Capital Metro, Leander City Council To Talk Mobility Options

LEANDER — Capital Metro leadership and Leander City Council will meet this week to discuss new mobility options for the city, officials said on Wednesday.

To that end, a gathering has been scheduled at Pat Bryson Municipal Hall, 201 N. Brushy in Leander on Thursday, Aug. 22 at 5:30 p.m. Scheduled to speak at the event are: Cap Metro President/CEO Randy Clarke; Capital Metro Board Member Eric Stratton; Capital Metro planning and operations staff; and members of the Leander City Council.

The focus of the gathering is to discuss bus and rail service enhancements in Leander. Also up for discussion are on-demand pick-up service and the transit-oriented development around Capital Metro’s Leander MetroRail station.

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The agenda for the upcoming gathering includes discussion on the following:

• Current services, cost, and city contribution.
• Planning and future additional services.
• Future pick-up zone.
• Other partnership opportunities.
• Current law and net financial obligation.

The talk comes on the heels of something of a spat between Leander city officials and Cap Metro related to the cost benefit to the municipality after the mayor there raised questions. Last month, council members were poised to dissolve the city's agreement with Cap Metro based on the disproportionate cost to participate versus the level of the transit agency's services.Tantamount to a divorce between the city and Cap Metro, dissolution of the agreement would have ended train service to and from Austin.

Cap Metro has made strides in recent months to expand its MetroRail Red Line that ends in Leander at its northernmost reach. But the service isn't consistently available on weekends, which led to some local disenchantment. MetroRail first began running all the way to Leander — just under 30 miles north of Austin — in 2012.