Capital Metro, Austin’s bus transit service, is in the midst of planning its largest service change in history. Depending on the outcome of a Nov. 15 vote, proposed shifts to bus routes as a result of the 10-year service plan known as Connections 2025 will take effect on June 3.

The entity’s board members approved the plan in February. Some changes, including an increase in MetroRapid bus frequency as well as the elimination of the MetroRapid premium fare—have already been implemented in 2017.

Of the agency’s 82 routes, 38 will go unchanged, Capital Metro Planner Lawrence Deeter said.

INCREASED FREQUENCY

Some routes will see minor changes, such as increased frequency or slight realignments to make them straighter. Others, however, will have more significant changes, such as eliminating duplicate routes, Deeter said.

One of the most significant changes will be increasing bus frequency on 10 routes slated to become part of the agency’s high-frequency network. On these high-frequency routes, bus service will be every 15 minutes seven days a week. In South and Southwest Austin, three existing routes will be added to the network.

The exception is on routes that already offer 10-minute service weekdays, including MetroRapid Route 801, which services the South Congress Transit Center, and Route 803, which currently operates along South Lamar Boulevard and ends in Sunset Valley. If the plan is approved, its southern terminus will be extended to run along Manchaca Road from Hwy. 290 to Tanglewood Village at Slaughter Lane.

“This [high-frequency network] is really the cornerstone of the proposed new network,” Deeter said.

Improved frequency, Deeter said, means riders will not have to check bus schedules. Instead a rider can walk to a bus stop on routes in that high-frequency service network and expect a bus within a few minutes.

“Four out of five [riders] would be within a short 10-minute walk to frequent service,” Deeter said. “That’s 80 percent of current riders benefiting and having better access to jobs and education.”

Riders under the new system could expect to wait an average of 7 minutes for a high-frequency bus versus 30-40 minutes currently.

With these proposed changes, Deeter said the agency expects ridership to increase. In 2015, the agency saw a 30 percent increase in ridership on the first few bus routes it added to the high-frequency network, he said.

ELIMINATED ROUTES

Due to low ridership, Capital Metro has opted to discontinue Route 970 under the proposed plan. The route currently services Oak Hill and runs along Southwest Parkway and William Cannon Drive north of Hwy. 290.

Community Impact Newspaper spoke to Nextdoor users to hear their feedback on the proposed changes.

Justin Lydick of the Maple Run neighborhood said changes to bus routes under Connections 2025 would hinder his commute into Oak Hill. Lydick specifically pointed to the partial elimination of high-frequency Route 333, which currently extends into Oak Hill but under the new plan would terminate at the Arbor Hills shopping center.

“Southwest Austin residents west of Brodie [Lane] don’t really care how many benefits the new plan provides or how much more frequently buses will run because we are now mostly disconnected from the network,” he said. “The existing services that are being changed for the worse will strongly affect the people that use them.”

Some routes proposed for elimination will be replaced with new routes or combined with existing routes Deeter said.

Route 110, for example, which in South Austin runs along South First Street from Ben White Boulevard to just north of Slaughter Lane, will see replacement service through Frequent Route 10.

South Austin resident Melissa Rothrock said her work commute into downtown would be hastened by the transition from Route 110, which makes limited stops, to Frequent Route 10.

“Taking the [Route] 10 bus means I’ll be late to work if I catch the bus at the same time I’d catch the [Route] 110,” she said. “I’ll have to get to the bus stop even earlier to accommodate the more frequent stops.”

Portions of Route 5, including a stretch that travels through the Southwood neighborhood on the east side of Manchaca near Ben White, have also been cut. The addition of Route 105, which would travel from The University of Texas to the proposed Westgate Transit Center during the morning and evening rush hours, could help current Route 5 riders access downtown.

Robson Barreto, a Southwood neighborhood resident, raised a concern over how this change could impact minority communities.

“Limiting the [Route] 5 to a few times per day via Route 105 will severely impact these communities and will restrict access to the library and to places around South First Street and Oltorf Street,” he said. “These communities are majority non-white; eliminating the [Route] 5 will favor gentrification of that neighborhood.”

Low ridership is the result of limited access to bus stops, Barreto said, and should not be used as an excuse to eliminate routes.

“CapMetro shouldn’t be looking forward to cutting lines, but expanding,” he said. “Public transportation starts to be used as it is made available.”

REGIONAL IMPACT

According to Capital Metro, in Southwest Austin bus availability is slated to improve with routes 10, 311 and 333 joining the high-frequency network.

The Austin Community College Pinnacle campus in Oak Hill will be served every 30 minutes by alternating trips on Route 333 as well as Route 315—a new route which will travel along Ben White between the South Congress Transit Center and the Pinnacle campus.

Additionally, Route 30, which currently ends at the South Congress Transit Center, will now end at the Westgate Shopping Center.

WHAT’S TO COME

Not all proposed Connections 2025 changes will occur in June. Deeter said the agency is still working on combining routes 1 and 3 with MetroRapid routes 801 and 803, respectively, to eliminate route duplication.

Future changes include adding new MetroRapid bus routes for more east-west service and eliminating routes in areas where the density does not warrant traditional bus service, Deeter said. In those areas, Capital Metro will first implement innovation zones to find out what other types of transportation service, such as ridesharing or ridehailing, might make more sense. Deeter said those pilot programs are slated to begin in 2019.