CapMetro developing 2035 plan to analyze next decade of transit.

AUSTIN (KXAN) — As Austin continues to grow and evolve, the city's transit authority is working to deliver the blueprint for the next decade of mass transportation development.

CapMetro is seeking community input and feedback on the transit agency's Transit Plan 2035, which serves as a tool to analyze current system operations and means of updating services or infrastructure down the road. On Thursday, CapMetro leadership spoke with Austin-based transportation management association Movability about what the plan will encompass.

While CapMetro isn't required to develop a transit plan, officials said it serves as a best practice to evaluate travel behavior within the current system and factor in community input on future operations. It also would mark the first plan update since before the coronavirus pandemic — all the more reason for a revisit given how much travel behavior has changed since, said Dottie Watkins, president and CEO of CapMetro.

"In a city like Austin and a region like Central Texas that is growing so much so fast, we have to do this in order to be able to keep up with all the puts and takes that are happening, all the different developments that are going on," Watkins said.

The plan analyzes both immediate five-year and overall 10-year service operations, with the first five years centered on more actionable items to be done in the near-term future while the last five years can be a bit fuzzier and malleable.

The plan is covering a transformative timespan for transportation projects in Austin, with the 10-year period running in tandem with expansions to Interstate 35 and the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, as well as the construction of Project Connect's initial phase of light rail. Even so, Sharmila Mukherjee — CapMetro's executive vice president and chief strategic planning and development officer — said the 2035 transit plan's focus will pertain to improving CapMetro's current system operations to complement Project Connect's program.

CapMetro will host a community night open house on Oct. 10 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Millennium Youth Complex, located at 1156 Hargrave St.