Austin, Texas’ Capital Metro will implement the biggest service change in its history. With Cap Remap, the agency is creating a simpler, more direct bus network with more frequent routes.

For its June 2018 service change, Capital Metro is changing 52 of its bus routes while adding 10 new routes. The agency’s High-Frequency Network will grow from the current six routes to a total of 14 that operate at least every 15 minutes, seven days a week.

The new bus network grew out of a recommendation from Capital Metro’s board of directors to modernize the region’s transit system and to increase ridership. Capital Metro re-evaluates the service it delivers in a comprehensive manner every five years, and the changes Cap Remap will deliver emerged from the most recent analysis.

The public outreach and planning process for Cap Remap began in late 2015 when the agency began collecting comments and ideas for the draft plan. Capital Metro has held 251 public meetings about the changes since then, and the feedback directly informed alterations to the draft plan that were incorporated into the final changes.

Capital Metro staff ambassadors began at-stop outreach earlier this month and will be at bus stops throughout the city until June 6 to answer questions and to make sure customers are aware of the changes to their bus routes. During this period, staff will fill a total of 906 ambassador shifts. In the first week of that customer service and education surge, Capital Metro staff engaged more than 6,000 customers directly.

In addition, Capital Metro will operate a command center from June 3 through June 6 to ensure a smooth transition and to coordinate operations, planning, customer service, and public communications.

With Cap Remap, the agency is adding 120,000 service hours annually utilizing Capital Metro’s current bus fleet.