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Today was the first day passengers on Capital MetroRail were required to pony up the fare.  And it was my first day to ride the train from Leander to MLK, which is the transfer point for the shuttle bus to UT.  I took the 7:54 a.m. train. There were heaps of Capital Metro personnel, as well as police officers, at each station to help people buy their tickets and board the train.  Moreover, unlike San Francisco, where wrestling with the ticket machines is a major challenge, Capital Metro's ticket machines are easy to use.  I particularly like the fact that you can use a credit card to pay for a variety of ticket options. The load factor on the 7:54 was approximately 20 to 25 per cent when the train left Leander.  It rose to approximately 50 to 60 per cent at Lakeland, which is the first stop after Leander, where it appeared to stay until MLK, when many if not most of the passengers detrained to go to the Capitol or UT. The train is more comfortable than the express bus that I have been taking to UT.  The lighting, color scheme, seats, etc. make for a comfortable and pleasing environment.  The wide doorways make entering and exiting the train convenient.  The panoramic windows are great for viewing the country and city side as the train rolls toward Austin.  The noise level from the engine, as well as the track noise, is muted.  It was hardly noticeable.  The train departed on time and arrived at all its stops on time. And the bus coordination went off like clockwork. The route is truly over the hill and through the dale.  The track winds this way and that way.  If one was not able to see out of the train and only had a compass to look at, he or she might think that they were on a warship that was zigzagging to avoid an enemy submarine.  As a result the speed, especially in several areas, is not much greater than I can achieve on my bicycle.  That's probably over stating it a bit, but the route is not a high speed line by any stretch of the imagination.  Accordingly, the train does not shave nearly as much time off the commute from Leander to UT that it might if the line could handle higher speeds. The train makes it possible for me to sleep an extra 20 minutes.  The express bus from Leander to UT, which departs at 7:25 a.m., takes 73 minutes to get to UT, which it does easily on a good day.  The train and bus combination takes 62 minutes.  Depending where a passenger is going on the UT campus, the express bus can be as quick as the train and shuttle bus.  I suspect, however, on inclement days, when traffic in Austin really gets tied up, that the train and shuttle bus will beat the pants off the express bus.  It is interesting to note that Capital Metro has not change the express bus schedule from Leander and Lakeland.
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