Austin’s leaders are looking for answers to transportation needs as rapid growth pushes housing and job centers farther from the urban core, straining an already overburdened transportation system. At a recent infrastructure summit hosted by the Austin Chamber of Commerce, public officials and mobility experts outlined the scope of the challenges and emerging strategies to […]
CapMetro
Capital Metro provides bus and MetroRail (Red Line) service for the Austin region. It’s governed by a seven-member board appointed by various governing entities, including City Council members. CapMetro is also governed by a President and CEO.
Posted inPlanning
Neighbors push back on city plan to direct future land use around Cap Metro sites
A hearing at the Planning Commission on a proposal by city staff to change land use plans around two Capital Metro park-and-ride sites in North and South Austin was postponed during a March 25 meeting after neighborhood advocates raised alarm. The postponed plan revolves around the North Lamar and South Congress transit centers, which Capital […]
Posted inTransit
Austin Transportation pursues ‘choice’ riders with free transit pass pilot
Austin Transportation is seeking City Council’s permission to buy $700,000 worth of free transit passes as a carrot to lure more “choice” riders out of their private cars and onto buses and trains. Rob Spillar, director of Transportation, said the transit pass program is the best way to move the needle closer to the city’s […]
Posted inTransit
City, Cap Metro ready to consider transit before, not after, construction
For most of its existence, the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority has struggled to create a coherent service network in a city that has been largely developed without public transit in mind. This historical pattern now appears, after decades of political gridlock, to be reversing itself. During a Mobility Committee meeting Thursday evening, Austin Transportation Department […]
Posted inTransit
Capital Metro board approves major renovation of its bus network
The first time was all it took for the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s contentious June 2018 service changes. The sweeping overhaul of the transit agency’s bus network earned the board of directors’ stamp of approval on Wednesday, avoiding the months of delay the board afforded to Connections 2025, the service plan from which the changes […]
Posted inTransit
For Capital Metro, UT shuttles ground what could be high-flying ridership numbers
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s latest systemwide ridership statistics would be trending upward were it not for an unlikely population: college students. According to recently posted data, the agency gave fewer rides in March than it did over the same period last year. That was despite a significant increase in passengers on MetroRapid and small […]
Posted inCity Council
Plaza Saltillo advances amid accusations of broken promises
After years in the making, the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Plaza Saltillo is only one vote away from its ultimate fate. City Council on Thursday night gave second-reading approval to the zoning change that will clear the way for the project, albeit slightly shorter than the developer, Endeavor Real Estate Group, originally proposed. The vote […]
Posted inTransportation
Capital Metro could get permission to bypass voter approval of MetroRail extension
State Rep. Celia Israel and state Sen. Kirk Watson have filed legislation at the Capitol that would make it much easier for the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority to expand its commuter rail service. On Friday, Israel filed House Bill 1726, which would allow the agency to build the proposed Green Line addition to MetroRail without […]
Posted inTransit
Connections 2025 delayed yet again
Connections 2025 is facing another monthlong delay. During a Monday afternoon work session on the proposed overhaul of the agency’s bus network, Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s board of directors remained riddled with anxieties, leading Chair Wade Cooper to postpone the expected Jan. 23 vote to implement the sweeping changes. City Council Member Delia Garza told […]
Posted inTransit
Work session reveals new details, wrinkles in Connections 2025 draft
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority could turn toward technology to help pick up riders left stranded by the proposed overhaul of its sprawling transit network. On Wednesday, planners told the agency’s board of directors that options such as carsharing, vanpooling, flex-route buses or other on-demand services could fill the gaps in coverage created by the […]
Posted inTransportation
CTRMA advances park-and-ride plan
The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority is charting a path pocked with bureaucracy toward a set of brand new park-and-rides along its toll roads and express lanes. On Tuesday, the agency’s board of directors gave staff the green light to apply to a state agency for unused Qualified Energy Conservation bonds allocated by the federal […]
Posted inTransportation
Council making plans for mobility money
With the budget behind them, Austin City Council members can turn their attention to other projects – chief among them, dividing up a little more than $21 million in money from the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The funds are known as the quarter-cent money because the transportation agency collects a quarter-cent in sales tax. On […]