Priscilla Jove, 19, sat cross-legged on a bench at a bus stop on the corner of West Oltorf Street and South Lamar Boulevard Saturday afternoon. A biology student at Austin Community College, Jove was headed out to study. She said she rides the bus because she’s not just curious about the human body – but […]
Capital Metro
The city’s urban transportation system.
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Controversy
Out of order… It’s no secret – thanks to our reporting – that Capital Metro’s Customer Satisfaction Advisory Committee isn’t the most influential government-appointed group of citizens in town. But on Wednesday, the committee’s staff liaison let the Capital Metro board of directors know exactly how the committee felt about the largest reorganization of Austin’s […]
Posted inTransit
Cap Metro plan up for a vote today
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors is set to vote today on a major overhaul of its bus system. If approved, the changes would take effect in June, changing more than half of all routes in the area. While some buses would run more often, other routes would be eliminated. Some are calling […]
Posted inTransit
Park-and-ride plan rides again
Regional transportation planners have resurfaced an effort to build parking lots for suburban bus commuters that fell off the radar earlier this year. On Wednesday, the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority Board of Directors learned that the complicated funding strategy agency staff had been banking on as of January was no longer an option. Last […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: What’s wrong with _______
Sad CSAC… Exactly who is the “customer” in the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Customer Satisfaction Advisory Committee? That’s the existential question the body and the agency’s board of directors will grapple with in the coming months. As we reported recently, some board members have expressed concerns about the committee’s workings, or lack thereof. When the […]
Posted inTransportation
Capital Metro no longer counting on ambitious I-35 bus plan
The Texas Department of Transportation’s big new plans for Interstate 35 through Austin may be the end of the road for the local transit agency’s hopes for bus rapid transit on the highway. “We don’t know for sure at this point, but our working assumption is that, given the new proposed design, there would not […]
Posted inTransit
Capital Metro board treated to an earful at two public hearings
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s board of directors sat through hours of public testimony on Wednesday, much of it critical of the agency’s proposed bus network redesign. In fact, the board scheduled two separate public hearings, one in the early afternoon and the other in the evening. Dozens of speakers attended both and held forth […]
Posted inTransportation
Downtown leaders eye busing changes to manage traffic growth
Downtown Austin leaders are hoping that proposed changes in downtown routes and frequency for Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus service will increase the number of employers in the city’s core willing to offer alternative transportation plans for their employees in coming years. At a recent meeting of the city’s Downtown Commission, a pair of presentations […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Vows, complaints and questions
Not half bad… The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s board of directors has been challenged to walk its talk. At last Tuesday’s work session, activist Zenobia Joseph took aim at the agency’s proposed bus network redesign and the claims that it will put hundreds of thousands of residents within a half-mile walk from a transit route. […]
Posted inTransportation
Vacancies, lack of interest put Capital Metro’s customer advisory committees in the hot seat
The two committees intended to provide user feedback to the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s board of directors could be cruising toward a makeover. At Monday’s monthly board meeting, Chair Wade Cooper and Council Member Ann Kitchen expressed concerns about vacancies on both the Customer Satisfaction Advisory Committee and the Access Advisory Committee. “If we’re not getting […]
Posted inTransit
Capital Metro board hears about proposed changes to proposed changes
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority is making adjustments to a long-planned massive overhaul of its fixed-route bus network just weeks ahead of a scheduled vote on the sweeping changes by the board of directors. During an extended work session on Tuesday, agency staff gave the board an overview of the tweaks they are making to […]
Posted inTransit
Urban Transportation Commission reacts to Capital Metro route changes
In September, the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority informed the Austin public that there would be a major restructuring of citywide bus lines to kick-start the Connections 2025 transit plan. To elaborate on the exact changes, on Oct. 10, Caitlin D’Alton, a senior planner at the agency, offered the members of the Urban Transportation Commission a […]