CapMetro Bus

CapMetro Bus in 2012
Parent	Capital Metro
Founded	July 1, 1985; 39 years ago (1985-07-01)
Headquarters	2910 E. Fifth Street, Austin, Texas
Locale	Central Texas
Service area	Austin Travis County Parts of Williamson County
Service type	Local bus Express bus Bus rapid transit
Routes	46 MetroBus 12 Special bus 8 Express bus 19 UT Shuttle bus
Stops	2,300
Hubs	17 Park and ride/Transit centers
Stations	26 CapMetro Rapid station pairs
Fleet	368 Buses 12 E-buses 55 MetroRapid buses
Daily ridership	76,300 (weekdays, Q3 2024)[1]
Annual ridership	23,445,900 (2023)[2]
Fuel type	Diesel, Electric
Operator	Keolis
President and CEO	Dottie Watkins
Website	capmetro.org

CapMetro Bus is the bus public transit service of the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (CapMetro) of Austin, Texas and serves Austin and the surrounding areas. MetroBus services include 82 standard routes and 15 high-frequency bus routes as of August 2021. It has several categories of routes: Local, Flyer and Limited, Feeder, Crosstown, Special services and UT Shuttles. CapMetro also operates an express bus service, MetroExpress, and a bus rapid transit service, CapMetro Rapid, in addition to the agency's commuter rail service, CapMetro Rail. In 2023, the bus system had a ridership of 23,445,900, or about 76,300 per weekday as of the third quarter of 2024.

At the agency's inception, CapMetro originally operated a series of "paired" route service where two different routes that pass through downtown are served by the same buses, allowing riders to transfer between certain routes without leaving the bus. Since 2008, this practice has been eliminated and after a number of route pair reassignments, the agency merged the paired routes under single route numbers (for example, the 1 North Lamar and 13 South Congress were originally paired as they were the two busiest routes in the system, but they have since been merged as 1 North Lamar/South Congress).

Meanwhile, most local routes carried two digits before CapMetro assigned a third digit for routes that do not serve downtown in 2000 (for example, 25 Ohlen became 325). Flyer routes were renumbered altogether to match their local stop counterparts (for example, 65 Manchaca Flyer became 103), while express routes that operated during commute times only contained letters (for example, NEX Northeast Express was renamed 990 Manor/Elgin Express; but was originally 70 Northeast Express).

The majority of the current bus fleet consists of vehicles produced by two manufacturers, Gillig and New Flyer, with only relatively small generational design variations, most visibly in the use of flip-dot destination displays on older series versus LED displays on newer buses. A few smaller series of buses were acquired from other manufacturers, notably Optima (used preferentially on MetroRail shuttles) and MCI (used on express services). Older bus series produced by TMC and Blue Bird are no longer in service.

MetroBus Local routes are intended to connect specific neighborhoods of Austin to Downtown Austin, with frequent stops. Since June 2014, north–south service within downtown Austin for all routes is provided via Lavaca Street northbound and Guadalupe Street southbound, with all routes serving at least one stop along both streets.

Prior to relocating routes to the Guadalupe/Lavaca corridor, many routes formerly utilized Brazos Street northbound and Colorado Street southbound before various construction projects took place. Since June 2014, the remaining lines no longer use Congress Avenue between 11th Street and Barton Springs Road. East-west service within downtown Austin for all routes is provided via 5th Street eastbound and 4th and 6th Streets westbound, so as to provide a connection along the Lavaca/Guadalupe corridor.

Some MetroBus routes are designated High-Frequency routes and operate with a headway of 15 minutes between buses weekdays, 20 minutes Saturdays. Routes as of January 2023:^[3]

CapMetro's Limited and Flyer routes are limited stop services between two destinations. Limited routes tend to have fewer stops compared to their local counterparts, while Flyer routes serve nonstop between downtown or the UT campus and their neighborhoods of service. Limited and Flyer routes are designated by routes 100–199. Routes as of September 2021:^[3]

CapMetro's Feeder routes are local services between a neighborhood and a major transfer point for connecting service. Feeder routes are designated by routes 200–299. Routes as of September 2021:^[3]

CapMetro's Crosstown routes are local services between two neighborhoods of Austin, for which the route does not pass through Downtown Austin or the University of Texas. Some Crosstown routes are designated High-Frequency routes and operate with a headway of 15 minutes between buses weekdays, 20 minutes Saturdays. Crosstown routes are designated by routes 300–399.

CapMetro operates several services in the suburb Round Rock. Round Rock is not a CapMetro member city and therefore doesn't pay the 1% sales tax to CapMetro. Instead, Round Rock contracts CapMetro to provide certain mass transit services for the city. Round Rock services are designated as 50-99 and 152. CapMetro also operates MetroExpress route 980 North MoPac Express and Flyer service 152 Round Rock Tech Ridge Limited between downtown Austin and Round Rock. Routes as of September 2021:^[3]

CapMetro's special service routes are routes that do not fit in any other category. Special service routes are designated as routes 400–499.

Night Owl buses are overnight services.

Routes as of September 2021:^[3]

*Replaced 205 and 206.

CapMetro's Express services are limited stop services that run between Downtown Austin and the far suburbs. Express routes are designated as routes 900–999, and are served exclusively by buses in the red "MetroExpress" livery (though on occasions they may be served by buses in the regular CapMetro livery as well).

In January 2014, CapMetro launched a bus rapid transit service branded "MetroRapid," utilizing articulated buses operating in shared lanes with automobile traffic. Service on the first route, MetroRapid North Lamar/South Congress (801), began on January 26, 2014.^[7] It replaced existing bus Routes 1L and 1M, as well as the 101 Express, which traveled along the same corridor.

A second route, MetroRapid Burnet/South Lamar (803), serves a total of 24 stations between The Domain and Westgate.^[8] Both the 801 and 803 drew citizen protest until premium fares were discontinued in 2017 and the 801 had also reduced frequency of the then operating 1L/1M.

The University of Texas Shuttle system, operated by CapMetro, is one of the largest university transit systems in the United States. It comprises 10 routes and carries over 5.2 million passengers a year. UT students, faculty, and staff may ride the shuttles at no charge with a valid UT photo ID. Without a UT photo ID, normal MetroBus rates apply.^[9][10]

CapMetro took over university shuttle operations in 1989. Formerly, service had been provided by private bus companies. Immediate changes included upgraded buses with air conditioning, but also lengthening headway on some routes.^[11]

In 1983, the University of Texas received six bids to manage the shuttle system. CapMetro entered into the picture in 1988, when the university contracted out to them. CapMetro, in turn, then subcontracted out to Laidlaw International, Inc., who had, up to that point, operated orange and white school buses^[12] for the university on a contractual basis. Rather than use Laidlaw's existing bus fleet, however, CapMetro used their own. In so doing, CapMetro brought air conditioning and wheelchair accessibility to the shuttle service for the first time.^[13] The transition, however, was not without controversy. Among the other contested issues was the fact that these new shuttles didn't have a stereo system^[14][15]

In 1991, CapMetro canceled its contract with Laidlaw and contracted out with DAVE Transportation, instead^[16][17]

Amidst allegations of union busting, in 1999, CapMetro canceled its then current contract and instead contracted out with ATC/Vancom, instead^[17][18][19] Six years later, in 2005, CapMetro, citing concerns over the comparatively low wages ATC/Vancom paid, negotiated a contract with First Transit to operate the UT shuttle buses.^[20]

The UT Shuttle system includes a number of routes during the University of Texas semester. They do not operate on Saturdays, except during finals. Since September 2014, numbered routes have been used exclusively at bus stops, though signage on buses may use either numbered or lettered signage.

Routes as of October 2024:^[21]

CapMetro's Dillo service was a circulator service in downtown Austin. In May 2000, the Dillo service went through a major restructuring. It was shut down in 2009 after over 30 years of operation due to low ridership.^[22] The service used forest-green trolley buses with an armadillo painted on the side. It was free until shortly before to its closure when CapMetro began charging a 50¢ fare.^[23]

The MetroAirport service (sometimes called MetroAirport Flyer) was created when Austin–Bergstrom International Airport opened in May 1999. It was primarily served by buses carrying the "MetroAirport" livery, though may on occasion have been served by buses in the regular livery. The service was eliminated on June 3, 2018, and replaced by the extension of 20.

CapMetro had, since September 19, 2002,^[24][25] operated "E-Bus" routes, to ferry students between student residential areas to the 6th Street area. These buses ran only evenings and late nights on weekends and did not run in summer.^[26] The E in "E-Bus" stands for "eating and entertainment" and funding was initially provided by companies advertising on the bus.^[27] On April 1, 2010, the Daily Texan reported that, in an attempt to curb passenger unruliness, CapMetro had required students swipe their student IDs before boarding and that UT would start paying for some of the services.^[28]These routes were suspended in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and were permanently discontinued on January 14, 2024.^[29]

• Texas Department of Transportation
• Dallas Area Rapid Transit
• Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County

• CapMetro