According to Capital Metro's website, the updates remove duplicative service and eliminates certain routes or large segments of service to reinvest resources into higher bus frequency.
Work to improve frequency and eliminate route duplication began in September 2015 when Capital Metro's board of directors hired consulting firm Transportation Management & Design Inc. to develop the Connections 2025 transit plan.
Connections 2025 would be implemented in phases over the next 10 years, beginning in January.
The new draft of the transit plan was presented to the Capital Metro board of directors Monday, and the board is expected to vote on the final transit plan in December.
Capital Metro will continue collecting citizen feedback through [email protected] until then.
Route 663
Original proposal
- Route 663 replaced by Routes 18, MetroRapid 804
- More frequency to the Lake Austin student housing area with later operating hours
- Expanded weekend service
- Route 18 would offer service from Brackenridge Apartments, directly to UT, every 15 minutes
- MetroRapid 804 would offer service between Brackenridge Apartments and downtown
- Students could transfer to UT in downtown
- 24/7 service, running every 10 minutes during peak hours
Revised proposal
- Maintain Route 663 as a regular, local Capital Metro route
- Running every 15 minutes during peak times
- Running every 30 minutes during off-peak weekdays, Saturdays and Sundays
- All-week, seven-day service
- Route 18 would still offer direct service to UT, every 15 minutes
- MetroRapid Route 804 would no longer run to Brackenridge Apartments, stopping east of MoPac near the Gateway Apartments
Route 19 at Bull Creek Road
- This route was eliminated in the Connections 2025 draft transit plan because of low ridership, but after soliciting community feedback, Capital Metro proposed adding service along Route 345 on 45th Street between Burnet Road and Hancock Center
- MetroRapid Routes 1 and 803 will operate north and south along Guadalupe Street and Lamar Boulevard, running every 15 minutes
- Pending Austin City Council approval of The Grove at Shoal Creek—a 75-acre retail, commercial and residential project off 45th Street and Bull Creek Road—Capital Metro will propose extending the route to The Grove if it is possible to have a bus turnaround
Mueller routes
After hearing concerns about the lack of an all-day, all-week frequent service along Berkman Drive—thus eliminating a connection to UT from the Mueller neighborhood—Capital Metro revised its draft transit plan.
Original proposal
- MetroRapid 820 on Manor Road from downtown to the Springdale Road H-E-B at U.S. 183 and Springdale
- A weekday circulator along Berkman and Barbara Jordan Boulevard connecting from Wildflower Terrace and Hancock Center
- Route 22, an eastside crosstown route, providing local 30-minute service along Mueller Boulevard
Revised proposal
- Remove circulator, replace with other frequent services
- Route 10 serves Mueller via Mueller, Barbara Jordan and Berkman, providing direct connections to Hancock Center, UT and downtown
- Route 335 continues east to Mueller via 38th ½ Street, Anchor Lane, Manor and Berkman
- Route 22 ends at Hancock Center
- Route 820 remains on Manor
Route 5 along South Fifth Street
Because of the service gap west of South First Street along Route 5, Capital Metro has revised its plan and identified stops along South Fifth that were outside of the standard half-mile walk distance.
Original proposal
- Northcross Shopping Center and downtown via Woodrow Avenue, Burnet Road, Medical Parkway, 38th Street and North Lamar Boulevard.
- Passengers still have access to more frequent service to destinations in South Austin via Routes 10 (South First/Red River Street) and 803 (Burnet/South Lamar Boulevard)
- Service along Ben White Boulevard and Lamar replaced with a new Route 315 Ben White local route.
Revised proposal
- Add a peak-time weekday-only service, Route 105, that connects South Fifth at Westgate Boulevard to UT.
