Tag Archives: Capital Metro
Thursday, January 9, 2020 by Ryan Thornton
Bonds & Propositions
Activist-led transportation bond vision adjusted and finalized
The team behind the Wheel Deal, a community-led concept for a 2020 transportation-focused bond, released its final plan Wednesday after making several adjustments to its initial plan based on public input.While the group sharply cut proposed funding in a number…
Tuesday, November 19, 2019 by Ryan Thornton
Transportation
City, Capital Metro, to consider new vision for Red Line trail
In the past week, the city of Austin and Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority have each passed resolutions to renew interest in creating a 32-mile transit- and trail-oriented corridor with hike and bike trails, parks, and easy access to transit stations…
Wednesday, October 30, 2019 by Ryan Thornton
Transit
Capital Metro to get close-up look at neighborhood circulators
In the face of ongoing regional sprawl, the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority is taking strides to connect low-density areas outside the city’s public transit network to its fixed-service routes.The transit agency began that effort in June with an app-based pilot…
Tuesday, October 29, 2019 by Ryan Thornton
Transit
Capital Metro to begin building first electric bus yard
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority is laying the groundwork for an electric bus yard to store and charge the city’s first battery electric buses as early as next fall.The agency’s board of directors unanimously approved a $7.5 million contract with…
Wednesday, October 16, 2019 by Samuel King
Transit
It’s not just light rail. Capital Metro wants to expand rapid bus service, too.
Austin’s regional transit agency, Capital Metro, is taking feedback from the public on a plan to add up to five new rapid bus lines.It comes as ridership on the existing rapid bus lines, known as MetroRapid, has been rising. In…
Tuesday, September 24, 2019 by Ryan Thornton
Budget
Capital Metro board approves 2020 budget
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority may still be playing catch-up with some basic comforts like benches, shelters and waste bins at bus stops, but the agency promises to accelerate those smaller efforts while preparing for a high-capacity transit future in…
Wednesday, September 18, 2019 by Ryan Thornton
Transit
Capital Metro updates ETA for journey-planning app
Recovering from a rocky start, the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority says its new and improved mobile transit application will soon be live and ready for mobile users to download.The agency launched its new application for Android users on Monday, promising,…
Monday, September 16, 2019 by Ryan Thornton
Transit
Commission stresses need for better TOD planning along Green Line
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority is studying the potential for placing transit-oriented development districts along Project Connect’s rail commuter Green Line, but the Planning Commission says that effort may be somewhat futile without a concentrated push to create vibrant communities…
Tuesday, August 27, 2019 by Ryan Thornton
Transit
Capital Metro talks batteries over electric bus contract
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority is pressing on with its fleet electrification plan despite a number of kinks yet to be fully ironed out.After the agency’s board of directors approved a contract with New Flyer of America on Monday for…
Tuesday, August 13, 2019 by Ryan Thornton
Transit
Capital Metro board awards bus operations contract to single firm, MV Transportation
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s board of directors voted Monday to combine operations at its two garages under one company, Dallas-based MV Transportation, Inc.The contract includes a base five-year period for $575.1 million with two optional three-year extensions and a…
Tuesday, August 6, 2019 by Ryan Thornton
Transit
Capital Metro pitches in for new East Austin bus station
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s board of directors approved a 40-year interlocal agreement Monday, July 29, with the Capital Area Rural Transportation System for construction and joint operation of the Eastside Bus Plaza, a transit station at the convergence of…
Friday, August 2, 2019 by Ryan Thornton
Transit
Project Connect Blue Line yet to be defined
In the shadow of 2014’s failed Highland-Riverside rail ballot measure, the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s similarly charted Blue Line is struggling to take form.The Blue Line is one of Project Connect’s two high-capacity transit lines. If approved, it will run…
Thursday, July 25, 2019 by Ryan Thornton
City Council
Solution to boost revenue for transit leads to broad debate over city signage policy
The Austin City Council will be considering limited exceptions to a city ban on off-premise advertising at its Aug. 22 meeting in order to allow Austin public schools and the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority to display simple, non-electronic advertisements at…
Tuesday, July 23, 2019 by Ryan Thornton
Transit
Orange Line alignment brings up question of community priorities
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to have a community-supported recommendation for Project Connect’s central high-capacity Orange Line by the end of the year. The recommended “locally preferred alternative” will likely have some combination of details about the route cost…
Monday, July 22, 2019 by Ryan Thornton
Transit
Longtime VP Todd Hemingson to leave Capital Metro
After more than a decade with the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the agency’s executive vice president, Todd Hemingson, will step down Friday, July 26.His immediate plan, as he told the Monitor in an interview at the agency’s headquarters on Friday,…
Monday, July 22, 2019 by Austin Monitor
Reporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Hearsay and opinion
Careful what you read on the internet, folks… Capital Metro’s current incarnation of Project Connect is no different from anything else the agency ever does: complicated, controversial and confusing. Time, however, is running out for the community and the agency…
Tuesday, July 9, 2019 by Chad Swiatecki
Transit
Council to mull funding for incentives to increase transit use
The Austin Transportation Department has delivered its findings to City Council on how the city could start small programs that would provide incentives to some riders of public transit. The report, which included 15 potential pilot programs, was given to…
Monday, June 17, 2019 by Ryan Thornton
Transit
Capital Metro sets out to better define Project Connect
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority is moving into the second of six phases leading up to a possible 2020 referendum on Project Connect.With preliminary engineering contracts already awarded for the two high-capacity routes and the board set to award contracts…
Monday, June 3, 2019 by Jack Craver
Transit
Cap Metro to debut new ride-hailing service in Manor
On Tuesday, the Travis County Commissioners Court unanimously approved funding a new ride-hailing project in Manor run by Capital Metro. The service, called Pickup, aims to provide residents of Austin’s fastest-growing suburb an alternative to driving that is more reliable…
Monday, April 29, 2019 by Austin Monitor
Reporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Eyes on the Prii
Now we’re here… As public engagement sessions go, the April 27 kickoff for the input gathering process for the Drake Bridge Commons Project was certainly among the more novel we’ve encountered. Among the planned activities: actors portraying historic Austinites William…
