Ride the bus to Keep Austin Weird
As doublegood reported recently, not only is Capital Metro planning drastic changes to the Dillo service downtown, they are proposing schedule changes across the system. Although the public hearing on the issue was held last night, the only aspect of the changes that the local daily focused on was the proposed removal of the “Capitol transit center” which is really just a bus stop that happens to serve a large number of lines. Cap Metro is proposing moving this stop to 10th Street (removing the stop from a couple of lines) because the Governor and State Preservation Board asked them to “for security reasons.”
Although I think the Guv is being silly, I don’t know if this one change should be the focus of news coverage. There is a huge list of changes. Strolling down South Congress this weekend, I spoke with one of the shop owners and she really didn’t understand why they were cutting off the Orange Dillo’s service down South Congress. Many tourists, locals, and students use it to get to SoCo, not only on the weekends and during SXSW, but regularly throughout the year. I am personally concerned as I’ll be moving to the area soon and am hoping to use the Dillo or the bus instead of clogging the road with one more car.
Again, there are a number of changes across the system that are being proposed. If you ever ride the bus or think you may start riding the bus because of rising gas prices, climate change, stress levels from driving, or a desire to keep or witness Austin at its weirdest (I was hoping to link to a post by a friend of mine of the guy stripping on her bus ride, but oh well), then you might take a few minutes to check out these proposed changes and e-mail your comments to planning@capmetro.org. Although I don’t know how good Cap Metro is at responding to public comment and actually incorporating it into their planning, they need to know that people are paying attention!
People who use the Orange Dillo can just as easily pay 50 cents and ride the #1, which runs more frequently than any other route in the system. Not a big loss.
I don’t mind paying for service. I was just checking the schedules for the #1 bus and it comes every 11 minutes, even during rush hour. Ad on the time to walk to the bus stop, and the fact that they warn you to arrive "5 to 10 minutes early" the total time is going to be a barrier to people who have options (in my case, my bike, but in most people’s cases, their car). I think a bus every 5 minutes should be a goal for certain areas and certain lines during rush hours.