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Social routes? Buses can be fun

By Ryan Saunders


I have been living in Austin for 6 years, moving here from Greensboro, NC. In the years following college, I was able to live in or spend a significant amount of time in several large cities both in the United States and in Europe.


The thing I enjoyed the most was the freedom of being able to use public transit, walk or bike almost anywhere I needed to go. The sense of adventure it provided and the freedom. I appreciate having a car but I will challenge myself by saying that I take more car trips than are necessary.


I live on East Cesar Chavez in East Austin and there is a bus stop less than a block from my house. My bus is route 2, using this bus, I can be at Republic Square Park downtown in around 15 minutes.


Republic Square provides access to almost any bus you might need to get anywhere in the city including the BRT Routes 801 and 803. More on those below.


If you found this blog on my linkedin page you may see a poll, using this poll I challenge readers to 1) download the capmetro app  2. Use google maps search function with public transit as your travel method and find the bus route from your home or work to your favorite restaurant or bar, then post the name of the place you searched for and the bus route in the comments of the post


When I moved back to North Carolina after time spent living in NYC I started a journey of exploring ways to bring the things I loved about living in larger cities to mid sized cities like High Point and Greensboro in North Carolina. One of those things was public transportation. 


Funding is always the number one issue when it comes to public transportation because in most cases, public transportation is geared towards lower income individuals and runs on tight margins. It takes money to attract choice riders and it is hard from a political standpoint to invest money in routes or adjustments for choice riders when there are still so many needs for those riders that rely on public transportation as their sole means of transit.


Austin is a bit different than what I faced in Greensboro because I am now promoting transit in a city that has a pretty robust transit system and with a city populated by transplants from all over the country, there are plenty of people living here who have lived in cities that it is common to use public transit on a daily basis.


All that said, as the title suggests, I believe that social destinations provide the easiest entry point for new riders of public transit. Thus as the title states, I present to you Social Routes. Like in the old days when we gave directions by saying turn right at the barbeque restaurant then left at the old bowling alley. 


What if you started correlating bus routes with your favorite bars and restaurants?  



Download Cap Metro app:



Explore Bus Rapid Transit:




803: Runs from the Domain along Burnet Rd and Lamar through Central Austin into Downtown and South of the River all the way to Westgate Transit Center (North to South and South to North)


801: Runs from Tech Ridge (Parmer) on N Lamar through Crestview and Brentwood, N Loop, Hyde Park, Auditorium Shores and South Congress, including St Elmo area all the way to Slaughter (North to South and South to North)






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