Bicycle Austin forum

MichaelBluejay

Webmaster

From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2008-05-26

Posts: 1,455

Website

Point-to-point "bus" service

Cities are experimenting with taking people point-to-point (where they want to be picked up and dropped off) in vans, rather than in fixed-route buses.  Austin is one of those cities, in a handful of areas outside the central city (starting four years ago, but I heard about it only just now).

https://apnews.com/article/north-caroli … da5b001ffa

Thoughts?

chavela

Member

Registered: 2008-06-03

Posts: 55

Re: Point-to-point "bus" service

I have used this service.  Not a great experience.  When they removed the 21/22 route from my neighborhood (Tarrytown; apparently it was the historical "maid route" between West and East Austin) several years ago, they offered the PickUp service, since our closest bus stop was now up to a mile away.  We tried it once to go from our house to Laguna Gloria (two miles), and it took FOREVER; the driver had a regular pick up she detoured for, we had to wait for that person, and then the person was dropped off THEN we made it to Laguna Gloria.  We could have walked faster.  IIRC, they don't take you "where you want to go"; they take you to defined stops within the immediate service area (e.g. schools, stores) or bus stops to take you elsewhere.  So it isn't really that useful if you are going outside the service area, IMHO.  And it isn't a van; it's a short bus.

MichaelBluejay

Webmaster

From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2008-05-26

Posts: 1,455

Website

Re: Point-to-point "bus" service

I appreciate your sharing your personal experience.  Seems like they have some room for improvement!

daveintex13

Member

Registered: 2010-01-07

Posts: 24

Re: Point-to-point "bus" service

I used CapMetro’s Pickup service a lot to connect to the Red Line at Kramer Station before the pandemic when I was commuting. On days I didn’t pedal, like when it was raining. I liked it a lot, it got me where I needed to go, mostly on time, although sometimes it was maddeningly slow to arrive, during high demand periods or when it was stuck in congestion. But it made that option (train) possible because no other transit comes anywhere near my office. I also used it to get to the #801 on Lamar at Braker if I was heading downtown.

Pickup shuttle vans operate within specific underserved zones and don’t leave a zone or cross from one zone into another. They just circulate within a single zone. I use the app to indicate where I am in a zone and where I want to go, and then, just like Uber, the app offers me available shuttles with how many minutes away they are. Then I pick one and can track it on the map. Very cool. Usually, those time estimates are pretty accurate but sometimes they are way off, for no discernible reason except maybe traffic. I could request a van while still on the train and it would arrive at Kramer Station pretty soon after I got there. I had to get the timing just right. I didn’t want it to arrive too early because the driver might not wait around for me and then I’d have to request and wait for another one. But sometimes the wait at the station was inexplicably long, the arrival time on the app would keep changing. In the reverse direction, I would request a shuttle to come near my office and the app would tell me where I needed to be and when. So, I could request a shuttle 30 minutes before I was done working, knowing the app will offer a shuttle with a 5 minute wait time and another with a 20-30 minute wait time. I would pick the second one and take a leisurely stroll to the pickup location after 5, instead of waiting until closer to 5 to request the short wait time but then being in a hurry to not miss it or be rescheduled, which the app will do sometimes.

The service is included in the price of a day pass or you can buy a pass from the driver. I just showed the driver my day pass from the CapMetro app. Simple. No scan. I think you can use it without the app, by telephone, but I never tried that. Sometimes (rarely) it will divert to pick up others which could delay my arrival at the station, another risk. Mostly it’s like a private limo, but sometimes it’s true ride sharing. Late arrival at the station risks having the crossing arms down at the cross street near the station, so traffic is backed up on Kramer. When that happened, the shuttle couldn’t get near that station and I had to get off the shuttle in the middle of the road and make a dash for the station to catch the train. Fortunately, I’m able to do that but others might not be.

~davew~