Representatives from Capital Metro presented a transit development plan for the city of Hutto on Nov. 19 and recommended the city implement commuter bus lines to downtown Austin as well as local routes.

Hutto commissioned the transit study through Capital Metro this spring and the transportation agency studied Hutto's existing conditions, regional growth and resident feedback in developing recommendations, said Michelle Meaux, Capital Metro’s regional coordination planner.

Capital Metro recommended Hutto begin implementing public transportation with two phases. The first phase, Austin Express, would include three morning trips and three evening trips directly to downtown Austin and two daily trips to Capital Metro's Tech Ridge Transit Center in Austin, said Andrew Ittigson, planning department manager with engineering consultant AECOM. The annual cost to Hutto for Phase One would be around $119,000 and could be offset by federal funding and bus fares, Ittigson said. Phase Two would be a flexible bus route on a 3-quarter-mile stretch of Hwy. 79 in Hutto that would respond to local demand for transportation to shopping and service areas, Ittigson said.

"A lot of the zero- to one-car households [in Hutto] are along that 3-quarter-mile, and a lot of the places people want to get to are along that three-quarter-mile,” Ittigson said.

Before making a decision on whether to implement Capital Metro's recommendations, Hutto City Manager Karen Daly suggested City Council hold a public forum to gather more resident feedback on the completed transit plan.