Austin airport advisory group recommends enhanced bus, mass transit to AUS

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The City of Austin's Airport Advisory Commission passed a recommendation Wednesday that encouraged enhanced public transit access to the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS).

Earlier this month, the City of Austin, CapMetro and Austin Transit Partnership formally adopted a Phase 1 light rail service route for Project Connect, the city's mass transit program in the works.

Under that design, the guaranteed route would run from 38th Street to Oltorf Street to Yellow Jacket Lane. While the promised route doesn't go directly to AUS, the now-approved recommendation does prioritize extending it from Yellow Jacket Lane to the airport, should there be sufficient funding available.

On Wednesday, the commission voted in favor of requesting the city, CapMetro and ATP "propose transportation alternatives that extend the hours of the High-Frequency Route 20 Manor Road/Riverside Drive bus" to AUS. Backup documents cited more than 6,000 AUS employees, 260 daily flights and more than 20,000 daily commercial airline passengers as motivating factors behind the recommendation.

It also comes as AUS' 2040 Master Plan calls for increase promotion of mass transit services to the airport. The plan's public transit push is supported as a means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, single-occupancy vehicle use and helping maintain air quality standards, per backup documents.

"The thrust of this...is we just need to be better connecting our transit systems to the airport, full stop," said Patrick Rose, secretary for the Airport Advisory Commission.