A future trip on a Capital Metro bus may mean shorter waits at red lights.
New technology will be implemented in traffic lights and buses, or "rapid buses," purchased after federal funding is provided in October that will extend the time a traffic light stays green, allowing buses to travel through congestion quicker, said Capital Metro spokeswoman Misty Whited. Alternatively, a red traffic light will turn green if the technology recognizes an approaching bus, reducing travel time by 20 percent.
The traffic light and bus technology is part of All Systems Go! Long-Range Transit Plan, a Cap Metro transportation system launched in 2004 that will, over the next 20 years, make public transportation around Austin more efficient and less time consuming.
The rapid bus routes will run from North Lamar Boulevard to South Congress Avenue, and from Burnet Road to South Lamar Boulevard.
The two routes are expected to become operational by 2011, and 10 additional routes are planned within the next 20 years, Whited said. While there is no planned rapid route to service the UT campus, a route has been planned along Martin Luther King Boulevard.
New bus stops with real-time calculators, which would be constructed to accomodate the rapid buses, would give customers the exact time of the next arriving bus, Whited said.
Cap Metro submitted a proposal this month asking the federal government for $25 million - enough money to cover more than half the cost of the project, Whited said.
The new transit options have prompted the city to rezone tracts of land to allow more dense mixed-use properties, said Sonia Lopez, station area planning project manager of the city's Neighborhood Planning and Zoning Department.
The city plans within the next several years to create more communities, such as those at Mueller Airport, that are built around major mass transit stops. Lopez said city officials hope individuals will be influenced to take public transportation to work instead of driving.
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