MANOR, Texas — Capital Metro's on-demand pick-up service in Manor is expanding after the number of people using the service quadrupled within six months.
Scheleen Walker, the long-range planning director for the Travis County Department of Transportation and Natural Resources, said they are partnering with CapMetro to add a third bus to keep up with the demand.
Here's how the service works: You can download the CapMetro app and call for the bus to pick you up and take you where you want to go within a specific geofenced area. A one-way trip costs $1.25.
The service originally promised to arrive within 15 minutes – but with the growing demand, that became difficult.
"It was taking more than 15 minutes. Sometimes it took 30 minutes and sometimes we couldn't get them at all because there was no availability," Walker said.
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Walker said they started the service in Manor in June with 446 passengers but, by the end of December, they serviced 1,736.
She said Travis County is paying for 25% of the cost for the new pick-up bus, which is about $25,000. CapMetro is paying for the rest.
According to the Texas Demographic Center, Manor is one of the fastest-growing cities in Texas, which is why Walker wants to continue to grow its transit system.
"That is hard to do with a 3.5% tax cap that was implemented by the legislature last year," Walker said. "How we fund that moving forward is what we are really trying to figure out."
This service is also offered at five other locations: Leander, East Austin, northeast Austin, Walnut Creek and Tarrytown.
Travis County hopes to have the third bus in the Manor service area on the streets by Tuesday.
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