Last night, the Georgetown City Council unanimously approved its first ever fixed-route bus system. The Capital Area Rural Transportation System (CARTS) will operate the service, which is anticipated to launch August 21.
The four routes will provide transit access to several destinations in Georgetown, such as Lone Star Circle of Care, Southwestern University, Georgetown Recreation Center, St. David’s Hospital and the River Park Conference Center and Hotel.
In 2010, Georgetown became part of the Austin urbanized area and the city was no longer eligible for CARTS’ rural service. Capital Metro and Georgetown then entered an agreement by which CARTS could still operate an on-demand service in the city.
In 2014, Capital Metro started working with the city of Georgetown to develop a Transit Development Plan that would include fixed-route bus service. The Transit Development Plan, adopted by the city of Georgetown and Capital Metro in September 2016, helped define the service in Georgetown, including routing, service hours, frequency and boundaries.
Capital Metro is working with other cities outside its service area to provide much-needed transportation service to some of the fastest growing areas in the country, including Round Rock, Pflugerville, Hutto and Buda.
