City Council at its June 28 meeting voted to use money the city collected from the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority last decade to help pay for the transit agency’s ongoing Project Connect initiative. The move will reallocate $6 million from the quarter-cent fund to preliminary engineering work for the high-capacity transit planning effort. Established through […]
Capital Metro
The city’s urban transportation system.
Posted inTransit
CTRMA agrees to help with MetroRail station relocation, if necessary
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 […]
Posted inCity Council
City likely to help Cap Metro fund studies
City Council appears poised to move forward Thursday with approval of an amendment to its agreement with the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority that will help the agency fund preliminary engineering work and environmental analysis on what sorts of projects would be appropriate for Project Connect corridors. Assistant City Manager Robert Goode explained during the Council […]
Posted inTransit
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 […]
Posted inTransit
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, […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Gooooooooooooals
Different goals… Politics, as they say, is (are?) a full-contact sport. Unlike men’s soccer, which mostly has a bunch of grown men flopping around like children at the slightest breeze (women’s soccer, we’ll note, is far less lame). Nonetheless, Austin politics is now all about soccer thanks to Anthony Precourt and his aspirations to relocate […]
Posted inTransit
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, […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Throwing side eye, catching rides
Side eye, or stink eye?… What exactly is the name given to the withering glances occasionally dished out by City Council Member Ora Houston toward her colleagues on the dais? Council Member Leslie Pool learned directly on Thursday during discussion of the resolution that will create a new city Tourism Commission. While praising Houston’s championing […]
Posted inTransit
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 […]
Posted inTransit
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 […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Don’t speak
Once more, away from the breach… For decades, those who work with digital data have learned to encrypt it in defense against potential breaches. Unfortunately, according to Khalil Shalabi, Austin Energy vice president of strategy, technology and markets, data protection is not always consistent. At the May 23 meeting of the Austin Energy Utility Oversight […]
Posted inTransit
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 […]