Getting Around

Last update: February 2018

BIKE RENTALS

• Austin B-Cycle:  Austin's bikeshare system:  Check out a bike from any of several stations around town, and return it to any other station.
• Spinlister:  Peer-to-peer bike rental system.  (Rent directly from owners, rent directly to riders.)  Find nearby bikes with their mobile app.
• Bike shops that rent bikes:
  
• Bicycle Sport Shop: 1426 Toomey Rd. (512-477-3472) / 10947 Research Blvd. (345-7460)
  
• Barton Springs Bike Rentals: 1707 Barton Springs Rd (512-480-0200)
• Mike's Bikes: 610 N. I-35 (free delivery & pickup) (512-919-6293)
• Streamline Cycles:  503 E. Cesar Chavez (512-387-1998)
• Tsunami Cycles: 2114-1/2 S. Congress Ave. (512-448-9725)
  
• Waterloo Cycles: 2815 Fruth (512-47-CYCLE)
  

BUSES

Taking your bike on the bus. Most city buses have bike racks on the front which hold multiple bikes. This can greatly increase your mobility. Now you don't have to worry about getting a flat tire, getting caught in the rain, or running out of energy -- if any of that happens, just take the bus home (and take your bike with you)!

Most of the city buses have bike racks on front.  The schedule booklet clearly indicates which of the few routes don't serve cyclists.  You can also check on bike rack availability for your route by calling Capital Metro at 474-1200.

Also, note that even if your bus accepts bikes, if the rack on the front is already filled with bikes, you'll have to wait for the next bus. (Fortunately, the racks are rarely full.)

Bus fares. Buses are free if you're a UT student. Otherwise it's $1.25 (regular) or $1.75 (Express or Rail) for a single-ride, or $2.50 to $3.50 for a 24-hour pass.

Ozone Action Days. On days when the amount of ground-level ozone is particularly high, they're declared "Ozone Action Days" (OADs). Buses used to be free on those days, but I've heard that was discontinued circa 2012. Also, as James Burnside notes, "The City does not run its lawn crews [on OADs] and advises all city employees to fill city vehicles late in the afternoon. Other than that it's business as usual. (sigh)"

You can check whether today is an OAD at the TCEQ website. Also, you can get on TCEQ's mailing list or the Clean Air Force's mailing list and they'll let you know when it's an OAD.

HIKE & BIKE TRAILS

Austin has several miles of hike & bike trails.

• The main trail is the Ann & Roy Butler Hike & Bike Trail, a 10-mile loop next to the river in Central Austin.  (Formerly called the "Town Lake Trail".)
  
• The City's website has a list of all the trails in the city.
• See below for info on mountain bike trails.

MOUNTAIN BIKING

BicycleAustin.info generally doesn't cover mountain biking issues, but here are a couple of resources we have:

* Here's a link to the Austin Ridge Riders web site.

* Here's Jim Summers' review of some local (Austin) trails.

Uber, Lyft & other TNC's

Uber and Lyft waged an ugly battle trying to overturn city regulations requiring that their drivers go through fingerprinted background checks.  It was a horrible subversion of democracy, yet another example of corporations tryings to write their own laws.  A non-profit alternative to them is RideAustin, whose app is available for both iOS and Android.  For taxis:

452-9999 American Yellow Checker Cab
478-2222 Austin Cab
472-1111 Yellow Checker Cab

CAR SHARING

Car2Go has a fleet of cars all over the city that you can rent by the minute.  Use an app or their website to find a car close to you, press your access card against the card reader on the windshield to unlock it, then get in and go.  Rates (as of 9/16) are $35 to sign up and 38¢ per minute (max $14/hr or $73/day), plus tax.