Residents: Bus service benefits community, but improvements are needed

In the months since Capital Metro's newest bus service, MetroRapid, launched Jan. 26, the transit agency has continued tweaking and improving the service in preparation of the second route introduced Aug. 24.

"With the amazing growth we're seeing there's a real opportunity to get people who formerly would drive everywhere to really try transit, especially for activities downtown or along Burnet [Road] and South Lamar [Boulevard]. Now people can take the bus to the Broken Spoke," said Todd Hemingson, vice president of strategic planning and development.

Newest service

MetroRapid—which has many characteristics of bus-rapid transit systems such as limited stops, branding of buses and shelters, and amenities including free Wi-Fi—has two routes.

The first, Route 801, runs along North Lamar Boulevard and South Congress Avenue from the Tech Ridge Park & Ride to the Southpark Meadows shopping center. This route replaced Route 101, and Route 1L was phased out. Frequency of Route 1—the local route that runs on Metric Boulevard, North Lamar and South Congress—was reduced from running every 13 minutes to every 26 minutes. These changes angered some riders who relied on those routes for transportation.

The second line, Route 803, has 34 stations between The Domain and the Westgate shopping center, as well as 12 shared stops with Route 801, and runs on Burnet Road and South Lamar. It uses standard 40-foot buses instead of the 60-foot accordion-style buses on Route 801.

This is because the Burnet/South Lamar corridor is not as congested as the North Lamar/South Congress corridor, spokeswoman Francine Pares said.

Surinder Marwaha, a former planner and project manager with Capital Metro from 1998–2012, said he was instrumental in planning MetroRapid. The original plan was to run a rapid bus system on the North Lamar/South Congress corridor, but Marwaha said he pushed to add the Burnet/South Lamar corridor because the city of Austin envisioned that corridor being transit-friendly.

"If we can expedite and act as a catalyst for [the city], that would be a great win-win," he said. " It could stimulate high density along the Burnet corridor."

Capital Metro considered replacing Route 3—a local route that runs on Burnet, South Lamar and Manchaca Road—with the new Route 803, but after hearing feedback on how unhappy many customers were with the reduction of Route 1, Capital Metro decided to run both routes, Hemingson said. Route 3 was still cut back from running every 22–30 minutes to every 30–40 minutes.

One issue Route 803 faces is a lack of Park & Ride facilities for commuters, but Hemingson said many of the Route 803 stops offer free parking on side streets.

Capital Metro implements changes to transit service three times each year. Like with any service change, Hemingson said employees have been reviewing the new service and proposing solutions and changes.

One of those changes was adding more buses on Route 1 to assist with overcrowding issues that resulted from the reduction of frequency. Between Jan. 26 and July 25, Capital Metro received about 75 complaints about overcrowding on Route 1. Hemingson said no other changes are planned, but the agency will continue running additional buses when necessary.

Room to improve

Capital Metro aims to provide MetroRapid service every 10 minutes during the morning and afternoon peak periods and every 15 minutes during non-peak periods. However, current peak frequency is 12 or 13 minutes between buses.

Hemingson said this is because the travel time for a bus to get from one end of the route to the other and all the way back takes longer than it did when Capital Metro submitted its grant application in 2008 to the Federal Transit Administration, which awarded a $38.1 million grant in 2012 for the $47.6 million MetroRapid project.

"Since that time congestion has gotten worse on all the different corridors where we're operating MetroRapid, so as a consequence the travel times have gotten longer," Hemingson said. "We're trying to adjust for that."

The MetroRapid project came in $8 million under budget, so Capital Metro has asked the FTA if it could use the unspent money to buy six new buses and install new stops to accommodate growth along both corridors. Hemingson declined to reveal the locations of these proposed stops until Capital Metro receives confirmation from the FTA, which should come in early fall.

Hemingson said the transit signal priority, or TSP, system installed in buses will be tweaked for better performance. TSP allows buses to communicate with the city's traffic system. If the bus is behind schedule and within 350 feet of an intersection, TSP makes a request to the city's traffic signal to hold a green light for up to seven additional seconds.

The transit agency has changed how it reports TSP data to allow Capital Metro to see how often TSP is being used at intersections.

"The city has concerns about the impact it has on overall traffic flow when you do the signal priority. There's a balancing act," Hemingson said. "One of our objectives going forward will be to fine-tune and optimize that."

Marwaha said the position of bus stops also aids TSP. He said the original plan was for stops to be built after a stop light so the bus would not have to stop twice. However, he said plans appeared to have changed since he left.

"I would have fought that tooth and nail," he said.

Customer satisfaction

Capital Metro received about 80 complaints on changes to Route 1 and the new Route 801 service. Most riders complained of buses arriving late, being passed by a Route 1 bus because it was at capacity or Route 801 stops being located too far apart. It also received nearly 100 complaints about issues with Route 801's frequency, according to Capital Metro customer service call reports from Jan. 26–July 25 obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The transit agency also received about 65 complaints about Route 1's frequency with some complainants noting they waited too long for a bus or that their scheduled bus never arrived.

Allandale resident Steven Zettner said he lives near the Justin Lane stop on Route 803. He said in the short term, MetroRapid will help reduce traffic on Burnet. However, Zettner said Capital Metro will need to make further improvements to maintain its long-term quality because MetroRapid still shares lanes with automobiles.

"It was faster than a normal bus, [but] it's still a bus," he said of his experience riding MetroRapid. "I'm not sure if it will have a transformative effect on the neighborhood. Traffic congestion is a concern particularly around rush hour [and] will get worse over time. Rapid bus is not the silver bullet for that, but it is taking cars off the road."