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 […]
Capital Metro
The city’s urban transportation system.
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 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 inTransit
Project Connect’s big hopes hinge on small investment
Project Connect’s path to an estimated $8 billion worth of high-capacity transit investments could be washed out if City Council and Austin voters don’t greenlight a $15 million installment this year, according to the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s director of long range planning. Javier Arguello told the Urban Transportation Commission on Monday night that the […]
Posted inTransit
Green Line creeps forward at Commissioners Court
The Travis County Commissioners Court voted in a split decision on Tuesday to initiate a study of potential financing options for the proposed commuter rail line between Austin and Manor known as the Green Line. The move marks a small victory for the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority whose Project Connect initiative includes the Green Line […]
Posted inTransportation
CAMPO offers the region a TIP
The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization is taking a draft proposal for more than $400 million worth of transportation projects out for public feedback. CAMPO assembled this latest iteration of the four-year Transportation Improvement Program, or TIP, from a list of projects submitted by governments and agencies across its six-county jurisdiction. Just over half of […]
Posted inTransit
Project Connect’s new system map remains mode agnostic
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Monday officially debuted Project Connect’s latest draft system map, a plan that charts a regional network of potential high-capacity transit investments. A series of multicolored lines trace major corridors, both established and developing, that converge on downtown from a variety of locations on the outskirts of the city. “This […]
Posted inTransit
UTC boosts bus lanes on the Drag
The Urban Transportation Commission last Wednesday boosted a grassroots call on City Council to spend part of 2016’s $720 million mobility bond package on dedicated bus lanes along the congested stretch of Guadalupe Street known as the Drag. The UTC voted 6-0 to recommend that Council include in the final Corridor Construction Program “dedicated right-of-way […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Grin and bear it
Putting himself out there… Randy Clarke spent his second full day as the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s CEO personally apologizing to riders. Clarke and top agency brass posted up at the downtown rail station just before rush hour on Thursday to greet commuters before they boarded Red Line trains. The service has recently hit some […]
Posted inTransit
AURA to Capital Metro: Seek new shelters
Even as it overhauls its downtown train station, the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority is sticking with the same design for its MetroRapid shelters, to the chagrin of one advocacy group. Last Thursday, AURA – formerly Austinites for Urban Rail Action before the group expanded its scope – published a blog post reiterating its standing call […]
Posted inTransit
Shorter headways create mild headaches for Capital Metro
Ever since the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority began operating its two MetroRapid routes at 10-minute intervals during daytime hours, the agency has seen an uptick in an unwelcome phenomenon of buses of the same line running back to back. The bunching, which has been reported on social media, had made it onto the radar of […]