The political push for new public transit began in earnest Monday as several groups, including some of the Austin area's largest businesses, leading nonprofits and elected officials announced the formation of the advocacy group Transit For Austin.

The coalition still is in its infancy, but it appears to be aimed at pushing Austin voters to go big on a transit bond next year. It is unclear exactly how much the bond package would total, but some observers believe it could be the city's largest bond request, topping $1 billion.



"When it comes to transit, we know we need to do something big and bold," state Sen. Kirk Watson told the American-Statesman. "Now the process will continue so that we will know whether or not in November 2020 we ought to have some form of election and what that would look like."

How the city will get there is probably by asking voters to approve a bond referendum that could easily be a far more ambitious plan than the 2014 rail bond package that voters defeated.

Even as the call for more robust dedicated public transit has grown, census data showed that in the past five years commuters largely have rebuffed it. The percentage of commuters driving to work alone grew slightly from 74.1% of the city's workforce to 75.4%. Meanwhile, the share of Austin's workforce using public transportation has fallen from 4.3% to 3.2% since 2014, according to the 2018 census data. Capital Metro has seen increases in its passengers since it implemented large changes to its routes in 2018.

Regardless, neither of the trends has affected what appears to be an "if you build it, they will come" approach to public transit.

The Austin City Council and Capital Metro's board are poised to make transportation the leading issue of 2020. To that end, the leaders from both groups will begin working together on a possible transit bond package in a joint meeting Oct. 30 at the Austin Convention Center.

Capital Metro board President Wade Cooper said firms contracted by the agency will present the results of studies on two proposed dedicated transit lines to the board and the City Council. The studies could include recommendations on whether the city should build rail lines, dedicated bus lines, tunnels or elevated tracks on those lines.

"We will be working together over the next several months to come together with a joint decision on what we take to the voters in November (2020)," Cooper said.

The city and the transit authority both approved major transportation plans this year. Capital Metro's Project Connect envisions a series of transit lines that could cost $10.5 billion. The city's strategic mobility plan calls for reducing the number of solo commuters to half of Austin's workforce.

Transit for Austin is a wing of the Austin Community Foundation, a nonprofit founded in 1977 that has about $230 million in assets, according to tax documents. Groups that now count themselves as members of the coalition include the Austin Chamber of Commerce, the Austin school district, Dell Technologies and Ascension Seton.

Transit for Austin's connection with the Austin Community Foundation will prevent it from campaigning for a transit bond proposal, if one materializes. Group spokeswoman Margaret Justus said another organization will have to be created for that purpose.