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by Crystal_Cotti from Austin, Texas

Last Post 50 days Ago


Riding the Bus
Apr 28, 2008 | 10:02 PM
Category: News
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Like so many people these days, I'm always looking for ways to help the environment and my pocketbook. As gas prices climb higher and higher, I'm increasingly interested in the latter.
So I decided to start taking advantage of a Park and Ride near my home and hop on a Capital Metro Express Bus. The following describes my first day riding the bus. Scroll down to the end for a link to Capital Metro's website.

8:10am - Leave my house
8:15am - Park my car at Jollyville Park and Ride at Great Hills Baptist Church
8:30am - Bus 983 arrives
9:07am - Arrive downtown
9:10am - Walk into City Hall (My office is at 10th and Congress but my beat is City Hall so I start most days there.)

The entire commute took me 57 minutes compared to 35-40min when I drive my own car. The fare is $1 each way, far less than what I would have spent in gasoline and I saved myself the stress of crawling through rush hour traffic on Mopac.

Here are the disadvantages. The bus was 10 minutes late arriving which made me 10 minutes late to work. There were no seats left so I had to stand most of the trip...not big deals but Express buses aren't an option unless you have typical work hours (8am-5pm, 9am-6pm) since that is when Express buses run. BTW, Express means there are fewer stops.

I'm not sure if I'll ride the bus everyday because my hours can be unpredictable and the 40 minutes I lose roundtrip by taking the bus is time I could be spending with my little girl.  But I'm glad to know the option is available.
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Member Comments Total Comments: 2
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LiveMusicChick read my blog
Apr 30, 2008 | 9:33 AM

Crystal -

Like you, I'm also looking for options to climbing gas prices. I'm fortunate that my husband and I work close to each other downtown and have the same hours, so we can carpool.

I would love to be able to take the bus, save the money and headache of sitting in traffic each morning. Unfortunately, there is no bus route close to where I live (2222 and 620), and if I did park & ride, I would still have to travel about 20-30 minutes in traffic, just to do that. Which kind of defeats the purpose. I've looked into the bus schedules, and the hours don't work with my schedule, and the drop off isn't close to work. Of course, if I get creative and don't mind being on the bus for a long time, I can always do several transfers to get a block from work. But is it worth all the extra time?

Now that so many people are moving outside of the "city center," I think Capitol Metro needs to look at adding new routes. I know that if the bus had a route that worked for me, I would definitely use that option.
Crystal_Cotti read my blog view my photos
May 5, 2008 | 5:24 PM

That's a bummer...how far are you from mopac and 2222? That's one of the stops on the commuter rail line that is supposed to open this fall. A park and ride will also be built. The train is supposed to be faster than the bus anyway. Here's a link to Cap Metro site, hope this helps and thanks for reading.

http://allsystemsgo.capmetro.org/capital-metrorail-stat
ions.shtml
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Crystal_Cotti

Hi there, my name is Crystal Cotti and I'm the City Hall Reporter for FOX 7 NEWS. I graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and am proud to call this city home. When I'm not at work, I'm spending quality time with my new daughter Victoria and my husband Mark.

Member Since: 9/19/2006


 

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