Mind Your Manners on the Train

We’re not planning on any rules prohibiting you from putting on makeup while riding MetroRail. And it’s perfectly acceptable on the bus too. Hey, it’s certainly safer than doing that while you’re behind the wheel.

Apparently the rules are much stricter on Tokyo’s transit system. Check out what the good folks at TransitTalent included in their daily newsletter:

Mind Your Manners on the Tokyo Subway

To help deter embarrassing and annoying behavior on the subways in Tokyo, the transit system displays a poster each month that illustrates a particularly obnoxious breach of manners.

In addition to drunken salarymen sprawled unconscious on benches, the posters also warn against chattering cell phone users, music lovers with loud headphones, women applying make-up and inconsiderate folks with bulky belongings. View the posters. Read more

Creative Commuters in Leander

Some resourceful Leander commuters have taken matters into their own hands. Several long-time Express route riders who normally catch the 986 and 987 from the Leander Park & Ride have formed their own adhoc carpools instead during the transit strike.

According to Capital Metro outreach volunteers who were stationed at Leander Park & Ride yesterday and today to help riders find other ways to work, the carpools formed on site, made up of individuals who have been sharing an Express bus ride with each other for months.

Leander Mayor and Capital Metro Board Member John Cowman volunteered to do outreach this morning, and was heartened by the resourcefulness of Leander residents to make lemonade out of lemons.

In strike news, today Capital Metro was able to add three more bus routes and increase the frequency of buses from 45 to 30 minutes. The complete list of routes operating can be found on the Capital Metro homepage. Read more

Get on the E-Bus to avoid the BAT bus!

Yesterday Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo and his staff brought over the BAT (Breath Alcohol Testing) bus to Capital Metro headquarters for some show and tell.

Are you familiar with the Austin Police Department’s BAT bus? Here's a KXAN video tour of the bus.

I advise watching the video, because the only other way to see it up close and personal is if you are escorted there in handcuffs, and it won’t be Christian Bale to show you around but one of APD’s finest. The BAT bus is a mobile mini police station specifically for the processing of those arrested for DWI. Officers can handle paperwork and administer the breathalyzer test at the bus, greatly reducing the amount of processing time required at the jailhouse. Because it’s mobile, APD can target specific neighborhoods (read: Downtown) as needs arise.

Police Chief Art Acevedo, Assistant Chief David Carter and Commander Troy Gay show Capital Metro CEO Fred Gilliam the BAT bus.

Police Chief Acevedo addressed the Capital Metro Board yesterday to thank them for the successful partnership that APD and Capital Metro have enjoyed. You may recall last month we detailed the training class we held to help police officers prepare for operating the BAT bus and obtain their commercial drivers licenses. The BAT bus itself was also donated to APD by Capital Metro, and in July it went on its maiden run. On a Friday or Saturday night, around 1:30 in the morning, police cars start streaming into the parking lot where the bus is parked, according to one officer. As many as 25 people a night might have a brief layover at the BAT bus before getting whisked off to the pokey.

Of course, you can avoid the threat of getting hauled to the BAT bus altogether by leaving the keys at home and taking Capital Metro. Tonight, Capital Metro's three E-Bus routes start up for UT's Fall 2009 semester. Although anyone can ride the E-Bus, it predominately serves college students and ferries them safely to/from the downtown entertainment district and the UT Main Campus, West Campus, and East Riverside neighborhoods. E-Bus Routes operate from about 8:30 p.m. to approximately 3:00 a.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights when school is in session (except holidays). An average of 2,000 riders a night make use of the service, unclogging downtown and making Austin streets safer.

And don't forget about the six Night Owls, which operate every night of the week except Monday nights and serve the downtown entertainment district and neighborhoods all over the city, from about midnight to 3:30 a.m. Catch a local route to downtown, and then ride a Night Owl home. Check out the Night Owl maps and schedules. Read more

If you loved the Red 'Dillo...

We've been extolling the virtues of Capital Metro's zippy new 'Dillos, which will roll down Congress (Route #450) and 5th and 6th Streets (Route #451) beginning this Sunday, August 24.
The 'Dillos have straightforward, easy-to-remember routes and schedules. A new 'Dillo will be coming along every five minutes during the week and 11 minutes on weekends, making downtown travel easy.

But if you've been using the Orange 'Dillo to go to lunch on Manor Road, for example, or the Silver 'Dillo to get to Deep Eddy Pool, you might not be quite so keen (yet) on the new system. We've made modifications to other routes and have assembled some trip tips to provide some easy alternatives for you.

Blue Dillo: For lunchtime walk to Congress Ave. and board the 450 Congress 'Dillo, with service every five minutes from 17th Street to Riverside.

Gold 'Dillo: Take Route 3 from Lamar, which has been rerouted to serve ACC Rio Grande.

Orange 'Dillo: Route 450 Congress 'Dillo will travel to most of the places the Orange 'Dillo would take you. For service to East Campus try Route 18 MLK or 10 Red River. For Manor Road restaurants catch Route 20.

Red 'Dillo: Route 4 has been extended to Lake Austin Blvd. and Veterans Drive. Morning and afternoon trips will be made to Austin High School. From downtown, Route 3 will provide service to the West Campus of UT and to ACC Rio Grande.

Silver 'Dillo: Route 4, which runs on 7th Street, will serve West 5th and 6th Streets and the Austin High area. Riders from Pleasant Valley and E. 2nd Street can use Route 17 Cesar Chavez to reach downtown.

These tips, along with lots of other information about the major changes occurring on Aug. 24, are printed in the Service Change Guide, free on all the buses and available on our Web site.
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