The Capital Area Rural Transportation System began bus services Jan. 30 at a new stop one block from the Georgetown Square at Ninth and Main streets.

The bus stop will offer 10 daily departures to Austin, Round Rock or Taylor, along with three new routes with connections to Capital Metro and Austin Greyhound bus services, according to a city news release.

"We operate the station in Georgetown and Round Rock, and with that we've seen a need of those trying to get to the east and a need of how we can connect the businesses of Taylor, Round Rock and Georgetown to Tech Ridge where there's a major Capital Metro transfer point," Director of CARTS Field Operations Don Hill said.

Hill said the buses leaving from the Georgetown Station, located at 3620 S. Austin Ave., only traveled to Austin, Round Rock and Temple, but the new interurban routes from Georgetown will loop from downtown Georgetown to Taylor and allow people to catch a connecting bus to downtown Austin.

"We're trying to get people to where they need to go," he said.

Hill said the new stop was built as a late response to a survey conducted by an independent traffic consultant hired by CARTS. The planning process for the new routes, he said, was initially put on the shelf because of the lack of federal transportation funding during the economic downturn.

Georgetown Transportation Services Director Ed Polasek said the study was specifically conducted in 2008 to address the needs of a growing Georgetown. However, along with assessing city and population growth, Polasek said there is a 90 percent chance that Georgetown will be classified as a small urban area for the next fiscal year. As a small urban area, CARTS would not be able to provide service to the area.

However, Polasek said the service will not stop, only the source of the CARTS funding would change, and Georgetown is currently moving toward operating on a fixed-route system in which buses run on a prescribed schedule.