Cap Remap has a Connections Problem, and MetroRapid is to Blame
One of the big ideas behind Cap Remap is that it will make Austin’s transit network “better connected,” because routes will be “designed to work as a system.”
When you get past the marketing buzzwords, what that means is that Remap is creating a grid system that relies on transfers between transit lines to reach many more destinations. Connectivity — it’s one of the principles underlying the new wave of transit planning.
Unfortunately, MetroRapid — Austin’s flagship rapid bus service — was constructed in such a way that is detrimental to connectivity. And with the release of paper schedules for the new Remap bus routes, it looks like Cap Metro just admitted it.
Here’s the problem: MetroRapid “stations” tend to be located mid-block, closer to development, rather than at intersections, where intersecting transit lines are located. Triangle Station is an example: the nearest cross-street is 45th St, where the future Route 345 will run, but the nearest stop for Route 801 is nearly a third of a mile away.
You can’t really expect people to make transfers if the walking distance between buses is as long as the initial walk to the bus stop. At the very least, it’s an additional burden for transit riders under a grid-based system.
Evidently, Cap Metro knows this, because their new paper maps for the 801/803 reveal the missed transfer opportunities.
There are several other examples.
As a transit rider, nothing is more frustrating than seeing two premium 15-minute transit lines intersect without the ability to switch between them. This bewildering situation means the Cap Remap and Connections 2025 efforts will fall just short of their full potential.
Cap Metro and the City of Austin — perhaps using some of that Mobility Bond money — should move these MetroRapid stops or build infill ones that better connect to intersecting bus lines. At the very least, they could build sidewalks around the existing stops…
And future MetroRapid stations — such as the infill ones planned for the 801 and 803 — should be located next to intersections.
I’m sure many of the stops I discussed were constructed mid-block because it was cheaper to do so. Away from the urban core, Austin’s arterials tend to feature slip roads, turn lanes, and other features that move lots of cars but waste space and create a hostile environment for pedestrians.
With the imminent reconstruction of these corridors, Austin finally has an opportunity to rebuild these intersections to accommodate pedestrians and transit.
But given the City and Cap Metro’s track record of cooperating with each other — and Mayor Adler’s comments about the real purpose of the Mobility Bond — I’m not exactly holding my breath.
What do you say to the criticism that the $482 million “smart corridor” portion, combined with much of the $137 million “local transportation” piece, pours much of this $720 million bond’s money into alternative modes of transportation like bikeways, sidewalks, trails and transit?
I don’t think that that’s true. When you look at the corridor studies, they are first about improving car and auto throughput. It’s not about building bicycle lanes, sidewalks. And it works within the existing right of way. It also does things beyond that. But the fact that it does things beyond that doesn’t diminish what it does about congestion.
