Round Rock City Council is considering a plan that could create three bus routes to provide local and regional transit options.

In January, City Council contracted with Nelson\Nygaard, a transit planning firm based in San Francisco, to create a transit master plan. The firm presented their findings and route recommendations to City Council at a workshop Nov. 10.

Nelson\Nygaard Senior Associate James Gamez recommended the city initially implement three bus routes: two primarily serving stops within the city and one serving as a regional transit route.

According to preliminary estimates provided by the firm, operating the fixed routes as well as continuing to provide scaled-back demand-response bus service would cost the city of Round Rock about $630,000 annually. The city spends $420,000 annually to operate its demand-response bus service.

Under the new plan, the Federal Transit Administration would pay 40 percent, or $485,000, of the total annual cost of $1,115,000 to operate the three routes recommended by Nelson\Nygaard.

Mayor Alan McGraw said at the price levels presented he was interested in moving forward with the plan to see if the estimates are accurate.

"For a couple of hundred thousand more [than the city currently pays] we pick all this up," McGraw said. "I expected this to be a $4 million price tag."

Potential routes

The first route recommended by Nelson\Nygaard would be an arterial bus route primarily running north and south. The arterial would connect the Round Rock campuses of Austin Community College and Texas State University in north Round Rock to the Howard Station Park & Ride in Northwest Austin. Along the route the bus would make stops within a 1/4 mile of Stony Point High School, H-E-B Plus! on Hwy. 79, Round Rock Area Serving Center downtown and the La Frontera development.

Gamez said the route would operate every hour initially and would need two 30- to 35-foot buses. He said the transit plan would allow bus service to increase to once every half hour in the future.

Gamez said the annual operating cost of the arterial route would be $365,000, of which the city would pay $185,000. FTA would pay $145,000, and fare revenue would generate $35,000.

Proposed bus service in Round Rock[/caption]

The second route proposed by the firm is a circulator primarily serving West Round Rock. The route would connect St. David's Round Rock Medical Center at the western terminus and Dell Inc. at the eastern terminus. Stops along the route would include Round Rock High School, Baca Senior Center, Success High School and Walmart Supercenter.

Gamez said the circulator would require smaller vehicles and have fewer stops than the arterial route because it is projected to have fewer riders. According to figures provided by Nelson\Nygaard, the circulator would cost about $185,000 annually to operate, with the city paying $100,000 of that. FTA would pay $75,000, and fare revenue would generate about $10,000.

Proposed regional transit options in Round Rock[/caption]

The third route recommended by Nelson\Nygaard is an express commuter route that would connect downtown Round Rock on the northern terminus to The University of Texas, state offices and downtown Austin. This route would also stop at the Tech Ridge Park & Ride station and major Round Rock employers such as The Liquidation Channel, Michael Angelo's and the Art Institute of Austin.

The annual operating costs of the commuter express route would be $150,000 annually, with the city paying $55,000, FTA paying $60,000 and fare revenue generating $35,000.

Moving forward

Round Rock Transportation Director Gary Hudder said the purpose of the presentation was to get direction from council. There is nothing in the plan that time sensitive, he said. The plan does allow for a 2017 start date if council moves forward and there are no delays.