At a July 12 work session, Pflugerville City Council received a presentation from Capital Metro recapping statistics from the pilot program and outlining proposals for continuing the program.
The program covers a 3.5-square-mile area mostly along the Pecan Street corridor. Passengers can request rides within the service area from 7 a.m.-6 p.m. on weekdays. Rides cost $1.25 each way.
According to the presentation, Pickup's ridership has steadily increased over the course of the pilot program, peaking at 851 riders in May.
The most common destination for Pickup riders was Tech Ridge Station, with Walmart, H-E-B and Amazon also accounting for significant shares of ridership.
Capital Metro proposed two options for continuing the Pickup program; both proposals use the same service area and hours as the pilot program, but add one or two additional vehicles for a total of three or four.
According to the presentation, the three-vehicle option would cost the city $450,885.08, while the four-vehicle option would cost the city $654,445.98.
Julie Mazur, manager of regional coordination planning at Capital Metro, said the additional vehicles would help to reduce wait times.
However, some council members said they would also like to see the program's service area expanded, particularly to include Baylor Scott & White and Stone Hill Town Center.
"I think it just makes sense given what we know about our citizens and where they go," Council Member Rudy Metayer said.
Council took no action at the July 12 meeting, but asked that Capital Metro put together proposals with cost estimates for variations of the program with the expanded boundaries.
The Pickup pilot is set to end Sept. 30.
