If you’re a business owner, you might want to listen to this one.
The construction of Project Connect’s program of projects is going to bring thousands of jobs to the Austin area, and transit projects like these also bring big opportunities for your business to work with CapMetro.
Accelerate is an opportunity for local businesses to be prepared when CapMetro projects go public. In this live chat, Capital Metro President and CEO Randy Clarke will talk about the economic opportunities that come with investments in transit and how local businesses can earn contracts to work with CapMetro on these projects.
No matter what your business may be, whether you have a product or service you think is perfect for the agency, want to place advertisements on our vehicles or at our stations or, really, anything you can think of, CapMetro provides so many different ways to work with businesses and we’re happy to collaborate with you!
Transit keeps the entire region moving. Help us continue our progress with businesses like yours.
Accelerate — Thursday, February 11 from 2 to 3 p.m.
What better way to spend the holidays than by checking in with our CapMetro Cap-tivities friends! This month, Armie, Batthew, Saurio and more are helping us celebrate a number of wintertime holidays and find out what makes them special.
Issue 6 includes festive word games, coloring pages, mazes and more to get you in the holiday spirit and teach you about these seasonal celebrations:
All of us at CapMetro wish you and your family a very merry season, however you choose to celebrate! And don’t forget to check back in the new year for even more fun activities and another Cap-tivities friend.
After a particularly challenging year, Capital Metro, Whole Foods Market and the Central Texas Food Bank are teaming up to make the season bright for our Central Texas neighbors in need. The ninth annual “Stuff the Bus” is going virtual this year, allowing you to make a contribution to help families across our region with just the click of a button.
Stuff the Bus donations are accepted from Thursday, December 10 to Thursday, December 24.
All donations will go to the Central Texas Food Bank, which distributed over 64 million pounds of food to Central Texans in Fiscal Year 2020. Just $5 helps feed a family of four for over three days. The food bank has seen an increased need for food in the Central Texas community. Just in October 2020, the food bank served approximately 113,776 households, which translates to nearly 6.1 million pounds of food. Over 13,500 of those households served used the food bank’s services for the first time.
“As always, our mission at Capital Metro is to give back to the community,” said Capital Metro President & CEO Randy Clarke. “Especially this year, we are thankful to partner with the Central Texas Food Bank and Whole Foods Market during the holidays in order to serve our community members who need our help the most.”
Head over to our website to make a donation online or purchase an item from the Stuff the Bus Amazon wishlist. To donate in person, visit one of the participating Whole Foods locations and look for registers with a “Feed4More” label.
Thank you for making the season brighter for our neighbors in need!
Looking for the perfect stocking stuffer for your transit-loving friend, family member or coworker? Need a little help finding enough gifts to fill eight nights of Hanukkah? Consider the CapMetro Transit Store our very own Santa’s workshop, filled with transit-themed gifts — all under $20! We got a few of our elves (read: marketing staff) to round up their favorite gift ideas for you to choose from. Happy gifting!
1. Wrapping Paper – $9
Not necessarily a gift itself (unless your recipient is a big collector!), our CapMetro-themed wrapping paper is the perfect finishing touch for all your present-giving needs.
2. Bike Seat Covers – $3.99
These CapMetro bike seat covers are perfect for the bike lover in your life! They can use it on their personal bike or for extra care when riding MetroBike.
3. Sunglasses – $3.99
2021 is looking so bright, you’re gonna need a pair of cool sunnies to take you into the next year! We may be biased, but we’re big fans of these color-blocked, reflective CapMetro sunglasses.
4. Canvas Backpack – $8.99
Reusable bags aren’t just the way of the future — they’re the most sustainable (and cool, let’s be honest), option always! This canvas backpack is ideal for grocery trips via transit or bike, making it a great gift for your loved one on-the-go.
5. Socks – $15
Socks are a stocking staple and this super fun Vacay Mode pair goes great with all the sweatpants everyone is rocking this holiday season, don’t you think?
6. Cap-tivities Activity Book Issues 1-3 – $1.50 each
Need a gift for the kiddos in your life? We’ve got the first 3 issues of our Cap-tivities activity book available in print at the Transit Store! (P.S. You can also download all of our digital issues here.)
7. T-Shirts – $10-$15
Who doesn’t love a new t-shirt? The Transit Store carries some of our favorite tees from past CapMetro initiatives + celebrations, any of which make great gifts for Austin-loving friends.
All of these gifts and more can be found at the CapMetro Transit Store, located at 209 W. 9th St. Austin, TX 78701.
Looking for a safe and fun activity for the family this holiday season? Explore Downtown Austin is a new bike route created by our friends at Smart Trips Austin. The route highlights iconic sights as well as high-comfort segments of Austin’s all-ages and abilities bicycle network, making it perfect for the whole family.
Your ride begins at the Mexican American Cultural Center before cruising along Lady Bird Lake on the Butler Hike and Bike Trail. Follow the route for Smart Trip’s favorite place to cross the lake as you head north along Shoal Creek Trail past the Austin Public Library and over to snap a photo at the Texas Capitol. Ride with ease on the new Congress Avenue protected bike lanes as you turn south to the Downtown Metro Station. Complete your ride at Rainey Street, where you can enjoy a treat from a selection of Austin’s most delicious food trucks.
Sign up for the Smart Trips Transportation Resource Guide to access a free bus or train pass for getting Downtown and a free MetroBike pass to ride the route in style on a new electric MetroBike! For this route and other DIY maps please visit SmartTripsAustin.org.
This month, Capital Metro launched two fare initiatives aimed at making transit even more accessible and easy to use. The first allows customers to add cash-to-mobile at participating retailers around Austin while the second is testing capping fares for low-income users. Our goal with these new features is that our services are equitable in both use and cost and to ensure that people who can least afford public transportation fares are not paying the most.
Cash to App
The CapMetro App now allows users to add cash for future fares at one of over 200 participating retailers including a number of 7-11, Dollar General, Family Dollar and CVS locations. This initiative helps to better serve customers who do not have a credit card, or would rather not use one, to purchase their tickets in the app by loading cash to a mobile wallet at a retail store without a fee. More retail stores may be added to the program over time.
Fare Capping
CapMetro believes that transit is an equity tool and this program aligns with that mission. The fare-capping program, which is currently in the testing stage running for six months from October through April, aims to help customers not pay more than $2.50 per day for Local Service (or $7 for Commuter) and makes riding with CapMetro simpler and more affordable in the long run!
Are you currently enrolled in Medicaid, CHIP, TANF or MAP? Sign up to join our pilot program and receive a free 31-day pass.
Stay up-to-date on CapMetro news by following us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and be sure to download the CapMetro App to take advantage of all our convenient features.
Austin is heralded as having the best of a number of things: food, music, beautiful buses (you’ve heard that, right?). But did you know that Austin is home to some of the state’s most notable coffee shops? Austin’s specialty coffee scene is growing almost as fast as our city’s population, which is why we’ve rounded up a list of Austin’s best coffee shops along with the bus route information you need to get there.
Whether you’re a local interested in a new place to grab your coffee or looking for must-stop places while visiting Austin, consider this your official tour of Austin’s best coffee shops. You don’t even need to call a car to get around thanks to our handy CapMetro App, making it easier (and more environmentally-friendly!) than ever to get where you want to go.
Best Downtown Austin Coffee Shops
Whether you’re looking for a new spot to grab coffee on the way to work or you’ve just found yourself in the area and craving a cappuccino, these downtown coffee shops are ready to take your order. Pro tip: Venturing downtown for an interview? Bringing coffee for the hiring manager from one of these cafes is worth major bonus points!
East Austin is a hot spot for coffee lovers thanks to the wide selection of specialty coffee shops. If you’re looking to sip a well-balanced espresso, Austin’s east side cafes are the best of the best.
With so much to explore in south Austin, you’re going to want a cuppa joe in hand for your next adventure. Before heading down to South Congress, stop by one of these specialty cafes for a seasonal beverage.
Austin’s centrally-located coffee shops are true neighborhood cafes where you feel like a regular even on your first visit. If the cozy vibes aren’t enough to bring you back for a second trip, the baked goods sure will! Seriously, these coffee shops know a thing or two about muffins and mochas.
The City of Austin decided it’s go time for Project Connect by passing Proposition A in a historic vote on November 3, 2020. Project Connect is the comprehensive plan expanding transit to promote equity, reliability, safety, economic development and cleaner air.
“We are grateful for their trust and vision for the future,” said CapMetro President and CEO Randy Clarke. “This YES vote is a huge step toward creating a more equitable and livable city, providing more and better ways for people to access jobs, education, health care and new opportunities.”
What’s to Come
Transparency Every Step of the Way
An important next step is the launch of the Austin Transit Partnership (ATP) to guide the Project Connect investment with transparency and accountability throughout the project. More details will be available at the upcoming CapMetro board meeting on Monday, November 23.
Economic and Environmental Advancements
Beyond its expanded transit system, Project Connect will bring economic and environmental benefits that will transform Central Texas and support our continued growth. Project Connect is expected to create thousands of jobs and every dollar invested in public transportation will generate $4 in return to the local economy. Moving toward a more sustainable future for our region, the expansion is designed to deliver nearly 300,000 trips each day, reducing the vehicle air pollution and our contribution to climate change.
Thank You, Austin
“I would like to take a moment to thank and honor the essential frontline workers, including our operators and support staff, for their heroic efforts to keep our city moving,” said CapMetro Board Chair Wade Cooper. “Your dedication and hard work have not gone unnoticed, and your contribution to Austin and Central Texas is vital.”
Realizing this transformational plan has only been possible through the collaborative efforts of our partners in government and in the community, as well as a huge number of individuals throughout Central Texas.
“We now have an approved plan, a schedule and the dedicated funding to move us to the next phase, and we remain committed to transparency as we begin building our expanded transit network,” said Clarke. “Project Connect will shape the future for our generation and many to come.”
Learn More
Want to learn more about Project Connect? Check out more information on our website and be sure to follow along on Instagram and Twitter for updates in the coming weeks and months.
Cap-tivities Issue 5 is equal parts groovy and spooky thanks to our javelina friend Javier! Though he considers the world his “home” and follows his favorite bands around the country in his VW bus, he spends most of his days in Austin and uses CapMetro to get around to protect Mother Earth.
Javi is getting ready for Halloween and bringing you along for the ride with a spooky color-by-number, a costume party cut-and-play, spider web mazes and so much more!
Halloween looks pretty different this year, but that doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate with a little socially-distant spooky sightseeing! To help you get in the hallow-day spirit, we’ve created a haunted Austin bus tour that includes some of our city’s most ghostly locations.
We designed this list to help you visit haunted spots around Austin that may be along your usual route, but you can also use our Trip Planner to outline a haunted Austin bus tour of your own. Simply enter your starting point and add any stops from our list that pique your interest!
Beware: some of these locations may be too spooky to enter! To keep you safe from supernatural and COVID-19 related terrors that may be hiding out, this tour is intended to take place outside the haunts.
Grab your mask, your CapMetro App and your bravest friend and prepare for a scare (or eight)!
West Campus
Littlefield Home
302 W 24th St, Austin, TX 78712
Closest CapMetro Stop ID: 599 and 5864
Served by routes: 1, 3, 19, 20, 801, 803
About this spooky spot: Located on the UT Campus, the Littlefield House is one of the most haunted spots in Austin and in academia! Civil War veteran George Littlefield and his wife Alice, for whom the home was built in 1893, were generous donors of the university. Reports claim that Alice can be heard rattling about the home and even playing piano. While some may find the hauntings spooky, some members of the university revere Alice as “guardian angel.”
Austin’s Inn at Pearl Street
1809 Pearl St, Austin, TX 78701
Closest CapMetro Stop ID: 498
Served by routes: 1, 3, 19, 20, 642
About this spooky spot: This vintage boutique hotel has it all: charming ambiance, ghost hauntings, and…bees? Well, not anymore, but the 1914-built Austin’s Inn at Pearl Street was renovated in 1993 when, according to the website, one of the “largest bee colonies ever found in a private residence” was discovered in the walls of the home. Whether or not you find bee removal spooky, guests of the inn have reported hauntings including apparitions, music and other noises from vacant rooms, flickering lights and a lingering feeling of being watched.
Downtown
The Paramount
713 Congress Ave, Austin, TX 78701
Closest CapMetro Stop ID: 6315
Served by routes: 2, 6, 7, 10
About this spooky spot: Old theatres have a tendency to be haunted (this isn’t even the only one on our list!), and The Paramount hosts its own spooky cast of spirits. The 105-year-old theatre is the home to at least three ghosts, including a woman in a white dress searching for her soldier husband, an elderly gentleman smoking a cigar in the left opera box and a candy-loving former projectionist of the theatre who died during a 2000 showing of “Casablanca.”
The Driskill
604 Brazos St, Austin, TX 78701
Closest CapMetro Stop ID: 5937
Served by routes: 2, 4, 6, 7, 10
About this spooky spot: Elegant downtown Austin hotel The Driskill is said to be one of the most haunted hotels in Texas. The supernatural rumors range from ghost brides walking the halls, a painting of a child that bears a sinister presence and even the spirit of the hotel’s own Jesse Driskill. The glamorous hotel is also said to have been President Lyndon B. Johnson’s favorite place in Austin and guests have claimed to see he and Lady Bird’s ghosts dancing in the ballroom.
Moonshine Patio Bar & Grill
303 Red River St, Austin, TX 78701
Closest CapMetro Stop ID: 4175 (Westbound) and 995 (Eastbound)
Served by route: 17
About this spooky spot: If you’d prefer to merge happy hour with the haunting hour, Moonshine Patio Bar & Grill is the spooky spot for you. The current restaurant resides in one of the oldest buildings in Austin and is said to be haunted by the spirits of flood victims from early 1900s. These old school ghouls have a sense of humor and have been reported to tap guests on the shoulder and cause other mayhem around the restaurant.
East Austin
Oakwood Cemetery Annex
1601 Navasota St, Austin, TX 78702
Closest CapMetro Stop ID: 4183
Served by route: 18
About this spooky spot: No ghost tour is complete without a cemetery! Oakwood Cemetery, Austin’s oldest city-owned cemetery, holds a number of famous graves including one of the few survivors of the Alamo, 1880s Austin city marshal Ben Thompson and victims of the Servant Girl Annihilator, one of America’s first serial killers. Aside from its notable residents, many believe that some who are buried at Oakwood Cemetery haven’t quite moved on from this world and haunt the burial grounds.
CapMetro Office
2910 E 5th St, Austin, TX 78702
Closest CapMetro Stop ID: 1368
Served by routes: 4, 300
About this spooky spot: If you’re friends with an old Austin native, you may have heard the story behind our own Capital Metro office building on the east side. In 1931, Austin’s municipal abattoir – AKA slaughterhouse – opened in the very spot where our office now sits at the corner of East 5th and Pleasant Valley. The building served as a modern and hygienic place for Austinites to bring livestock to be killed, inspected and prepared for sale. At the time, Austin’s abattoir was the largest in the United States!
South Austin
St. Edward’s University
3001 S Congress Ave, Austin, TX 78704
Closest CapMetro Stop ID: 5870
Served by route: 1, 801
About this spooky spot:St. Edward’s University is notorious for being one of the most haunted spots in Austin and St. Edward’s students and staff are notorious for sharing their close encounters with spirits from the other side! From a child spirit playing in the dorm rooms of Teresa Hall to the ghost of a hanged drama student haunting actors in the Mary Moody Northern Theatre, St. Edward’s lost souls are engaged members of the community, to say the least!
Which stop on our haunted Austin bus tour do you find most intriguing?
