Southwest Austin Dripping Springs Edition | March 2023

TRANSPORTATION Capital Metro pushes back new MetroRapid routes to 2025

RAPIDROUTE SLOWDOWN Capital Metro is delaying the

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opening of two new routes to 2025, as electric bus batteries will not last as long as expected and are back ordered.

Mueller neighborhood

Travis County Exposition Center

BY KATY MCAFEE

and consulting with national experts, CapMetro realized to accommodate depot-only charging, it would need to double the original 40 buses planned for the route, Watkins said. She said each electric bus costs roughly $1 million. To cut costs, CapMetro decided to install overhead charging stations at the end of each route that will top buses o throughout the day. How- ever, that plan requires CapMetro to acquire more land at Pleasant Valley and the Travis County Expo Center. The pivot will also require CapMetro to build its Park & Rides—parking lots where travelers can park their cars and hop on a CapMetro bus—sooner than anticipated. Even without the construction hurdles, the MetroRapid would still have been delayed until the end of 2023 due to supply chain issues with electric buses, Watkins said.

Expo MetroRapid Pleasant Valley MetroRapid

Capital Metro delayed the opening of its MetroRapid lines—high-fre- quency transit lines originally slated to open this summer—until 2025, the transportation organization con- rmed in late February. CapMetro’s two transit lines, Pleasant Valley and Expo Center, are among the rst services to be realized in Project Connect—a multibillion-dollar plan to rethink and expand Austin’s transportation infrastructure passed by voters in November 2020. CapMetro CEO Dottie Watkins said the delay is due to a variety of factors, including challenges using all-electric buses, shipping delays and infrastructure changes. Watkins said the original assump- tion was buses would be swapped out with fully charged buses at a depot. However, after scheduling routes

Republic Square

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• CapMetro must buy land for charging stations and Park&Rides at the end of lines • CapMetro will recongure roadways along the transit line • Electric buses are back ordered REASONS FOR DELAYS

Goodnight Ranch

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SOURCE: CAPITAL METROCOMMUNITY IMPACT

COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM