Deciding how to use leftover funds can be a challenge, but the City Council Mobility Committee came quickly to a consensus Wednesday to recommend that about $21.8 million of available transportation improvement funds be distributed equally among the city’s 10 districts. The money in question is the balance of the quarter-cent fund, which consists of […]
Austin City Council Mobility Committee
A City Council committee that reviews matters related to all modes of transportation.
Posted inPremium Types
TipSheet: This week’s Council Committees
As part of our ongoing attempt to keep readers up to date with all that is going on at City Hall, we will now be offering weekly tip sheets for City Council committees. As usual, we will be offering highlights of the meetings, with links to the entire agenda. Health and Human Services Council Committee […]
Posted inRoads, Transportation
Council debates MoPac express lane resolution
Amid mounting opposition to a proposal to add four tolled express lanes to a section of South MoPac Expressway, City Council is considering a resolution that would ask the region’s planning organization to cut the project from its 2040 Regional Transportation Plan. Council went into detail at a Tuesday work session, in preparation for a […]
Posted inTransportation
Redbud, Barton Springs bridge fixes move ahead
As Public Works Department Director Howard Lazarus said at Wednesday’s City Council Mobility Committee meeting in regard to improving the Barton Springs Road and Redbud Trail bridges, “If you never get started, you’ll never get finished.” Those projects, it appears, are one step closer to getting started. The committee recommended at that meeting that Council […]
Posted inTransportation
Council committee wants co-op taxicab proposal
While City Council mulls over ways to renew the city’s contracts with its three existing taxicab franchises, the drivers who contract with those companies appear to be inching closer to their dream of a fourth, a worker-owned cooperative. The Council Mobility Committee voted unanimously Wednesday to recommend that the full Council direct city staff to bring […]
Posted inTransportation
Council considers taxicab agreements
On Thursday, the parking garage at City Hall was filled with taxicabs. The reason was clear: For the first time, City Council members were considering the fate of the city’s three taxicab franchise agreements as a body. Ultimately, they voted unanimously to “pass a placeholder” and extend the current contract, with the understanding that the […]
Posted inCity Council, Transit, Transportation
Mobility Committee maneuvers on taxicab contracts
While the city has begun a process to rewrite regulations for both taxicabs and transportation network companies such as Uber and Lyft, a looming expiration of the city’s taxicab franchise agreements and a bill in the Texas Legislature appear to be complicating the matter. In an effort to address the issue, the City Council Mobility […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: The Return
What a country! … Before hearing a set of briefings from Transportation Department staff at a March 25 meeting of the City Council Mobility Committee, Council members had a high-level discussion about the merits of regulating Austin’s taxicab industry. Council Member Don Zimmerman turned heads when he compared Austin’s taxicab regulations with his experiences in […]
Posted inTransit
Mobility Committee considers taxicab regulations
While taxicabs have served Austin for decades, the entrance of Uber and Lyft into the picture has prompted a ground-up re-evaluation of how the city regulates the seasoned industry. The City Council Mobility Committee considered a set of amendments to the city’s taxicab ordinance Wednesday that, among other changes, would increase the number of available […]
Posted inTransportation
City-led Traffic Congestion Action Plan on the way
The Austin Monitor has obtained a memo from City Manager Marc Ott that briefly details plans for Austin’s new Traffic Congestion Action Plan, or “Traffic CAP,” though officials delayed a planned news conference on the topic until today due to a partial bridge collapse near Salado. In the memo, Ott writes, “The plan’s goal is […]
Posted inAustin, Transportation
Mobility Committee considers future of Lyft, Uber
Transportation network companies such as Lyft and Uber have come a long way since they launched outside of Austin’s regulatory framework last May. Still, they have more distance to travel before they can be considered a permanent part of the city’s transportation system. Transportation Department staff presented the City Council Mobility Committee with a set […]