The new MetroRapids finally become rapid

Another cool thing is happening next week: Cap Metro is going to begin truly frequent service for the two new bus lines funded by Project Connect. 

The MetroRapid 800 and MetroRapid 837 began service last year but, due to problems with the electric buses the agency was counting on, neither route was offering service every 10 minutes, as initially promised. Buses were instead coming between 20-30 mins — nothing special. 

The increased frequency coincides with the opening of two new Park & Ride facilities — one near the Travis County Expo Center and one at the Goodnight Ranch in Southeast Austin. 

The ridership on the not-so-frequent MetroRapids has been terrible but is getting better. If it doesn't get a lot better then you have to wonder if these are the right routes. 

For a bit of context, here is how the two new MetroRapids stack up against the two older ones: 

Now, it's not a fair comparison because the 801 and 803 have been operating at high frequency and the 800 and 837 have not. But what is particularly troubling is that these two new routes, operating at 20-minute frequencies, were actually substantially underperforming some routes that operate at 30-min frequencies. 

Cap Metro ridership is down overall so far this year. Rising gas prices in March and April and the implementation of Tap2Pay in February (which has legit been an awesome change!!) don't appear to have helped. Hopefully we'll see things turn around when the May figures come out.