Downtown Station - Austin, Texas

Allan J.

Love, love, love taking the CapMetro train!

Stations that I have been to are consistently clean, well maintained, safe, well signed for arriving/departing trains, and SO easy to use.

Definitely a city transit service that is remarkably underused, in my opinion.

Trains themselves are very clean and well maintained, as well as staffed by knowledgeable, friendly, and helpful staff consistently, on every ride.

I love being able to board and ride wherein I do not have to be annoyed or hassled by traffic or with driving. It is easy to relax, read, listen to music on earbuds, or even work or write.

My experience always finds the trains to be on time, on schedule.

And every so often, I meet a new acquaintance, as the other riders are respectful, kind, and friendly too.

Alex G.

New year eve service on photo and videos. CapMetro workers saw the 2 carts trams do not fit all the people after fireworks but did nothing and no service was added.

Seetharaman K.

Good service. Understandable that frequency is very less. Would be good to have instructions clear for new comers. You can try the rail route for an experience

GigaTheProtogen

The new station is pretty nice and at first I thought the train was pretty useless until I actually rode it, it's pretty good for getting up north quick, way faster than the rapid busses. Convenient stations close to my favourite places (The Cresent shopping centre across from Crestview station and the domain with Kramer station not too far) Though why they added a new station for the Q2 stadium when there's already one less than a block away I'll never understand. Hoping someday they'll double track and electrify the line though

T H.

Edit: keep in mind this was 3 years ago. There have been many changes and a complete overhaul of this station. Machines take CC now.

Ticket machines don't accept credit cards any more and to top it off it doesn't give $bill change only coins. Yes it is written on the front beneath the screen. Instructions should be in one location not scattered over the face of the machine and screen. Instead of change it gives you a ticket with credit that expires in 14 days. Why 14 days? My $20 bill you took is good forever. Other than that I actually enjoy the train and appreciate the cleanliness and A/C. It would be nice if it ran earlier on Saturdays (starts at 4:41pm from Downtown in the summer anyway), but I'm sure the ridership doesn't warrant it.
Be forewarned the police and an employee frequently ride and check fare tickets. I witnessed 3 violations being written in just 1 hour. That makes for an expensive fare for such a short trip.

Reese R.

This is the best way to travel to Austin from the northern suburbs. I rarely drive to Austin anymore, I just take the train from Leander. However it's not as quick as it looks. It takes a little over an hour to get from Leander station to downtown. I could have sworn it used to be faster but the train slows down a lot, or even stops completely.

Karen L.

It's extremely crowded during rush hour. If you live south of Howard Station, you aren't getting a seat in the early part of the morning. There are only two cars, and the schedule could be more flexible (like the MetroRapid!)--at the moment, trains leave every 30 minutes, and service stops after 6:30 on weekdays : ( : (. The wifi is slow with lots of people accessing it at the same time, and there are dead spots of connectivity. The parking lot at Howard Station is large, but it still isn't enough! And there aren't enough places for bikes on board (well, there are barely enough places for people)!

All of that said--I'm glad it exists, it's close to my apartment complex, I don't have to drive, it reduces traffic, it saves me gas money, I like catching a glimpse of it if it passes nearby when I'm not riding, and I can't wait to see it expanded.

David O.

The downtown "station" is little more than a basic platform that was done on the cheap and looks it. The MetroRail line is a joke--a toy train that doesn't carry the ridership that it should because it was designed NOT to. Small cars with a few short segments of double tracking means that it's impossible to increase frequency of trains over its current capacity. Oh I could go on about all that's wrong with this system. All you need to do is ride it and see how it rocks and jerks from side to side, and how the wifi doesn't work most of the time, and how many commuters have to jam in to ride because it's packed by the time it gets to Howard Station in the morning. Ride it if you have no other options.