AURA has completed endorsements for Austin Mayoral candidates, City Council candidates, and ballot propositions. Endorsement is determined by AURA member vote. We held two candidate forums in May and August and asked candidates to fill out a questionnaire—responses available here. For Mayor and City Council, AURA’s members endorse:

• Steve Adler, for Mayor
• Natasha Harper-Madison, for District 1
• Pio Renteria, for District 3
• Rich DePalma, for District 8
• Danielle Skidmore, for District 9

AURA’s members offer no endorsement in District 5.

AURA’s members support the following ballot propositions:

• Proposition A (affordable housing)
• Proposition B (libraries, museums, cultural centers)
• Proposition C (parks and recreation)
• Proposition D (flood mitigation, open space, water quality)
• Proposition E (Dove Springs Health Center)
• Proposition F (fire and emergency stations)
• Proposition G (transportation, including streets, sidewallks, Vision Zero)
• Proposition H (amending City Charter regarding appointment and removal of Planning Commissioners)

AURA’s members oppose the following ballot propositions:

• Proposition J (citizen referendum on comprehensive land development code reform)
• Proposition K (efficiency audit)

AURA’s members took no action on Proposition I (typographical corrections of the City Charter).

AURA is a grassroots, all-volunteer organization that advocates for an Austin that is inclusive, open to change, and welcoming to everyone. Our members worked hard for candidates and ballot propositions in the City of Austin that share this vision.

• We hosted two candidate forums
• We knocked on thousands of doors, including three days of action for endorsed candidates
• We handed out thousands of fliers at the polls
• We participated in advocating for a huge affordable housing investment from the very beginning, including letter writing with Habitat Young Professionals.

This hard work paid off, and we are very pleased about the results of this election. More than 60% of voters in Austin endorsed a pro-housing mayor.  Prop J, which would have tied our city’s hands in addressing everything from our housing crisis to climate change to gentrification, failed despite its proponents’ fearmongering and dishonesty. And last but very much not least, Austin’s largest affordable housing bond ever just passed. Austin is for everyone.

AURA also endorsed the other bonds, and we are excited that the city will be able to move forward with much needed investments in safer transportation systems, improvements in health infrastructure, flood prevention, and more.

Several other AURA-endorsed candidates made it to the runoffs in their city council elections.

Natasha Harper-Madison’s strong showing in District 1 is a credit to her vision of an affordable and accessible Austin. AURA members stand ready to support her in the runoff, and we’re ready to work with her after she wins to address the transit needs and housing crisis facing all of Austin and District 1 residents in particular.  

Councilmember Pio Renteria has been an advocate for the inclusive Austin that we believe in.  

We believe his accomplishments in fighting for affordable housing and transit are incredibly important, and AURA members are ready to support him in his runoff so he can continue those fights for the city and for the residents of District 3.   

In District 8, we’re disappointed that our endorsed candidate, Rich DePalma, did not make the runoff. However, we are excited by the possibilities of new leadership, and we stand ready to support the eventual winner in working for an Austin for Everyone.

In District 9, we congratulate our endorsed candidate Danielle Skidmore for her hard work during her historic candidacy, and we also congratulate Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo on her re-election. We hope to continue to work with the Mayor Pro Tem where we find common ground.  

“The success of AURA’s elections efforts demonstrates a real desire for change in Austin. No matter who shows up to Thursday afternoon council meetings, residents and voters want an Austin that’s more walkable, bikeable, and busable with affordable and diverse types of housing everywhere. AURA is proud to have endorsed and worked for these candidates and the passage of these propositions, and to demonstrate that urbanism is an electoral force that is here to stay”

Contact:

Kevin McLaughlin, Board Member of AURA, kevin.mclaughlin70@gmail.com, 817-312-6800

AURA is pleased with the CapMetro’s announcement of a renewed focus on the user experience of the bus system. The staff presentation at the June 25, 2018 CapMetro board meeting mentioned an array of improvements, including stop upgrades, schedule optimization, and service reliability. We are especially excited for shelters that actually shelter: shade screens at bus stops are essential in a Texas summer. (Or a Texas Fall, or a Texas Spring, for that matter.) But, after years of a focus on suburban and “choice riders” it is refreshing to see commitment to the city’s humblest, most important transit mode.

Buses are the workhorses of public transit in America, where in every city except New York and Atlanta buses carry more passengers annually than rail. This is certainly true in Austin, where there are 31 trips by bus for every trip by rail. Even if Project Connect proposes and implements a region-wide light rail system, buses will continue to carry more passengers in Austin than rail for decades to come. Thus, investment in buses is investment in the future of transit.

Cap Remap is another aspect of that investment. While there are tradeoffs in service, AURA’s position is that frequent routes work substantially better than the system of infrequent, more indirect routes they replaced. CapMetro’s recent adjustment to Route 350 shows that they are taking seriously the need to fine tune the system to address problems.

The City of Austin must step up and also commit to investment in Austin’s principal mode of transit. AURA again calls on Austin transportation department to dedicate right of way to transit, starting with extending transit priority lanes from downtown past UT as envisioned in the Guadalupe corridor plan. Going forward, we would like to see the Strategic Mobility Plan contain a robust policy of transit priority across the city. In addition, because every transit trip starts and ends with walking, the city must invest in safer streets, safer crossings, and a full sidewalk network.

We also call on CTRMA and TXDOT to use their vast resources to meaningfully improve transit in the region. CTRMA has built shared use paths alongside their toll roads, and allows CapMetro buses on their express lanes on MoPAC and this is good, but small in the grand scheme of their capabilities. For the cost overrun on the MoPAC express lanes alone, CTRMA could have funded the entire city of Austin bike master plan. Similarly, for the cost of rebuilding one overpass over I-35, TXDOT could build 80 miles of sidewalk.

CapMetro’s announcement is important and encouraging, but it is just the start. It will require ongoing cooperation and dedication from the city and the regional mobility agencies to create a modern bus system and a truly multimodal city.

Austin began its pilot program allowing dockless bikes and scooters in May, 2018. Despite the limits placed on deployment during this period, the pilot has powerfully demonstrated the potential of tiny vehicles to give Austinites greater mobility, augment the reach of the Capital Metro transit system by solving “last mile” problems, and take a giant leap toward achieving Austin’s Big Jump goals. If Austin is to be as innovative, progressive, and forward-thinking as our reputation and own self-image, we must “go big” on this innovative new low-carbon, low-cost, zero-pollution mobility option. There are two major fixes to the pilot program necessary for it to achieve its full potential as a learning tool:

ELIMINATE AUGUST 1 “LOCK-TO” REQUIREMENT

One major self-imposed obstacle looms as a barrier to continued pilot success: the August 1 deadline for dockless vehicle companies to add locks capable of being tied to a bike rack. This rule would have severe negative consequences for the pilot program:

• Many companies would not be able to continue to operate because they lack vehicles with this particular locking technology.
• Due to Austin’s low number of fixed bike racks, if all dockless vehicles made use of these, there would not be enough room on racks for all of dockless vehicles, let alone room for private bicycles.
• Dockless users prompted to use a lock may lock vehicles to things other than bike racks.

Chicago, one of the only other cities to impose a “lock-to” requirement in its dockless pilot, has recently reversed its decision, allowing dockless vehicles to continue without lock-to requirements.

The small percentage of poorly parked dockless vehicles are a real issue but this is not the solution. The solution that two of the dockless companies have implemented — requiring users to take pictures of their parked vehicle at the end of the ride — has already impressively cut back on poorly parked vehicles. Similar efforts at user nudges may be possible while retaining the core notion of dockless vehicles.

REFORM AND EXPAND VEHICLE CAPS

The initial cap of five hundred permitted vehicles in the DAPCZ has allowed the city and its residents to get familiar with this mode of vehicles. This experience has shown that these vehicles are a major benefit to Austinites, but  five hundred vehicles is not nearly enough for dockless vehicles to be a reliable mode of transportation. At the present level, many pollution-free, low-carbon dockless trips go untaken because the nearest dockless vehicle is too far away to be useful. Individuals hoping to rely on this as a true mode of transportation have found that the pilot rules result in spotty and uneven dockless availability.

• Raise or eliminate the limit. 500 vehicles was an arbitrary starting point. Now that we have learned more as a city, it is time to update the rules.
• Change cap from permitted vehicles to simultaneously deployed vehicles. Originally, the rules were conceived for dockless bikes. A much greater percentage of a dockless bike fleet tend to be deployed at once than a dockless scooter fleet, which need to be recharged. As a result, electric vehicles become less and less available through the day, as vehicle batteries wear down. Allowing permits to be easily transferred to new vehicles would encourage dockless operators to remove non-functioning vehicles and replace them with functioning ones.
• Apply separate to each vehicle mode For those companies with multiple vehicle modes, this would allow experimenting with different modes, giving more information to Austin about the potential needs different vehicle types create.
• Rethink rules outside the DAPCZ Two months into the start of the dockless pilot, ATD has yet to issue incremental permits for vehicles outside the DAPCZ. This represents a great loss to all Austinites who live, work, or spend time outside the DAPCZ. When zero companies have received permits, it is time to evaluate whether part of the permitting process is too onerous. The point of the pilot is to learn about this exciting mobility option, not to restrict.

REORIENT AUSTIN TOWARD THE BIG JUMP

Transportation innovations are announced all the time but opportunities like dockless vehicles — adopted spontaneously by users, without need for cumbersome education campaigns, are few and far between. When an innovation perfectly aligns with our city’s vision for reducing our city’s expensive and polluting addiction to single-occupancy automobile transportation, we must take advantage.

In light of these new developments, it is time to redouble every step that the city was already taking toward making the city a more bicycle-friendly place — from bike racks to bike lanes to two-way streets to traffic calming. We have been presented with a golden opportunity and now is the time to seize it!

Contact: Dan Keshet 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 5, 2018

Austin, Texas — AURA released the following statement today about Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s recently-filed lawsuit against eight individual volunteer members of Austin’s Planning Commission:

AURA is appalled that Fred Lewis and Austin’s anti-housing groups have succeeded in enlisting Attorney General Ken Paxton to target Austin’s all-volunteer Planning Commission. The slap in the face to hundreds of hours of work by dedicated volunteers is intolerable.

Fred Lewis and Austin’s anti-housing groups will work with seemingly anyone to put shelter further out of reach for hardworking Austinites. His Faustian bargain with Tea-Party demagogue Ken Paxton is a new low. It comes on the heels of an anti-CodeNEXT petition campaign spearheaded by these same groups and financed by corporate billboard lobbyists intent on dismantling Austin regulations, aimed at subverting the political representation granted to working-class Austinites by the new 10-1 City Council system.

Austin City Council must stand up to Ken Paxton: it should defend the Planning Commission and the work they’ve done on CodeNEXT. AG Paxton is intent on dismantling local regulations that seek to uphold environmental protections and community health. Paxton’s suit against the Planning Commission is but the latest example among the litany of state-level attempts to erode local control. He has fought to overpower Austin for years, on issues such as paid sick leave, tree ordinances, and plastic bag bans. Austin’s anti-housing groups would make our city vulnerable to Paxton’s right-wing vendetta in order to stymie hundreds of hours of volunteer work to increase affordability and address displacement.

Local organizations fighting new housing and resisting a future for the next generation of Austinites have aligned with an Attorney General who openly despises our city and our shared principles of equality, sustainability, and inclusion. We hope and believe that the Paxton-Lewis alliance will open our city’s eyes to the moral bankruptcy underlying the relentless attempts to deny housing to current and future Austinites. 

AURA remains committed to the CodeNEXT process and the hard work completed by our Planning Commission. We will continue to work towards a land development code that is fair and equitable for all Austinites.

AURA is an all-volunteer grassroots urbanist organization focused on building an Austin for everyone by improving land use and transportation through policy analysis, public involvement, and political engagement.

Contacts:

• Josiah Stevenson, 832-466-2785, josiahstevenson@gmail.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 8, 2018

Austin, Texas — In response to Austin’s housing crisis, fourteen local community organizations announced today their support of a $300 million housing bond for the City of Austin this fall. The endorsing organizations include the following:

• AURA
• Austin Democratic Socialists of America
• Austin Justice Coalition
• ADAPT of Texas
• Austin Cooperative Business Association
• Austin Tenants Council
• Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association
• Family Eldercare
• Friends of Austin Neighborhoods
• Left Up to Us
• Texas Alliance for Retired Americans
• Texas Appleseed
• Texas Low Income Housing Information Service
• Workers Defense Action Fund

These organizations advocate for a broad variety of issues including criminal justice reform, immigrant justice, low-wage workers’ rights, transit, and more.  They have joined together in support of the largest housing bond ever proposed to support Austin families and prevent further displacement. A $300 million bond will provide thousands of homes for working class families, help struggling homeowners stay in their neighborhoods, and will create thousands of construction jobs with wage and safety protections.

“The only long-term way to preserve affordability for thousands of low and moderate income Austinites is to take more housing off the speculative real estate market and reserve it for need, not profit,” says Austin DSA Co-Chair Glenn Scott. “A minimum of $300 million is needed to begin to address this gap.”

Nina Rinaldi, AURA Board President, says “With the 2018 bond, we have the opportunity to live our values as a city. To truly be an inclusive city, we need to make sure we build enough housing so that longtime residents and newcomers alike have a place to live. The market won’t build enough on its own; we need public investment to ensure homes for people from all income levels.”

“Working class communities have been demanding bold solutions for affordable housing for decades,” says Chas Moore, Executive Director and Founder of Austin Justice Coalition. “It is time to take this unprecedented step towards fighting displacement and integrating Austin.”

The coming together of these organizations reveals a broad base of support for affordable housing and a shared community value of ending displacement in Austin.

“I’m proud that organizations representing a wide variety of interests have joined together to support a $300 million housing bond,” said Council Member Greg Casar. “Austin is ready to take an aggressive approach to confront our affordable housing crisis.”

###

Austin Justice Coalition (AJC) is a community organization that focuses on improving the quality of life for people who are Black, Brown, and poor. Since 2015, AJC has served as a catalyst for positive change towards economic and racial equity for Austin’s people of color in the areas of education, policing, civic engagement, and community building.

Austin DSA is the local branch of the Democratic Socialists of America, the largest socialist organization in the United States, and is committed to building a democratically run economy and society that serves the needs of all.

AURA is an all-volunteer grassroots urbanist organization focused on building an Austin for everyone by improving land use and transportation through policy analysis, public involvement, and political engagement.

Contacts:

Chas Moore, Austin Justice Coalition, chasmoore@austinjustice.org, 713-459-2333

Michael Nachbar, Austin DSA, michael.l.nachbar@gmail.com, 302-545-9252

Nina Rinaldi, AURA, nina.dolcia@gmail.com, 541-908-0759

Shelby Alexander, Council Member Greg Casar, shelby.alexander@austintexas.gov, 512-978-2157

We strongly support CodeNEXT’s proposed elimination of “conditional overlays,” commonly called COs, as a tool for future rezones. As explained below, COs greatly complicate the City of Austin’s zoning process, significantly increase costs, and require extensive lot-by-lot rezonings that detract from the City Council’s ability to focus on broader land use planning decisions appropriate for a legislative body. They are a vestige of a highly transactional zoning culture that keeps Austin from pursuing its larger vision and goals.

WHAT ARE CONDITIONAL OVERLAYS?

COs are a device that the City of Austin created in the late 1980s in order to condition individual zoning changes on site-specific requirements not generally applicable within a particular zoning district. They are negotiated as part of the zoning process, with City staff often acting as mediators between developers, neighborhood residents, and councilmembers.

While COs take many forms, they are most commonly used to: (1) reduce the number of uses allowed on a property—sometimes dramatically; (2) impose more restrictive limits on things like height, setbacks, or impervious cover; and (3) control the layout of development on a site.  The zoning map depicts properties subject to a CO with a suffix, which follows the (often quite long) base district notation. For example, a property may be zoned GR-MU-CO.

WHY ARE CONDITIONAL OVERLAYS A PROBLEM?

1. INCREASED NEED FOR REZONES

When zoning is conditioned on a CO, future redevelopment often requires City Council action to change conditions imposed by the CO even though the redevelopment is allowed by-right under the zoning district regulations. This often requires hiring consultants or attorneys and adds an additional, highly unpredictable step to the development process.

It also greatly increases the number of rezone applications filed each year and, consequently, the amount of time the City Council spends processing site-specific rezones. As observed in the Land Development Code Diagnosis Report (2014), the use of COs requires the City of Austin to process far more rezoning requests than other cities:

“An indication of an inefficient and outdated regulatory system in the city is the use of conditional overlays, and the number of applications requesting a rezone. In fiscal year 2013, the City Council approved 191 rezoning applications prior to subdivision or site plan approval. This is a 10% increase from the number of rezone applications from the previous year. While the increase may be an indication of improvements in the economy, the sheer volume of rezoning cases is extraordinary.”

2. INCONSISTENT WITH NATIONAL BEST PRACTICES

Most major cities use some form of “conditional use” permitting and “planned unit development” zoning as a tool for tailoring requirements to particular developments or categories of development. However, we are aware of no other city that imposes site-specific conditions on standard rezones to the extent the City of Austin does. Additionally, because regulations are required to be “uniform” for each class of structure or use regulated within a zoning district, conditional overlays may not even be legally valid.

3. IMPACT ON AFFORDABILITY AND STIFLES BENEFICIAL REDEVELOPMENT

The use of COs invariably impacts affordability and increases costs by making redevelopment, even for uses allowed in the base zoning district, contingent on discretionary Council approval of a change to the CO. Additionally, because COs operate as a separate layer of regulation on top of base-district zoning regulations, they make applying the permitting process far more complex. Simply finding out what a CO requires can itself be a time-consuming endeavor, as they are uncodified documents and often drafted using confusing, non-standard language that varies from case to case.

Besides increasing development costs for projects that move forward, COs invariably stifle beneficial redevelopment that would better serve the needs and desires of Austin residents for a more walkable urban environment. How many corner stores or other popular, desirable uses have been unable to get off the ground because of use-restrictive COs? It’s impossible to say for sure, but it stands to reason that COs have prevented many older developments from converting to uses more compatible with community needs. For example, if a CO from 1988 forbids specific uses, it may be difficult to change that CO in the future to meet the changing needs of a neighborhood.

4. UNDERMINES TRUE LAND USE PLANNING

The use of COs invariably requires the City Council, as well as the City’s zoning planners, to spend a great deal of time on project-level minutiae that is not the appropriate province of zoning. This is because, rather than focusing on broader legislative questions, COs make zoning into a kind of site-plan permitting process in which the details of individual projects are locked in through ordinance conditions and restrictive covenants.

The result is a highly reactive zoning process, in which the City Council spends far more time and energy processing individual, site-specific rezoning applications than on areawide or small-area planning initiatives that have broader citywide impacts and are characteristic of legislative zoning practices in other major cities with similar goals and aspirations. The priorities necessitated by Austin’s system of complex, conditional zoning trickle down to City zoning staff, who—like the Council—spend more time negotiating individual zoning cases than on thoughtful, forward-thinking planning decisions.

5. FOSTERS A HIGHLY TRANSACTIONAL ZONING CULTURE

Most rezone requests should be evaluated based on whether the uses allowed in the proposed district are compatible with development patterns in the surrounding area and with the City’s long-term planning goals. The use of COs, however, has fostered a culture in which City planners seek to please all sides by negotiating what are essentially project-level conditions, rather than focusing on these bigger picture legislative questions. “Jerry’s Guesses,” a well-known internal document circulated before most zoning meetings, epitomizes this “get to yes” culture by opining on likely vote counts and the status of negotiations between parties.

While the individuals involved in negotiating COs are generally well-intentioned, the process itself has made zoning in Austin too dependent on the needs and desires of individual interest groups surrounding a particular project, at a particular moment in time. This “horse-trading” quality benefits attorneys and consultants, who have made COs into a cottage industry, and creates an impression of insider access which in turn reduces public confidence in the integrity of the zoning process and the City’s ability to think and plan for the long-term.

WHAT ARE CODENEXT’S ALTERNATIVES TO CONDITIONAL OVERLAYS AND HOW COULD THEY BE IMPROVED?

CodeNEXT provides new tools to resolve the problems that COs were supposed to address. First and foremost, it includes a better menu of zoning districts that provide a much more varied combination of land uses. While we believe the proposed zoning districts could be significantly improved, by allowing more housing options and uses such as co-op housing, the tools available in Draft 3 are an improvement over the current Land Development Code.

The “minor use permit” process and the broader administrative authority described in Chapter 23-1 are intended to reduce the need for site-plan level conditions in zoning cases by providing greater flexibility at the administrative level. We support this objective, even if the details need further refinement or clarification. It will allow a simple administrative procedure to handle details like dumpster placement, traffic flow, and other items. If for some reason the process is controversial, it allows a minor use permit to be appealed to the appropriate citizen commission for review and reconsideration.

Finally, while we fully support the elimination of new COs, the goal of reducing applications for site-specific rezones will not be achieved without a more robust zoning map than proposed in Draft 3. This means far less (if any) reliance on “Former Title 25” zoning and greater use of R4 and the new mixed-use commercial districts, as well as options for corner stores (à la 43rd& Duval), cooperative housing, and a wider variety of housing choices. These changes are essential for CodeNEXT to meaningfully realize the goals of the Imagine Austin comprehensive plan.

Yesterday, AURA member Kaz Wojtewicz testified before the Housing and Neighborhoods committee in favor of a $300 million bond for affordable housing with an emphasis on public housing.  To address our housing crisis, we need CodeNEXT to deliver a housing market that is easy to build in, allows supply to catch up with and meet demand, and deliver new homes where people want to live.

We also need a strong housing bond to target low income Austinites.  The Strategic Housing Blueprint shows that almost 50,000 new homes are required for families that make 60% or less of the median income, and we’re doing very little to meet this need.  We need to do as much as we can to develop as much market rate housing as people want so they can live where they want, and also spend as much as we can afford to make sure that low income families can afford to live where they want too.

$300 million focused on building public housing by buying public land and awarding RFPs to build on that land to the developer who builds the most public housing there would demonstrate a good way to meet that need.  Together with existing publicly owned land, this could move Austin towards a sufficient housing supply – for everyone.  By mixing market rate and public housing together, we can also help to reduce the rental occupancy rate across the city and help every renter, not just those in public housing.  

The Austin chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, the Austin Justice Coalition, Texas Appleseed and others also joined in on the call for a $300 million investment.  The Austin American Statesman noted that Kaz identified other recent bonds in other cities that invested big in affordable housing and easily passed the bonds. “They included a $1.2 billion housing bond plan passed by Los Angeles; a $258 million proposal passed in Portland, Ore.; and a $290 million plan passed in Seattle. All were approved in 2016 with at least 62 percent of the vote. Wojtewicz recommended Austin officials reach for $300 million.”

Bond Issue	$ size	population	outcome
Los Angeles 2016	$1.2 billion	4,000,000	76% in favor
Portland 2016	$258 million	640,000	62% in favor
Santa Clara County 2016	$950 million	1,900,000	68% in favor
Alameda County 2017	$580 million	1,600,000	73% in favor
Portland 2016	$290 million	790,000	68% in favor

We won’t be able to rely on Donald Trump and Ben Carson to be able to deliver affordable housing for Austin, especially given that Austin is a welcoming community to everyone, regardless of their citizenship.  We need to do what we can on our own.  

Let’s get a strong affordable housing bond and invest at least $300 million in affordable housing.

Fifty years ago, Austinites against integrating neighborhoods worked to put up a petition on the ballot to fight housing integration. They called Austin’s Fair Housing Initiative “Forced Housing.” IndyAustin and its allies are fighting the same fight—they want to freeze Austin’s neighborhoods in amber and forbid more homes west of I-35 in Central Austin, thus accelerating the rapid change and displacement happening in the East. In their attempt to block adoption of CodeNEXT, Austin’s new land development code, they hope to maintain our unaffordable, segregated status quo.

By taking money from Big Billboard to fight against a future for Austin, IndyAustin has shown their true nature: opposition to economic integration. AURA continues its call for an Austin for Everyone, and that means planning our city so that as many people as want to live in a neighborhood can afford to.

IndyAustin’s petition isn’t just bad for Austin, though: It’s a fraud. The fraudulent petition is illegal under state law, which doesn’t allow for ballot initiatives on this type of zoning matter. Any lawyer worth his salt would know what the Texas Local Government Code § 211.015 says on the matter, or at least do some research.  

AURA looks forward to the rejection of this invalid, illegal, and fraudulent petition by the City Council. If for some reason a ballot initiative gets to voters anyway, we hope Austinites embrace the future, continue to be a welcoming city, and bury this effort in our exclusionary past. Their fraudulent petition misled Austinites and was an intentional distraction from the real issues of sustainable and affordable growth.

Capital Metro has bids out for 16 infill stations on the MetroRapid 801 and 803 lines. We’re excited! The stop spacing on the MetroRapid lines has been too far apart. In AURA’s Connections 2025 position statement we called for standard stop spacing every quarter mile. We were encouraged to see additional stops proposed.

However, also in that response, we asked that the stations be brought online as quickly as possible. Riders should not have to wait on construction of expensive “branded” stations. The current stations are difficult to implement due to the need for electrical connections to power their countdown clocks and wireless internet. While these are great amenities, we would rather have the infill stops implemented quickly.

Unfortunately, on and off the MetroRapid lines, Capital Metro has a poor track record of building bus stations that do not protect riders from the elements. The MetroRapid stations were created out of a special design process, but are particularly bad when it comes to shielding from sun or rain—worse than the stations on the regular bus lines.

In 2016, we published our Transit City report, which outlined AURA’s vision for transit in Austin. One of Transit City’s calls for immediate in the action was improved bus stations:

Build generous stations similar to those at Houston’s MetroRail and Dallas’s DART rail platforms at Austin’s busiest bus hubs like the 4th Street/Republic Square and West Mall stops by 2017. They should be sufficiently long and wide to comfortably provide shelter to all riders at peak times. Substantially increase the number of stops with basic shelters throughout the city. The design of these shelters must prioritize effectively shielding riders from sun and rain at a reasonable cost so that as many as possible can be built.

Last year, when we evaluated Capital Metro’s progress toward the Transit City goals, we found that bus shelters were an area that could still use improvement:

Capital Metro has a new, cheaper design for bus shelters, which will enable the agency to deploy them at many more stops. Unfortunately, these new shelters still do not consistently provide shade or protection for the elements. AURA calls for CapMetro to find a shelter design that can be widely implemented and actually provide basic shelter.

Unfortunately, the bid documents for the MetroRapid infill stations demonstrate that Capital Metro will be using the same “branded” MetroRapid station design for the new stations. These stations are expensive and difficult to construct, meaning riders will have to wait longer for badly needed additional stations. Furthermore, they provide little to no protections from the elements. Riders would be better served if Capital Metro could move to a simpler station design that could be implemented quickly, while providing better shelter.

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