AUSTIN, Texas — The Austin Young Chamber, Movability, and Transit Forward have released a directory of local coffee shops, restaurants, bars, and music venues located within a 15-minute walk of stations on CapMetro’s Red Line.
"Not a lot of people know about those places," said Bill McCamley, Transit Forward executive director.
They hope with this directory will increase foot traffic in all the businesses listed. They also hope to give people the opportunity to think of transit differently.
"Sometimes we use it maybe to get to work or to get to the Austin FC games," said Mel Martin, director of marketing and events for Austin Young Chamber. "But let's rethink that. Maybe you're going to be up on the Red Line for a meeting with another colleague. You know, is there a coffee shop that you guys can meet up?"
The Red Line has nine stations starting in Leander all the way to Downtown Austin.
"The Red Line does go to some other great places," said McCamley. "It goes downtown. It goes to the east side. You can go dancing at White Horse and it's a two-minute walk to that great venue from the train station. It goes to Q2 Stadium. There are a lot of great places and we wanted to highlight that."
Encouraging more people to get on the train also helps the environment. McCamely said that for every full train 150 cars are off the road.
"It's so much better on carbon emissions," he added. "It's so much better on safety. It's so much better on stress levels."
It's also an alternative for those who have work to do.
"There is Wi-Fi available," said Kate Harrington, outreach and engagement manager at Movability. "So, it's great because you can get work done if you're in transit."
Austinites can find these businesses easily using their Google Maps mobile application to find the map here or online on the Transit Forward website here.
There's also information on rideshare, bicycle rental and scooter rentals for riders once they get to a station.
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