Capital Metro customers to see service name changes

Capital Metro is planning to continue its gradual brand refresh efforts, which include name changes to the services it offers.

According to CapMetro Communications Specialist Blythe Nebeker, this will include:

• MetroRapid becoming CapMetro Rapid
• MetroRail becoming CapMetro Rail
• MetroBus becoming CapMetro Bus
• MetroExpress becoming CapMetro Express
• MetroAccess becoming CapMetro Access

“When we became CapMetro, it wouldn’t be logical to have ‘CapMetro MetroRapid’ with the redundant ‘metro,’ which is how we arrived at the service naming convention,” Nebeker explained in an email.

Nebeker said that the brand refresh that rolled out in 2022—a redesign of its Texas Capitol dome logo with the word “Metro” into a word mark reading “CapMetro”—solidified that many in the community know the organization singularly as CapMetro.

“As the agency and region continue to change, we recognized this as a pivotal moment to also grow our brand as our agency evolves,” Nebeker said.

The refresh will require changing signage at stops, on vehicles and other customer touch points, but the implementation has been gradual and will take “years to complete,” meaning former and new branding elements will coexist for some time.

“We are focusing on applying the brand to items that naturally reach their end of life and require replacements, or to new assets such as the new vehicles, stations and signage orders that were already planned, to support our ongoing efforts to procure carbon-neutral vehicles and introduce new CapMetro Rapid service lines,” Nebeker said.

The rebrand will also provide the ability for existing vehicles to serve more routes, Nebeker said.