Welcome to Austin! You'll need to go places. This guide can help you get there.
Like almost everywhere else in the United States, driving is the most popular form of transportation in Austin. The city's transportation network reflects that by catering mainly to cars and trucks. But political momentum has been shifting to prioritize a wider range of options.
Still, Austin exists in a state where highways are king. The wide open roads make more land accessible for development, incentivizing sprawling neighborhoods with more affordable homes but higher costs of transportation.
For now, about 70% of people in Austin take a car, truck or van to work, according to Census estimates. The number used to be higher, but since the pandemic, 23% of Austinites work from home. About 2.5% commute by public transit. Less than 1% of people bike to work in Austin.
This guide ends with driving advice and a breakdown of highways you'll want to know. You can jump ahead with the menu below. But first, let's explore some other ways to get around Austin.
- Walking
- Public transit
- Bikes and scooters
- Ridesharing and taxis
- Pedicabs
- Driving
- Parking
- Toll tags
- Highways you should know
Walking
Austin has about 2,800 miles of sidewalks. But sometimes they mysteriously end. Some 1,500 miles of sidewalks are still missing. At the current rate of construction, it would take about a century to build the missing sidewalks.
The city's 68 miles of urban trails — wide, paved trails that are usually away from traffic — can offer a pleasant alternative to strolling next to cars, especially when it's hot outside. Austin is building about five miles of new urban trails per year, part of a citywide plan approved in 2023.
Austin's most heavily used trail is the Ann and Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail around Lady Bird Lake. The 10-mile trail is largely used for recreation, but it's also a way to get around Austin near the lake.
For a north-south route, the Violet Crown Trail starts at Zilker Park and winds south to Slaughter Lane. Parts of the trail are still rugged and not easy to walk. Other sections are sidewalks next to busy roads. But the Violet Crown Trail is a continuous 11-mile trail, with the completion of a segment in Sunset Valley in 2023.
The Walnut Creek Trail system is not entirely connected, but the Southern Walnut Creek Trail in East Austin is almost nine miles long, and the Northern Walnut Creek Trail in North Austin is 4.4 miles. The city is building new sections and eventually plans to have a continuous 19-mile path for people to walk or bike.
The Shoal Creek Trail is one of the city's oldest trails. The four-mile path goes from Lady Bird Lake to 38 1/2 Street.
Public transit
Austin's public transit is run by Capital Metro. Besides Austin, CapMetro's service area includes Jonestown, Lago Vista, Leander, Manor, Point Venture, San Leanna, Precinct Two of Travis County and the Anderson Mill area of Williamson County.
CapMetro operates about 60 bus routes. You can use CapMetro's Trip Planner to plot your course. Some people prefer Google Maps or other third-party apps like Transit, which is available for both iPhone and Android.
Riding the bus starts at $1.25 for a non-discounted fare. You can save money by purchasing a day, week or month pass.
People from homes with low incomes or those enrolled in certain social service programs can apply to be eligible for Equifare — a reduced fare tier. Seniors, military ID holders not in uniform and people with disabilities can get an even sharper discount.
CapMetro offers something called "fare capping," which means you won't be charged after you spend the equivalent amount of a daily pass in one day or a monthly pass in one month. Fare capping only works if CapMetro knows how much you've paid already, so you have to use an Amp Card or the CapMetro app to take advantage of the benefit.
"Draw all the one-seat transit routes leading from your home on a map," transit user Tom Wald recommended. "If you can take off a weekday, use the day to explore what you can, only by transit and walking."
CapMetro is not a 24-hour transit service. Most routes run from around 5 a.m. or 6 a.m. to midnight or 1 a.m., but the schedules can vary a lot. For late-night rides, the transit agency has five Night Owl buses operating from midnight to 3 a.m. They all start at 6th Street and follow different routes out of downtown.
CapMetro Rapid (formerly MetroRapid) routes — the 801 and 803 — have more frequent routes with fewer stops. You can board from all doors, and the transit agency tries to provide real-time arrival information. Sometimes, the buses don't show up. Or they get bunched together. CapMetro is working to build two more Rapid routes, but they won't be up and running until 2025.
CapMetro Rail (formerly MetroRail) is Austin's commuter rail service. The train costs $3.50 and runs six days a week — Monday through Saturday — along a 32-mile track from the Austin Convention Center downtown, through East Austin and then northwest to North Austin and Leander.
Sometimes, CapMetro will run extra trains for special events, like during South by Southwest or if there's a soccer match at Q2 Stadium, which is the home of the Red Line's newest station.
Rail mainly caters to people commuting to daytime jobs on weekdays in the city. The schedule reflects that with trains every half-hour or so in the mornings. By the afternoon, waits for a southbound train to downtown can span an hour or more. But if you want to go out on a Friday, CapMetro does offer rail service until about 1:30 a.m.
Pickup is CapMetro's on-demand transit service, meant to fill the gaps in areas without fixed-route service. You use a smartphone app to summon a shuttle bus that's supposed to arrive within 15 minutes and take you anywhere within a specific pickup zone. Pickup buses aren't always on time. In some cases, they fail to meet CapMetro's standards. But the transit agency has been trying to improve service.
CapMetro Access is a federally-required paratransit service for people with a disability or medical condition that prevents them from using the regular bus service. Passengers reserve rides on a shared shuttle bus for point-to-point service. Riders don't know exactly when the bus will show up. They have to be ready to board within a 30-minute window.
Other public transit services operated by CapMetro include:
- The UT Shuttle: Open to the general public, too, but it has reduced frequency when school's out for summer.
- CapMetro Express: A limited-stop commuter bus from downtown, the Texas State Capitol, UT and Park & Rides to North Austin, Northwest Austin, Leander and Manor. Fares start at $3.50.
- CapMetro Vanpool: Basically, a carpooling service where groups of four to 12 people who work at the same place can lease a passenger van on a month-to-month basis, insurance included.
The local transportation management association Movability offers transportation services like SchoolPool, which helps parents coordinate carpools for their kids. Movability can help employers buy bulk CapMetro transit passes at a discount and track their usage.
If you're traveling farther out, the Capital Area Rural Transportation System — CARTS — runs intercity bus service to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA), Bastrop, Bertram, Burnet, Georgetown, Liberty Hill, Lockhart, Luling, Marble Falls, Round Rock, San Marcos, Texas State University, La Grange, Giddings, Paige, Smithville and Elgin. One-way rides cost between $2 and $6.
CARTS buses share some stops with Greyhound, Capital Metro and Austin's tiny Amtrak station, so you can transfer between services.
Bikes and scooters
Austin has a 260-mile network of protected bike lanes and trails dubbed the "All Ages and Abilities Bicycle Priority Network."
The network has been slowly growing. In 2023, the city council adopted a plan to build at least 10 miles of protected bike lanes per year. Long term, Austin wants to add at least 800 miles of bike lanes. The price tag is more than $1 billion.
Right now, Austin's bicycle infrastructure ranges from off-street bike paths to protected bike lanes to a stripe of white paint on the side of the road. Perceptions about safety are high on the list of reasons why 99% of Austinites don't commute by bicycle.
But you can chart a course along safe paths. The city has a map that ranks bike routes on a scale from "high-comfort" (mostly protected bike lanes or those with a space between cars and cyclists) to "extremely low-comfort", which aren't recommended for bicycle travel but you could theoretically use if you have no choice.
You can bring your bike with you on CapMetro buses or trains.
CapMetro BikeShare lets you rent bikes by the minute, but you have to return the bicycle to any station when you're done with it. CapMetro has almost 80 stations around town. The bikes have electric motors to help people pedal. CapMetro plans to grow the number of bike stations to 300 by 2034, so they should start popping up in different neighborhoods. Right now, they're mostly concentrated around downtown, UT, and parts of East Austin.
Dockless electric scooters and electric mopeds are available to rent from two companies: Lime and Bird. The city will let you ride scooters on the sidewalk "if done in a safe and respectful manner." But scooters aren't allowed on certain parks or trails, including Austin's most popular trail: The Ann and Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail around Lady Bird Lake.
The city recently adopted new rules that reduce the number of scooters available downtown, reduce speeds at night and assign specific scooter parking zones.
The University of Texas, whose main campus covers 431 acres of Central Austin, has its own scooter rules. Scoters can only be operated where bikes are allowed. They have to be parked at bike racks or at UT Austin's designated scooter parking areas. When the Texas Longhorns football team plays or during other major events, scooters are not allowed in certain areas. Break the rules, and you could get fined.
Whether you're on a bike or a scooter, cyclist Travis Stone recommends using the Pointz app for navigating your route rather than Google. He suggests trying different bike routes to get to the same place to find out which is best for you.
E-bikes are increasingly popular, especially since Austin Energy began offering significant rebates. You can pay upfront at one of 34 stores and then wait weeks to receive your rebate in the mail.
Here's how much you can get back:
- A $500-$999 e-bike qualifies for a $200 rebate.
- A $1,000-$1,999 e-bike gets a $400 rebate.
- A $2,000+ e-bike is worth a $600 rebate.
If you're riding across Austin on a bike, one of the most challenging barriers is I-35. The best ways to cross the interstate are at Hancock Center, Manor Road and Fourth Street, cyclist Kelsey Huse said. The Fourth Street crossing is getting a new traffic signal in June, so people on foot or bike won't have to wait to speed through a gap in traffic along the busy I-35 frontage road.
Ridesharing and taxis
Austin has three main taxi companies: ATX COOP Taxi, Central City Taxi and zTrip, which lets you order a ride with their app. Various other limo, charter van and low-speed electric taxis are licensed by the city.
Uber and Lyft both operate in Austin, but they're not the only ridesharing companies in town. Wridz is based in Austin and doesn't do surge pricing, but the company doesn't have as many drivers.
SendaRide provides non-emergency medical transportation. Parents can get their kids a ride with companies like HopSkipDrive or Kidcaboo. Wingz lets people book rides to and from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
Robot taxi companies have been lured to Austin's streets as a test bed for their autonomous vehicle technology by the state legislature, which stripped Texas cities of the authority to regulate driverless vehicles.
GM-controlled Cruise ran autonomous taxis in Austin, to the great frustration of first responders. But the company suspended operations nationwide in late 2023 after a pedestrian was dragged by a Cruise vehicle in San Francisco. The federal government launched an investigation, and the company said it needed to "rebuild public trust." Cruise has said it one day plans to resume operations in Austin.
More recently, Google's self-driving car project Waymo has begun testing vehicles in Austin without anyone behind the wheel. The company's long-term goal is to run robot taxis on city streets. You can sign up to be notified when they do.
We are excited to begin driving with no human at the wheel in #Austin tomorrow! The @Waymo Driver continues to impress after months of careful testing, and this milestone brings us a step closer to launching in our 4th ride-hail city. Check out Austin through our eyes: pic.twitter.com/x75rTdtrw5
— Saswat Panigrahi (@saswat101) March 5, 2024
Volkswagen's ADMT and AV Ride have also tested self-driving cars in Austin. But they don't provide service to the public yet. It's hard to know exactly which companies are experimenting with driverless technology in Austin, partly because autonomous vehicle companies don't have to notify the city, county or state.
Pedicabs
If you're trudging around downtown and just need to rest, you might be invited to hop on a pedicab. They don't have meters like a taxi, so you should negotiate a price with your pedicab driver before going anywhere.
The cost of a pedicab is usually much higher than renting a scooter, so you're paying for the luxury. Many of Austin's pedicabs have electric motors to help the driver tug you to your destination.
Pedicabs are regulated by the city, which limits the number of pedicabs to under 300. Drivers must get a chauffeur's permit, and the bikes can't have missing spokes, rust, flaking paint or sharp edges. Pedicabs have to be equipped with lights visible from 500 feet and must be able to brake within a specific distance.
Pedicabs are allowed to operate in an area bordered by 38 1/2 Street to the north, Oltorf Street to the south, MoPac to the west and Pleasant Valley Road to the east. That includes all of downtown, the UT Austin campus area and large portions of South Austin and East Austin. You'll see them a lot during special events like SXSW or Austin City Limits.
Driving
Most of Austin was built after cars became widely available following World War II. So development — especially outside Central Austin — tends to prioritize the automobile: spread out, low-density housing, strip malls, wide roads, and sidewalks that suddenly end for no apparent reason.
So, like most Americans, a majority of Austinites drive to get around.
Besides services like Google Maps and Waze, there are other online tools that can help you find out what's happening with traffic.
Austin traffic cameras posted at intersections around town offer publicly viewable still images updated every few minutes. The city says the cameras don't record video, so you can't request a recording of a car crash for your insurance company. But you can see what's happening right now.
TxDOT's highway cameras can be sometimes helpful to find out why traffic is stopped. They're often turned off or show static.
The city of Austin has a map of traffic crashes and other incidents, You can also view it as a list.
Parking
Parking on the street costs money in most of Central Austin. You have to find an electronic kiosk on the block, insert cash or card, and wait for the painfully slow computer embedded inside to sell you a ticket. The cost starts at $2 an hour. The hourly rate goes up the longer you park. People who work downtown can apply to get a discount.
A far easier way to pay for parking is using the Park ATX app. You load money into the app's "wallet," then find the parking kiosk and enter the kiosk number in the app. If you leave your parking spot, you can be refunded for any time you didn't use. Just tell the app you're leaving.
The city says you can park free for 15 minutes twice a day using the ParkATX app coupon codes FREE15ATX1 and FREE15ATX2.
Don't park on Sixth Street between Red River and Brazos Streets from Thursday to Sunday between the hours of 9 p.m. and 3 a.m. The street often gets shut down for people going to the bars, so you'll get towed if you try to find a spot during those hours.
Toll tags
Austin has more than half a dozen toll roads. Unlike some states, the city's toll roads never have people sitting in a booth to take your money.
Instead, you can pay one of two ways: with an electronic tag in your vehicle or through the mail. Cameras will take a photo of your license plate and send you the bill.
TxTag, which is operated by the Texas Department of Transportation, is the most common toll tag. But TxTag customers have had so many billing problems through the years — people being charged twice, or getting hundreds of dollars in late fees — that some drivers opt for other electronic tags.
The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (CTRMA), which builds and funds toll roads in Austin, also accepts NTTA’s TollTag, HCTRA’s EZ TAG, Kansas Turnpike Authority's K-Tag, Oklahoma Turnpike Authority's Pikepass, Florida Turnpike Enterprise's SunPass, and BancPass/PlusPass. You don't necessarily need to live in these places to buy their toll tags.
If you stroll through the parking lot of the CTRMA's headquarters, you will likely spot some of these non-TxTag toll tags.
Highways you should know
Texas loves to build highways. Most of the state's transportation budget is constitutionally required to be spent on major roadways.
But the state's freeways have some quirks you should know if you're from out of state.
Frontage roads run alongside most highways in Texas. In other places, they're known as access roads or service roads. They're roads that run parallel to highways and provide access to cross streets and businesses or homes on the side of the highway.
Turnaround lanes are dedicated U-turn lanes on frontage roads that allow you to go in the opposite direction without having to wait for a traffic signal. The turnaround lanes go under or over the main lanes of the highway.
I-35
"The key to happiness in Austin is to never, ever drive on I-35," political columnist Molly Ivins famously told a newcomer to the city in 2005. The quote has aired so many times on KUT as a Sonic ID, that it's become embedded in the city's collective psyche.
That's because I-35 is the busiest road in Austin — a north-south thoroughfare with some 200,000 vehicles traveling per day right through the middle of the city.
The highway opened in 1962 along what used to be East Avenue, a dividing line between white and non-white Austin that had been enshrined in the city code as a racial segregation border. The construction of the highway literally hardened that barrier and cut off connections between East Austin and downtown.
TxDOT is launching a controversial decade-long project to expand the highway along an eight-mile stretch through Central Austin. Work has already begun to add lanes to I-35 in North Austin and South Austin.
MoPac
The north-south highway on the other side of town is officially known as Loop 1, even though it's not a loop.
Most people call it MoPac, named after the Missouri-Pacific Railroad line that follows the highway north of Lady Bird Lake. Since 1982, the railroad has been owned by Union Pacific, but the MoPac name stuck.
MoPac is mostly a three-lane road that takes you from the southern edge of Austin up to the northern limits of the city. The road gets busy but often has fewer semi-trucks because it's not an interstate highway.
In 2017, the CTRMA added one toll lane in each direction along an 11-mile stretch of MoPac from Lady Bird Lake to Parmer Lane. The toll rates go up and down based on how busy traffic is, with the goal of keeping speeds above 45 miles an hour. The more expensive the toll, the fewer people will use the lane.
During rush hour, tolls on the MoPac Express Lanes could easily reach $15 or more.
The northern end of MoPac, north of Parmer Lane, is a tollway for all lanes of traffic (except the frontage road).
SH 130
Texas State Highway 130 (SH 130) was constructed as an alternative to I-35 through Austin. A 41-mile section of the toll road opened in 2012 as the first privately developed highway in Texas.
The speed limit is 85 miles per hour, the highest posted speed limit in the United States.
U.S. 183
U.S. 183 runs from South Texas to South Dakota. The highway roughly cuts diagonally across Austin, from the southeast to the northwest.
In 2020, the CTRMA widened an eight-mile stretch of the road from U.S. 290 to SH 71 — dubbed 183 South — and tolled the main lanes. People who want to avoid the toll can drive along the frontage roads.
In North Austin, the CTRMA is building two tolled express lanes in each direction along U.S. 183. Like the MoPac Express Lanes, the tolls on the 183 North Project will go up or down depending on the volume of traffic, with the goal of keeping things moving at least 45 miles an hour. The nine-mile road is scheduled to be completed in 2026.
Further north along U.S. 183, an 11-mile toll road called 183A offers a bypass of the non-tolled lanes, reaching into the suburban communities of Cedar Park and Leander.
U.S. 290
U.S. 290 is an east-west road that reaches from the Texas Hill Country through Austin and all the way to Houston. But the highway can be confusing because it overlaps with other roads.
In South Austin, U.S. 290 overlaps with Ben White Boulevard and SH 71. At I-35, U.S. 290 follows the interstate north for about eight miles before branching off and continuing eastward. To differentiate, U.S. 290 West is west of I-35. U.S. 290 East is ... you guessed it, east of I-35.
U.S. 290 East is a six-mile toll road stretching from U.S. 183 (just east of I-35) to SH 130. The toll project added three tolled mainlanes and three non-tolled lanes in each direction.
A major highway widening project is underway now on U.S. 290 in southwest Austin. The Oak Hill Parkway, as TxDOT calls it, will add up to three nonstop lanes in each direction and two to three frontage road lanes in each direction, among a list of other major changes.
The project is controversial for ripping out hundreds of old hardwood trees, after which the neighborhood Oak Hill was named, and causing other environmental damage.
State Highway 71
If you were to overlay SH 71 and U.S. 290 on top of each other on a map, they almost make an X through the city, although they share the same path through part of South Austin.
SH 71 — part of which is referred to as Ben White Boulevard — runs from the geographic center of Texas to the Bay City area in South Texas. SH 71 is a popular route to the airport and provides a path to I-10 on the way to Houston.
A 4-mile section of SH 71 near the airport has an optional toll lane. The price for driving with a normal car or truck is $1.11 with a TxTag.
State Highway 45
SH 45 might be one of Austin's most confusing tollways, because it has three different names and some segments don't connect.
SH 45 North connects U.S. 183 in Cedar Park to MoPac and I-35. SH 45 Southeast goes from I-35 in far southern Travis County to SH 130. And SH 45 Southwest takes you from MoPac to FM 1626.
Now, Hays County is studying whether to build a connection from SH 45 Southwest to SH 45 Southwest. The SH 45 Gap Project is controversial for cutting through sensitive lands and expanding the region's reliance on highways.
