The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors on Monday sent back to its committees a staff proposal to readjust a paratransit provider’s contract to the tune of $25.7 million. Chad Ballentine, the agency’s vice president of demand response and innovative mobility, presented to the board the proposal that would extend Capital Metro’s agreement with […]
Capital Metro
The city’s urban transportation system.
Posted inTransit
Project Connect draft plan makes premature debut
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority is trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube after a draft version of its proposed Project Connect system plan found its way online Monday evening. The plan, which features an ambitious combination of light rail, bus rapid transit, regional commuter rail, and possibly even a downtown streetcar, was […]
Posted inTransit
Capital Metro officially anoints new executive head
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s next CEO and president, Randy Clarke, will take the transit agency’s reins on March 7. On Monday, Capital Metro’s board of directors unanimously approved the terms of Clarke’s five-year contract, a document Clarke was on hand to personally sign. “What really intrigues me about this position is Austin itself. This […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: What blind spots?
Colossus of roads… “There’s no question that I am probably the largest road proponent in the Milky Way.” Thus Travis County Commissioner Gerald Daugherty began a stemwinder about his transportation prescription for Central Texas at a luncheon hosted by the Real Estate Council of Austin last Thursday. The Republican road warrior was one of four […]
Posted inTransit
Experience put Capital Metro CEO finalist over the top
The chair of the board at the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority said experience was the deciding factor when it came to selecting a lone finalist to take the executive reins. On Friday, after the board voted 7-0-1 to tap Randy Clarke to replace former CEO and President Linda Watson, Chair Wade Cooper said Clarke’s background […]
Posted inTransit
Capital Metro CEO finalists face the public
The auditions are over and now it’s time for the judges to determine who gets to be Austin’s next top transit executive. The final four candidates in the running for the open president/CEO job at the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority faced three separate rounds of interviews on Monday in front of the board of directors, […]
Posted inAustin
2017: A Monitor year in review
City Manager search Oh boy. City Council closed out the year by (finally) appointing new City Manager Spencer Cronk more than a year after former manager Marc Ott announced his departure. That is great news for a city that has been in a bit of a holding pattern as the position remained filled on an […]
Posted inTransit
Capital Metro reveals final four in its CEO search
The path to replace outgoing Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority President and CEO Linda Watson will trace through a town hall meeting in early 2018. On Wednesday, the transit agency revealed the names of the four candidates still in the running for the position. It also announced a community confab scheduled for Jan. 8 at which […]
Posted inTransportation
Guadalupe plan no roadblock for Project Connect
The city’s newly published Guadalupe Corridor Plan unsurprisingly turned heads when the Austin Transportation Department published it on Tuesday. Any plan that recommends the elimination of on-street parking and conversion of general purpose lanes into transit-priority lanes can be reliably counted upon to draw swift reaction from car-friendly quarters, including no less a person than […]
Posted inTransit
Breakdowns plague MetroRapid fleet
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s highly heralded MetroRapid buses fell well short of the agency’s maintenance goals during Fiscal Year 2016-17. Each month, the fleet of 55 vehicles failed to reach the minimum goal of miles traveled between road calls. “A road call happens anytime there’s a mechanical failure that requires the vehicle to be […]
Posted inRoads
Final Guadalupe plan hits the streets
At long last, the city’s shortest corridor has its plan. The Austin Transportation Department today released the much-anticipated Guadalupe Corridor Plan, a 66-page document that calls for a multimodal revolution along the Drag. As expected, the document recommends the conversion of two car lanes into bus-only lanes on Guadalupe Street between 29th Street and Martin […]
Posted inTransit
Capital Metro sticks with ultralow-ridership line in Manor
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority is moving full speed ahead with its plans to prioritize frequency over geographic coverage, but the agency’s commitment to that principle isn’t total. The recent adoption of the contentious June 2018 service changes that eliminated several routes and altered others due to low ridership will keep intact the No. 470 […]