Austin Condos Real Estate Blog

Free Metro Rides in Austin on New Year's Eve: What You Need to Know

Capital Metro is helping Austin-area residents enjoy the New Year's celebrations safely by giving out free rides. The MetroBus, MetroRapid, MetroRail, and MetroAccess will all offer free rides after 6 p.m. on New Year's Eve in an effort to abate traffic and help Austin locals and visitors enjoy the celebrations more safely.

The schedule for the free transport can be accessed on this link. Customers can also access the automated phone line and online Trip Planner 24/7 to help them prepare their routes in advance.

Here are some things you need to know if you want to enjoy the free transport services for New Year's Eve:

  • MetroRail buses will start giving free rides after 6 p.m. on December 31. With 9 MetroRail stations in Austin, the plan also includes extending the service on Saturday with an addition trip leaving downtown at 2:30 a.m.
  • MetroRapid will offer its final departures at 2:30 a.m. from downtown along Guadalupe and Lavaca streets. There are two MetroRapid routes: one connects the Tech Ridge area to the Southpark Meadows shopping center in Southwest Austin through the UTexas campus and downtown; the other connects The Domain to the Westgate area in Southwest Austin via UT and downtown.
  • Five Night Owl routes will run to and from Sixth and Congress every 15 minutes from midnight until 3 a.m. on New Year’s Eve.
  • Local MetroBus service will operate a Saturday schedule on New Year’s Eve, but E-Buses and UT Shuttles will not be in service.
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Major Central Austin Development in the Works with Approved Grove at Shoal Creek Deal

The proposed mixed-use development in Central Austin called The Grove at Shoal Creek will pave the way for the development of thousands of new residential units in the area. And thanks to an agreement between key city officials and the developers, final plans have already been plotted to determine the true size and scope of the project.

The controversial project was the source of contention and debate, as developers decided on what to do with the raw plot of land they have acquired for $47 million from the Texas Department of Transportation.

Challenges arose when developers tried to submit a "Planned Unit Development" for approval, but could not easily get the "go" as the land hasn't been zoned before. But thanks to an agreement signed last December 4,  The Council approved a revised PUD that would "cap office space at 185,000 square feet and cap retail space at 140,000 square feet, including a maximum of 35,000 square feet per tenant and no more than 10,000 for “cocktail lounge entitlements."

The development will also provide an additional 1,500 homes in Central Austin. The cap on maximum number of allowed apartments that was previously set at 650 was also lifted. To read more about this developing news, you can access the original article from which this post was based here.

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