Transportation
BY KATY MCAFEE
Capital Metro's triumph for transit, soccer fans face challenges
CapMetro Red Line Ridership Ridership of CapMetro’s Red Line has remained stagnant mostly since 2021, with peaks at the beginning and end of the Austin FC season. However, officials hope McKalla Station will encourage more passengers.
Thousands of soccer fans decked out in bright green jerseys boarded Capital Metro’s Red Line Feb. 24 to experience the grand opening of the McKalla Station—a double platform station less than 100 yards from Q2 Stadium. The $600 million station took more than 300 engineers and con- struction workers to build, and aims to make going to and from Austin FC games easier. However, CapMetro and Austin FC learned lessons from that opening night, as hundreds of fans dealt with delays or weren’t able to board the train. Officials hope with time the station will become a staple for residents. The context McKalla is one of the first projects created using funding from Project Connect—the city’s plan to expand transit options in the city, including a multi-billion dollar plan to build a 9.8-mile light rail throughout Central Austin. The McKalla stop is now the biggest along the Red Line and CapMetro officials hope it will become a go-to for soccer fans, as the previous closest station, Kramer, was a near-mile walk from Q2 and not Americans with Disabilities Act accessible. Austin FC President Andy Loughnane called the station a “spectacular” addition to Q2, as the stadium only has 750 parking spaces but has an average attendance of 20,738 people per match. CapMetro has seen a slow but steady increase in ridership of the Red Line since 2021, and officials expect the McKalla station to boost it higher. What happened More than 4,500 people boarded the Red Line Feb. 24—about one fifth of the people who
Ridership
Austin FC season
70,000
March 2023: 61,630
March 2022: 58,802
56,000
Oct. 2021: 49,817
42,000
28,000
14,000
0
2021
2022
2023
2024
SOURCE: CAPMETRO/COMMUNITY IMPACT
attended the match. While CapMetro officials said they had prepared for crowds, several mechanical failures caused trains to be delayed and people to pile up. Crowds were left in the dark as to when the next train would come and many fans ended up missing the start of the game or taking a ride hailing service due to the delays, Andy Skabowski, executive vice president, Chief Operating Officer at CapMetro said. They transported over 7,000 people by rail that day, over 4,000 of which went to the McKalla.
What's next The new station also “unlocked" the east side of Q2 and officials said the ride gives people a chance to see if riding the train could be feasible for work commutes, shopping trips and more. The area surrounding the stadium and the Domain is growing and is expected to see an influx of residents and visitors with at least four residen- tial and commercial projects in the works. CapMetro is also pursuing more public-private partnerships that will help expand the Red Line near areas with high pedestrian traffic.
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