without a concentrated push to create vibrant communities along the corridor. Looking to similar efforts along the existing Red Line rail corridor, Commissioner […]
Posted inTransit
Capital Metro talks batteries over electric bus contract
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority is pressing on with its fleet electrification plan despite a number of kinks yet to be fully ironed out. After the agency’s board of directors approved a contract with New Flyer of America on Monday for purchase of six electric buses, Dottie Watkins, vice president of bus operations and maintenance, […]
Posted inTransit
Capital Metro board awards bus operations contract to single firm, MV Transportation
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s board of directors voted Monday to combine operations at its two garages under one company, Dallas-based MV Transportation, Inc. The contract includes a base five-year period for $575.1 million with two optional three-year extensions and a 5 percent contingency. At a total of $1,405,337,529, the bus contract is the largest […]