In January, the Capital Metro board likely will approve its Connections 2025 service plan, but staffers are still making tweaks in response to community feedback. Capital Metro is also consider holding other work sessions in January to further discuss the service plan of proposed bus route changes before it goes to the board for approval Jan. 23. During the Dec. 14 meeting, staffers gave the board an update on three areas: 1. Continue working with the public and partners for areas of concern The agency is not considering keeping some bus routes proposed for elimination, including routes 19, 21/22, 30 and 333. Some areas on these routes will not be served by other existing or new routes, including Steck Avenue and Mesa Drive, Southwest Austin, and Bee Cave Road and Walsh Tarlton Lane. Capital Metro planner Lawrence Deeter said staffers will still continue to research other options in these areas, and the agency is open to partnering with other organizations. He said no discussions have occurred with Eanes ISD over the proposed elimination of the bus stop at Bee Cave and Walsh Tarlton. 2. Implement innovation zones for areas of concern In response to riders who oppose Capital Metro’s proposal to eliminate parts of several bus routes, the transit agency is looking at creating innovation zones in six areas to identify alternative options. “We have these areas that we’ve heard consistently from the community [where] they would like service to continue, but we don’t believe that big bus is the right tool for that [area],” Deeter said. Within these six areas, the agency plans to look at adding other transportation options, including flexible bus routes, transportation network companies, vanpools, carsharing and destination shuttles. These areas are in Southwest Austin, Westlake, Rollingwood, West Austin, Northwest Hills and Northeast Austin. Deeter said Capital Metro has not yet determined which options would be most appropriate in the six areas but will consult the agency’s two committees as well as create a new committee of residents to decide what is best for each neighborhood. Capital Metro would keep bus routes in these areas until a plan for alternative options is selected and tested for six months, he said. 3. Capital costs for implementing the new service plan would be about $175 million Staffers also unveiled a timeline for implementing the plan and the estimated capital costs at $175 million to purchase new buses, build new bus stops and stations, and add transit lanes. Most of the capital costs would be for adding bus-rapid transit, similar to MetroRapid, on I-35 in transit lanes that the Texas Department of Transportation would add in the center of I-35. “We’re proposing to [implement] as much as possible in fiscal year 2017-18,” Deeter said. This excludes changes the agency will make in the first half of 2017. In January, Capital Metro will eliminate the premium fare charged for its MetroRapid and flyer bus routes. Riders will now pay the same lower fare that is charged on local bus routes. When the full MoPac express lanes open by spring, Capital Metro will be able to make changes to its Express commuter bus routes to reroute them to use the new MoPac express lanes. Additional information is available at www.connections2025.org.