Note: This story originally appeared in the Texan on Nov. 3, 2004. Voters in Austin gave the green light to Capital Metro's commuter rail plan on Nov. 2.
Over 100 supporters of the plan, which included Capital Metro employees, City Council members, state representatives and people representing environmental and business organizations, gathered at Nuevo Leon on Sixth Street when the early voting showed 63 percent of Travis and Williamson counties voters approved the referendum.
The celebration officially began when Capital Metro board members declared victory after 10 p.m., when 70 percent of final tallies showed 62 percent approval.
The referendum finally passed with a total of 175,674 votes for the plan, at 62.3 percent.
"It's a big historical moment in Central Texas," said Capital Metro Board Chairman Lee Walker to a cheering crowd. "This is the first time the region has ever come together to solve something in a regional initiative that passed on a ballot."
Mayor Will Wynn worked the polls Nov. 2 in front of the Travis County Courthouse in an effort to gain last-minute votes and inform straight-party voters that the commuter rail is a non-partisan issue and should not be overlooked.
"You have to give CapMetro credit. After the last election, they stepped back, went out and got a lot of community input and came forward with a much smaller, more constrained, but very cost-effective, pay as you go, no new taxes, no new debt plan that the community overwhelmingly supports," Wynn said.
Capital Metro plans to convert 32 miles of existing railroad track from Leander to downtown Austin into a commuter rail system. The commuter rail will have nine stops in total and will use an electric hybrid engine that runs on diesel fuel.
Capital Metro officials said the cars will run every 30 minutes and travel the entire distance in 50 minutes.
With this vote out of the way, the agency will now move to its second phase, said Capital Metro board member John Trevino.
A citizen committee will be created to work with the agency to consider other routes to include in the city.
"The meetings will involve the citizens to determine where the routes will go and what kind of technology to use to get them there," Trevino said.
Trevino attributes the success of the plan to a better educational effort implemented by Capital Metro.
"We really realized that we have to involve the public from the very beginning," he said.
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