MetroRail for Pecan Street Festival? (Austin, Celeste: cost, bus, train)

[RooCeleste]

Does anyone have any inside information on the use of MetroRail for Pecan Street Festival this weekend? While the concept is good, last spring's use of it was a complete FIASCO! I'm just wondering if anyone has heard if CapMetro is going to make any changes so the train can actually be ridden to get downtown in a timely manner for the festival, or if it is even running on the weekend at all?

And please, don't turn this into a CapMetro bashing thread. I know that generally the train isn't beneficial to most and that CapMetro has more than its share of problems. I would simply like to know if anyone has heard about its use this weekend.

[someguyatx]

Good question and thanks for the reminder about the festival, hopefully the weather gods are in our favor.

[eepstein]

No bashing here, just letting you know that CapMetro looses about a million dollars every year (give or take). They have cut down on their bus routes and done some reorganization at the higher levels. I would say its unlikely they will start weekend train service anytime soon.

Originally Posted by RooCeleste

Does anyone have any inside information on the use of MetroRail for Pecan Street Festival this weekend? While the concept is good, last spring's use of it was a complete FIASCO! I'm just wondering if anyone has heard if CapMetro is going to make any changes so the train can actually be ridden to get downtown in a timely manner for the festival, or if it is even running on the weekend at all?

And please, don't turn this into a CapMetro bashing thread. I know that generally the train isn't beneficial to most and that CapMetro has more than its share of problems. I would simply like to know if anyone has heard about its use this weekend.

[CptnRn]

The website lists weekday service only, so it doesn't look like they are planning on anything for this weekend. Capital Metro Transit - Austin, Texas

What a shame!

[atxcio]

I think I heard a few months ago they were scrapping all the special weekend runs and the possible weekend regular service, at least for the time being. May have been cost or freight traffic issues, but also there isn't really capacity for major events.

[RooCeleste]

Well boo. While I rode it downtown in the spring for Pecan Street and it turned out to be a HORRIBLE decision (took 2 hours to get down there!), I was hoping they had made improvements so it would be efficient and worthwhile for the fall festival. Guess not.