Bit of turbulence during that pilot program… An attempt by the city’s Parks and Recreation Department to make “data driven decisions” went slightly off the rails at Tuesday’s City Council work session, where Council members learned that a “parks pass” pilot program may be having unintended consequences. The pass, which is a voluntary program implemented […]
Capital Metro
The city’s urban transportation system.
Posted inTransit
Council approves ‘Smart Trips’ transit outreach
City Council voted Thursday to approve a contract with a Portland-based company to operate the “Smart Trips” program, which aims to get more people in the urban core to opt for public transit, bikes and walking over driving. Before voting to pay Alta Planning & Design $600,000 (half of which comes from the Capital Metropolitan […]
Posted inTransit
Renewed Project Connect closes in on milestone
The brain trust behind Project Connect will reveal which specific corridors have made the cut to advance to the next round of high-capacity transit planning on Friday. Last Wednesday, Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority Long Range Planning Director Javier Arguello told the City Council Mobility Committee that his team will present to members of the Capital […]
Posted inTransit
Downtown change: new rail station, more two-way traffic
In two votes Thursday, City Council approved funding to help the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority build a new downtown rail station and public plaza to serve the Red Line and gave the OK to turn East Fifth Street into a two-way street to help ease the congestion that the new development is expected to exacerbate. […]
Posted inTransit
Small change brings big boost to MetroRapid
MetroRapid’s popularity has taken off after a small but significant tweak the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority made in January. So far in 2017, both lines of the limited-stop service have together seen a 26-percent increase in ridership compared to the same period in 2016. The service saw its best month ever in March, when the […]
Posted inTransportation
Council approves Smart Trips program
City Council on Thursday approved the second iteration of Smart Trips, an education and outreach program aimed at getting people in Central Austin out of their cars and onto sidewalks, bikes and buses. The first iteration took place between April and July of last year, when the Austin Transportation Department teamed up with the Capital […]
Posted inTransit
New MetroRail trains roll into Austin
With the arrival of tens of millions of dollars’ worth of new equipment, the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority is approximately half a year away from beefing up its tenth most popular route. On Thursday, workers at the agency’s North Operations and Maintenance Facility off Burnet Road unloaded six new pieces of Swiss-manufactured components that will […]
Posted inTexas State Legislature
Workman’s bill could help Lake Travis town ditch Capital Metro
Leaders of one of the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s original members are hoping a state lawmaker can help them in their quest to quit the transit agency. Earlier this month, state Rep. Paul Workman filed House Bill 2627, which is aimed at helping Lago Vista fast track another election to leave Capital Metro. Last November, […]
Posted inTransportation
Capital Metro demos robot bus
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority showed off a robot minibus last week that could be the future of linking low-density areas to the agency’s mass transit network. Along with RATP Dev, the parent company of Capital Metro contractor McDonald Transit Associates, the agency demonstrated a single Easymile EZ10 self-driving shuttle in a University of Texas […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Gondolas! Open Letters!
High time… Perhaps in accordance with the leisurely speed at which its subject is known for, a long-awaited report on aerial gondolas is taking its sweet time in being made public. The high-flying transit alternative captured headlines last September when the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority Board of Directors opted to bankroll the study of […]
Posted inTransit
Capital Metro touts partnership that keeps vulnerable residents moving
A nonprofit effort to expand transportation equity in Austin is celebrating a milestone while also dropping six figures to expand its scope. Last week, the Transit Empowerment Fund announced it has provided its 3,000,000th bus ride via its partnership with the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority. At a press conference on Tuesday, TEF Chair Janet Allen […]
Posted inCity Council
Plaza Saltillo survives near derailment
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Plaza Saltillo development survived a harrowing journey at City Council on Thursday night, but just barely. Council eventually voted early Friday morning to approve the zoning request sought by the developer, Endeavor Real Estate Group, after a protracted discussion that featured two impassioned and opposing monologues from Council members Ora […]