It's easy being green and nice to be noticed too!

Capital Metro earned the “Most Forward Thinking” Award for our exhibit at the Austin Green Living & Home Products Expo February 27th to March 1st. We talked with hundreds of people who stopped by our booth and climbed around on our beautiful hybrid bus parked inside the Austin Convention Center. A comment we loved the most, and heard a lot: “Wow, that’s a pretty bus!” We agree, and every time you take a ride you help keep the planet pretty too.

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Ride the Bus and Breathe Easier

Warmer weather and blooming wildflowers represents spring time in central Texas. It’s also a time to be mindful of ozone levels in the atmosphere. April 1 through October 31 is ozone season, the time when ozone is most likely to form.

Ground-level ozone is a pollutant from man-made sources, such as vehicles, lawn and garden equipment, and industry emissions. Ozone pollution is harmful, but it is particularly unhealthy for children, seniors and people with cardiac or breathing problems.

The most effective way you can help decrease ozone levels is reducing your vehicle miles traveled, such as riding the bus!

A single person, commuting alone by car, who switches a 20-mile round trip commute to public transportation, can reduce his or her annual CO2 emissions by 4,800 pounds per year, equal to a 10% reduction in all greenhouse gases produced by a typical two-adult, two-car household. (source: American Public Transportation Association)

Now if that isn’t reason enough, thinks about this: By taking public transportation instead of driving a car, a two-worker household can save $6,251 annually. (source: APTA)

More money, cleaner air…who wouldn’t want that?

Learn more about ozone levels in our area and sign up to receive ozone warning alerts by visiting the Clean Air Force of Texas’ Web site. Read more

2009 Capital Metro Roadeo Results--UPDATED

Here's a video recap of the 2009 Capital Metro Roadeo. Behind the cut are the full list of winners in each category. Stay tuned for the State Bus Roadeo in Dallas, April 18.

Vehicle Maintenance Team
1st: Mike Clements, Phillip O’Neal, Gary Hosea
2nd: Eddie Resendez, John Proske, Jose Santamaria
3rd: Kevin Tuel, Eddie Jimenez, Ted Garcia

MetroAccess
1st: Ted Ward
2nd: Jeff Mercer
3rd: George Guerra

35-Foot Bus
1st: Abdelkader Tenouri
2nd: Arthur Murillo
3rd: Juan Maldonado

40-Foot Bus
1st: Porfirio "Pete" Rivera
2nd: Tony Payton
3rd: Amos Underwood

The Big Shoot-Out
1st: Fred Gilliam
2nd: Mayor John Cowman

Amateur Team
1st: Detour Divas & a Dude
2nd: Thunder Road Two
3rd: Death on the Yard (A scoring error had initially placed us in 2nd place.) Read more

A Million Miles

"Congratulations, Leo." That is what I heard from many well-wishers (they did wish me well) last week on my crossing over the million mile safety record. I am looking forward to receiving my green patch to wear on my uniform. Really. It feels like being awarded a merit badge from the Boy Scouts (I'm guessing it feels good for Girl Scouts, too) for something you worked hard for. That is my feeling about it. Call me a sentimentalist. Or don't. Capital Metro has quite a number of million milers. And also a few two million milers. A million miles is almost equal to two round trips to the moon, and it takes 13 years of safe driving to achieve it. What is amusing, a little not a lot, is that I drove the million miles going north, south, east and west all over Austin. I am glad Capital Metro acknowledges our accomplishments. I can compare this with being in the Marine Corps (I was in the Marines). Both are quick to reward you for your achievement.

I want to thank my friend Erica for asking me to write for the Capital Metro blog. Thanks! I will do my best to stay inside the theme of "pi," at least my interpretation of pi. And that is the relationship of things, situations or people around me and how it pertains to or affects me. And now if you will excuse me, I have to drive the bus. Read more

Wrapping up the fun in Leander

The 2009 Capital Metro Bus & Paratransit Roadeo is offically over. Tomorrow we'll post full results, but I don't want to leave anyone hanging. Here's how Juan, Mary, and George fared.

George Guerra and Juan Maldonado each took third place in their categories. Mary Molina wasn't in the top three of her category. Her concern that she hadn't had time to practice the course may have been a factor.

Fred Gilliam won the Big Shoot-out. Death on the Yard placed second. Read more

Thorough judging from every angle

At each challenge on the obstacle course, judges evaluate the operator's performance. There are also three judges onboard the bus. The team of judges working on "Death on the Yard's" bus included bus operators Leo Guerrero and Debbie Teague, and Safety & Security Director Mark Ostertag.

Leo was judging safety habits, like the use of turn signals and seat belt. He's been with Capital Metro since 1995 and just earned his Million Mile safety award. Debbie also joined Capital Metro in 1995, and her role today was to judge smoothness of operation. For example, during my turn behind the wheel, I got a little happy with the brakes once, and so Debbie was obliged to deduct a few points. Mark was the timekeeper--he's been with us for 10 years, and this is the 10th local roadeo he's helped to produce. The roadeo is one component of a comprehensive safety and training program at Capital Metro that produces our team of safe, courteous, and responsible drivers. Read more

"Death on the Yard"

Here I present "Death on the Yard", made up of Marketing's Dolores Jones and yours truly. Here we are onboard our 40-foot bus just prior to our competition. We competed against "Detour Divas & a Dude" and "Thunder Road Two".

I have no idea how we did. In the main, "real" competition, drivers must complete the course in seven minutes. They give amateurs a longer period of time, but to put it into perspective, I was responsible for driving half the course, and by the time I completed my portion, we were already at 6:49! Read more