AUSTIN, Texas — Due to icy conditions around the Austin area, Capital Metro suspended all non-emergency services on Tuesday night and all day on Wednesday.
CapMetro said most services resumed at 10 a.m. on Thursday, with more buses and increased frequency service beginning by 12 p.m. Those included bus, pickup, CapMetro Access and MetroBike services.
It will return to full service on Monday, Feb. 6. Rail will operate its normal schedule beginning Monday at 5:40 a.m. from Leander Station.
Capmetro began its final trips at 7 p.m. on Tuesday for bus, rail and pickup. All non-emergency services were suspended on Wednesday.
The agency said its staff was performing route reviews, which continued through Thursday morning, to assess if any detours need to be made.
CapMetro Rail did not resume on Thursday to allow staff to ensure power was restored and all crossings were fully tested and ready for rail service. CapMetro Express, most Flyer Routes and Rail Connectors 465 and 466 were also not operational.
“Suspending and delaying service is an incredibly difficult decision that we do not make lightly,” CapMetro President and CEO Dottie Watkins said. “It is not lost on me how important and crucial our services are to our community. However, we had to make this decision with safety being the number one factor, for our customers and our staff.”
During the ice storm on Wednesday, CapMetro was providing emergency transportation services for the area.
“CapMetro has been working closely with our partners at the Austin/Travis County Emergency Operations Center and is aware the inclement weather could result in dangerous, life-threatening road conditions for our frontline staff and customers, so CapMetro is shifting all available resources to provide emergency transportation for our region,” CapMetro said in a statement.
CapMetro supplied buses to help transport people to cold weather shelters on Wednesday, as well as fulfilled other emergency requests that were needed. CapMetro also continued providing life-sustaining trips for MetroAccess customers, the agency said.
“CapMetro knows the valuable role it plays in the community, but the agency is making a difficult decision to suspend service in order to protect the lives of our staff and customers,” CapMetro said.
To receive up-to-date information on service impacts, patrons are asked to sign up for MetroAlerts.