BAT Service

As part of the DAPR proposal, a rubber-tired mass transit system, called the BAT (an acronym for either “Boogie Around Town” or “Breeze Around Town”), would serve the satellite garages by transporting garage patrons to their destination. The proposed BAT would run during business, evening, and weekend hours, depending on the day of the week and for special events.

As currently proposed, the BAT route consists of a single loop around downtown that will service five garage locations and provide access to downtown destinations. It is proposed to complement and supplement portions of the ‘Dillo system, and greatly simplify it. The BAT could, of course, be expanded to serve destinations outside the CBD and be incorporated into future transit solutions.

The BAT vehicles will be designed to function and operate in a manner similar to rail cars. They will be accessed at curb-high height, and will be propelled by CNG or other green technology other than diesel. All stops and stations would be designed to resemble traditional rail stops and all BAT arrivals and departures would be predictable with reliable timing.

Information on the routes would be well advertised and shown at all stops and on the BAT. Ideally, BAT stops would have a GPS tracker to identify in real time how long the wait time is until the next BAT. This can be accomplished at a fairly low cost. The BAT would not stop at every designated stop, only those signaled by the passenger.

The conceptual route chosen as a part of this study would travel a loop around the downtown area. It is designed to be very simple and immediately obvious as to its location. This particular loop allows the greatest coverage of downtown with the most efficiency by circling the core of the CBD along Congress Avenue. Beginning at the intersection of 11th and Lavaca Street, the BAT route will travel east along 11th Street to San Jacinto Boulevard. The BAT would then continue south on San Jacinto to 4th Street and travel west on 4th Street to Lavaca Street. The BAT would then continue north on Lavaca to 11th Street, completing the loop.