The new $7.54 million Eastside Bus Plaza will include a 2,200-square-foot terminal building and will be a hub for four Capital Metro bus routes as well as nine routes for CARTS. The site is currently a vacant lot owned by the Texas Department of Transportation, but a groundbreaking ceremony for the plaza took place Feb. 20 at 363 Shady Lane, Austin.
Jeff Dailey, Mobility Authority deputy executive director, told the board during its Feb. 26 meeting that funding for the project will result from a multiparty agreement.
In addition to the $2 million from CARTS, funding will include $3 million from the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, $1.5 million from Capital Metro, $400,000 from the Mobility Authority and $640,000 from the city of Austin, according to information from the Mobility Authority, which adds the land donation for the station's location from TxDOT is valued at $750,000.
The plaza will serve as a prototype for future Project Connect stations as well as an interface between CARTS’ 28 daily connections and Capital Metro’s 106 daily connections and has a planned completion of early 2021.
Estimations from a CARTS representative state the new station will facilitate several hundred riders per day.
