Mass Transit in Austin Texas

Mass Transit in the Austin, Texas metro area is provided by Capital Metro & includes bus and rail service.  The long range plan can be seen at Capital Metros All Systems Go! Long-Range Transit Plan web page. For additional information on Texas public transportation visit the Texas Transit Association.  Wi-Fi is  available at many Capital Metro facilities such as the Leander Park & Ride, the Pavillion and also the Tech Ridge Park & Ride on IH 35.  There are 10 Park & Ride lots for commuters to park their cars and ride the bus or commuter rail. 

Express Bus service into Austin has been available at the Leander, Texas Park & Ride for some time.  The Express Buses have mobile Wi-Fi Internet service for passengers & make it from Leander to Austin in about 50 minutes.  

Capital MetroRail hosted 5 Open Houses along the 32 mile commuter rail in the Leander to Austin, Texas area in February 2009.  The 1st of these was held in Leander, Texas at the Leander Station, in the Leander TOD at 800 N. U.S. 183 on Saturday, February 7th, 2009 from 10 to 2.  Commuter rail service was scheduled to begin Monday, March 30th, 2009.  Between Feb. 12th and today, trains have been making practice runs during morning & afternoon rush hours to test the system as well as train the engineers before the public starts using the trains.  I have ridden the train as a volunteer from the Howard Station to the Leander Station.  When the train starts taking on passengers, suburban commuters can use public transportation commute time to accomplish laptop work or amusements using Wi-Fi.  The Swiss made, bi-directional trains will have overhead storage racks, bicycle racks and high back seats.  A round trip ticket from Leander to downtown Austin will be $3.00.