For all you out-of-towners coming to Austin from cities where the public transportation system is widespread, you’re in for a shock. Texans love their cars. That being said, Capital Metro is doing several things that are useful for SXSW attendees without cars, so I thought I’d pass them along.

Some of the highlights are:

• Ride from the airport to the convention center or your hotel for just 50 cents on the Airport Flyer.
• Save your cab cash for popcorn and beverages by taking Route 3 to SXSW film theaters.
• Park & Ride free to the Free Dew Concerts at Auditorium Shores March 15 – 17.
• $1 day passes are available for purchase on board buses and provide unlimited use of trips for an entire day.
• Ride the free Dillo service. The `Dillos operate north to south between 23rd Street and Oltorf Road, and east to west from near MoPac at Lake Austin Boulevard to Pleasant Valley Road.

SXSW Baby points out that Capital Metro has become part of the Google Transit Trip Planner.

I also heard on KUT this morning about a new service called Dadnab that lets you text your location and get the nearest bus that will take you to your destination.

For example, you can text “5th & lavaca to barton springs & kinney” to austin [at] dadnab.com (You’d type it like an e-mail address with the at symbol and no spaces. I’m just trying to avoid them getting spammed because of this post.) and get back “W 5TH ST & LAVACA ST to BARTON SPRINGS RD & KINNEY AVE/depart COLORADO & 5TH at 02:00 PM/29-SB/arrive BARTON SPRINGS & JESSIE at 02:08 PM”. Their site has more information on how to use the service. Pretty sweet.