Latest / Austin Signal / Want to avoid traffic in Austin? Try commuting on Mondays

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Want to avoid traffic in Austin? Try commuting on Mondays · Austin Signal

0:10
This is Austin Signal.
0:11
Thank you for tuning in.
0:12
First off, thanks for being here.
0:14
But second, how's the traffic around you
0:16
looking right now?
0:17
KUT's transportation reporter Nathan Bernier
0:19
will join the show to surprise us with
0:22
the best days to get on the road here in
0:23
Austin. Plus, the Austin Studio Tour
0:26
continues this weekend at galleries, studios,
0:29
and homes on the east and west sides of the
0:31
city. With so much to look at, wouldn't it be
0:33
a bit helpful to be chauffeured around to
0:35
take in some of Austin's best art?
0:37
Well, we thought so, so we hopped on a bus
0:39
with 40 of our new best friends.
0:41
Come and take a trip with us.
0:43
The Austin Signal is a production of KUT
0:45
News, hosted by Jerry Quijano.
0:48
And comedian John Mulaney is in Austin for
0:50
a run of four shows starting tonight.
0:53
We will hear some of his conversation with
0:55
Texas Standard.
0:56
That's next on Austin Signal.
1:08
Howdy out there.
1:09
Thank you for spending part of your Thursday
1:11
here with us.
1:12
It's November 13th and you're listening to
1:14
Austin Signal on KUT News 90.5
1:18
on the KUT app and online at
1:20
KUT.org.
1:22
We are listener powered public radio.
1:25
A quick headline before we dive into today's
1:28
show, the city of Austin is still set to
1:30
adopt an amended budget late next week,
1:32
even after the city decided to cancel its
1:34
first meeting that was originally scheduled
1:36
for today.
1:38
Austin City Council members were set to begin
1:40
making changes to the city budget after
1:42
residents voted down the property tax rate
1:44
increase known as Prop Q.
1:46
City leaders decided to cancel the meeting
1:47
last night after receiving a complaint
1:50
about a possible violation of the Texas Open
1:52
Meetings Act.
1:53
The city will instead begin the process this
1:56
upcoming Tuesday morning.
1:57
That meeting is going to start at 9 o'clock.
2:00
We've got more local news for you.
2:02
That is over at KUT.org.
2:05
Thank you for spending part of your Thursday
2:06
here with us on Austin Signal.
2:08
Hope you're having a nice one.
2:10
If you drove into your office or your school
2:12
parking lot this morning, was it a rough or
2:15
possibly annoying ride in?
2:17
Or perhaps you've noticed that your bus tends
2:19
to run a little behind schedule on Thursdays
2:22
and Tuesdays too, now that you're thinking
2:24
about it a little bit more.
2:25
Well, what's happening there?
2:27
Well, when we have a transportation question
2:29
here at Austin Signal, we look to one man and
2:31
one man only. That is KUT's transportation
2:33
reporter, Nathan Bernier.
2:35
Nathan, thank you for joining us today.
2:36
Thank you for having me, Jerry.
2:38
So, you know, we've got a little bit better
2:40
idea of when traffic is at its worst
2:42
here in Austin and other cities in the state
2:44
and the country. I wanted to ask first, where
2:46
did this data come from and who did the
2:48
study?
2:49
Texas A&M Transportation Institute.
2:51
They are a research organization
2:54
at Texas A& M University.
2:56
They study all kinds of transportation stuff.
2:58
And every year they come out with this, they
3:00
call it their mobility
3:02
report, urban mobility report, where they
3:05
look at traffic data, really at
3:07
almost 500 cities nationwide.
3:10
And they're, they're getting their data from
3:12
a company called INRIX, which provides
3:14
traffic data to the city of Austin as well.
3:16
And some federal data.
3:17
So they kind of combine it together and they
3:19
come out with this report.
3:20
And a lot of it is not really geared towards
3:22
your typical person.
3:23
It's more like traffic planners and highway
3:25
designers, but this one component about
3:27
what time congestion happened
3:30
in 2024 seemed to me to be like the most
3:32
interesting to your everyday person who's got
3:34
to drive into work.
3:35
And speaking of an everyday person, you know,
3:37
I have a new roommate. My brother joined me
3:39
this weekend because he started a job here in
3:41
Austin. And he asked me on Sunday, what's the
3:43
traffic going to be like on tomorrow?
3:44
And I said, well, I'm guessing Monday is
3:46
probably going to be the worst day of the
3:47
week generally.
3:48
But after reading your story over at kut.org,
3:51
I found that that's not the case at all.
3:53
So taking a look at Austin, how does traffic
3:55
generally play out around here?
3:56
So Mondays can be bad.
3:57
I'll just say this is an average over the
3:58
entire year. So you never know, right?
4:00
Each day is different, right?
4:01
I had a really bad traffic day on Monday and
4:03
I knew this story was going up and I was like
4:06
Of course it had to be bad today, but no,
4:09
generally speaking, on average, Monday is
4:12
the best day to drive into work and it
4:15
has the least traffic congestion
4:17
in the mornings and afternoons.
4:18
Again, that can vary day to day and it can
4:20
vary from location to location too, but just
4:22
looking at like the region wide and that's
4:24
been overall my experience driving on
4:26
Mondays. They tend to be better and Fridays
4:28
also tend to a little bit better as well.
4:31
It varies from city to city.
4:32
The Fridays aren't always better in Houston
4:34
and in San Antonio and Dallas.
4:36
But across the board, at least according to
4:38
this data, Mondays tend to be a little bit
4:40
better. And of course, the speculation is
4:42
just because of the hybrid work week.
4:43
No one wants to drive into work on a Monday,
4:45
so if you can't choose, you choose another
4:46
day.
4:47
And you know I took a little walk before we
4:48
talked here on Austin Signal and what do you
4:50
know there's traffic out on the drag building
4:53
up and then made me think like what's going
4:54
on you know but as you're saying everything
4:56
is a little bit different in every city as
4:58
you mentioned is a little bit.
5:00
What do we know about the amount of remote
5:02
workers that we have here in Austin and kind
5:04
of across central Texas.
5:05
So it's hard to say for sure, but there was a
5:07
study conducted by an organization called
5:10
Moveability Austin.
5:11
And they're a transportation demand
5:12
management association.
5:13
Basically what they do is they try and get
5:14
employers to encourage
5:17
people not to drive
5:19
to work alone in a car.
5:21
Because the more single occupancy
5:23
vehicles on the road, the more traffic on the
5:26
roads. And so as
5:28
part of that, they do a survey every year.
5:31
And this year, they're broadening it
5:34
to include more counties. But further.
5:35
Most recent one they did Austin, Williamson,
5:38
and Hays counties.
5:39
And they found that Travis County has more
5:41
than half of employees who
5:43
responded to the survey and the sample size
5:45
was almost a thousand.
5:46
So there is a margin of error.
5:48
But you know, a good chunk, about 60%
5:50
or so had the option to work from home at
5:52
least one day a week.
5:54
And then the percentage was lower in
5:56
Williamson County and even lower in Hays
5:58
County, it was about half.
5:59
So that's just a broad estimate.
6:01
And again, some of those folks can work from
6:02
home every day of the week. Others, maybe
6:04
they get one day off. Like a lot of state
6:05
employees, they're allowed to work from eight
6:07
hours a week.
6:08
So it varies, but that's sort of an
6:10
estimate.
6:11
Okay. We can read more about this study and
6:13
about this story over at KUT.org.
6:15
I want to say where it's Thursday and this is
6:16
the, according to this, the worst rush
6:19
hour of the week is Thursday afternoon.
6:21
So just to brace yourself.
6:21
Just to brace yourself between...
6:23
Between 4 and 6 p.m.
6:24
So if you can leave the office early today,
6:26
please do so. Save yourself a little bit of a
6:28
headache. And again, more about that story is
6:30
at KUT.org.
6:32
Nathan, I want to switch gears.
6:33
President Trump signed a bill by Congress
6:35
last night, passed by Congress, last night
6:36
ending the longest government shutdown in
6:38
U.S. History. Had a lot of ramifications,
6:40
including impacting air traffic controller
6:42
availability at airports across the country,
6:44
including here in Austin, Bergstrom.
6:46
This was obviously an added stressor, but
6:48
what kind of issues was the local airport
6:50
seeing even before the shutdown began when it
6:52
comes to air traffic controllers?
6:53
Yeah, same thing,
6:56
shortage of air traffic controllers at
6:58
the Austin Tower, the staffing targets
7:00
set by the FAA and the union calls
7:03
for 60 fully certified air traffic
7:04
controllers and they have about half that.
7:07
So as you can imagine, any job where you're
7:09
half staff, it's going to be a stressful
7:11
environment. So for at least since 2023,
7:13
those controllers have been working mandatory
7:15
six day work weeks,
7:19
anywhere from 45 to 60 hours
7:21
a week.
7:22
And so the problems that we saw before
7:24
the shutdown just were made worse
7:26
after the shutdown because you had
7:29
a slight number more of controllers
7:31
calling in sick for a number of different
7:33
reasons. It could be stress.
7:34
It could that actually their child is sick
7:36
and their wife or their husband
7:39
is the one that is getting paid and they
7:41
need to pay their mortgage.
7:42
And so, the controller maybe has to stay home
7:44
sick. This is what I was told by a union
7:45
representative.
7:46
So...
7:47
Since October 13th, there were at least four
7:50
so-called ground delays at ABIA.
7:52
And that's where the FAA restricts the number
7:55
of planes that can land per hour.
7:56
And what that means for your average traveler
7:58
is you're sitting in Newark waiting to take
8:00
off to say, we have a ground delay.
8:01
You got to wait another hour or so, just so
8:03
they can thin out the number of planes
8:05
landing and provide some relief to the tower.
8:08
Okay, well, I know that we're just digging
8:10
into it. There's a lot more, and you're gonna
8:11
be doing more reporting on that story.
8:14
So stay with us at KUT.org for the latest and
8:16
always here on Austin Signal.
8:18
We have been speaking with Nathan Bernier.
8:20
He is KUT's transportation reporter.
8:22
Again, you can find more of his reporting at
8:24
Kut.org.
8:25
Nathan, always great to chat with you.
8:27
Always great to chat with you, buddy!
8:34
Well, as I said, with news of the government
8:35
shutdown ending, The New York Times is
8:37
reporting that some folks could see SNAP
8:40
benefits fully funded in their account within
8:42
hours of the government opening up.
8:44
But despite that funding coming back, those
8:46
who are most affected could see long-term
8:48
ripple effects from not receiving a paycheck
8:50
in over a month, in addition to that
8:52
withholding of their SNAP.
8:54
Beth Corbett, VP of Government
8:56
Affairs and Advocacy at the Central Texas
8:58
Food Frank spoke to Austin signal last week.
9:01
About the long-term effects of the paused
9:03
benefits.
9:04
We also know folks have probably
9:06
racked up credit card debt, taken on
9:10
those longer term investments
9:12
that will be impacting them, not just this
9:15
month, but really into the future, and
9:17
unfortunately during the holiday season where
9:19
folks do face higher
9:21
expenses.
9:23
And it's because of these long-lasting
9:25
effects that food distribution efforts, like
9:27
those from the Central Texas Food Bank, will
9:29
continue to help families.
9:31
KUT's Katie McAfee spoke with folks earlier
9:33
this week about that help.
9:38
Jacklyn Scott shuffled into the Dove Springs
9:39
Recreation Center early in the morning.
9:42
She got in line, along with over 300
9:44
others, and waited to pick out bags of fresh
9:46
produce, eggs, milk, and other
9:48
pantry staples the Central Texas Food Bank
9:50
was giving out.
9:52
Scott said she normally would receive SNAP
9:54
benefits on November 1st, but that
9:56
day came and went.
9:57
I was supposed to get them on the first,
10:01
but we didn't get them first.
10:04
Scott said she usually receives $56
10:06
a month through SNAP.
10:08
It's already not enough to cover groceries,
10:10
but she says every little bit counts.
10:12
Plus, it allows her to shop at a store near
10:14
where she lives on her own time.
10:17
Whereas with the food bank...
10:18
I had to come a ways out here
10:20
to be here on time,
10:23
to be in line.
10:24
And it's just a bunch of stuff to go with
10:27
it, having a hustle and bustle of getting
10:29
here and then there's some lines of people,
10:31
it's a lot.
10:32
Trey Apprendick, who's been volunteering for
10:34
Central Texas Food Bank for four years, knows
10:37
this hustle and bustle firsthand.
10:39
He spent all morning carting wagons of food
10:41
from the gymnasium to people's cars.
10:44
He says it's gotten busier since the
10:46
government shutdown.
10:47
I did the one in Pflugerville last week,
10:50
and it was just at least
10:52
twice as crowded. And I'd say almost three
10:54
times as crowded as during normal
10:56
times.
10:58
So it's not surprising,
11:01
but a lot of people coming out, a lot people
11:03
in need.
11:04
This month, Central Texas Food Bank is
11:05
offering 10 more distributions, like this
11:08
one at Dove Springs Recreation Center,
11:10
than it usually does to meet the increased
11:12
need. There are roughly 270,000
11:15
people in Central Texas on SNAP, and over
11:17
74,000 federal employees in Central,
11:20
Texas that haven't received a paycheck in
11:22
over a month due to the shutdown.
11:24
In Travis County alone, there are about
11:26
87,000 who receive SNAP and
11:29
about 9,000 federal employees.
11:31
Beth Corbett with the Central Texas Food Bank
11:33
describes the service they provide as the
11:36
supplement to the supplement.
11:37
It's there to help families when there's an
11:39
unexpected bill or emergency.
11:42
Corbette says the food bank has spent an
11:43
additional $1 million each week of
11:46
the government shutdown not only to purchase
11:48
more food, but also types of food they don't
11:50
normally offer.
11:51
We're now buying things like eggs and
11:54
milk, the basics that we
11:56
might not normally under
11:59
blue skies, but doing
12:01
our best to make sure that those items are
12:03
available for families who've been impacted.
12:06
In the meantime, Scott says the food bank
12:08
will get her through Thanksgiving.
12:09
The carers gonna come in handy cuz I'm
12:12
supposed to be having my kids over
12:14
and grandkids.
12:16
She says she's gonna have a full house.
12:18
I'm Katie McAfee in Austin.
12:21
And you are listening to Austin Signal.
12:24
We are listener powered public radio.
12:27
And you can hear us at KUT News 90.5
12:30
on the KUT app.
12:31
And you could find more about the show and
12:34
find past episodes at kut.org
12:38
slash signal.
12:40
We're gonna take a short break coming up
12:41
after that. We're going to talk John Mulaney
12:44
and Austin Studio Tour.
12:46
Stay with us.
12:52
This is Austin Signal.
12:53
Thank you for spending part of your Thursday
12:55
here with us.
12:56
Let's get a quick check in with the KUT
12:58
newsroom. This comes from KUT's Trey
13:01
Schar here in central Texas.
13:02
The lack of rain has drought conditions
13:04
worsening in the Austin area.
13:06
The map out today shows all of Travis
13:08
and Williamson counties with moderate to
13:11
severe drought and extreme drought
13:13
is stretching into Hays County.
13:15
And it looks like rain is gonna stay away
13:17
until next week, but.
13:19
Extended outlooks from the Climate Prediction
13:21
Center show rainier than normal weather
13:24
ahead later this month along with
13:26
temperatures warmer than normal
13:29
Well the weather this weekend However should
13:31
be conducive to getting out and about here in
13:33
Austin and luckily so because it's the second
13:36
and final weekend of the Austin Studio
13:38
tour what's that you hear well hey in
13:41
years past weekends have been split between
13:43
East and West Austin But this year
13:45
under new leadership visits to gallery
13:47
studios and artists' homes are happening
13:49
all across the city simultaneously,
13:52
which presents kind of a problem since you,
13:54
like me, very likely only have one
13:57
body to experience it at all.
14:00
One helpful option could be a chauffeured
14:02
ride. How about a 45-seater
14:04
bus that twists and turns its way through
14:07
tiny city streets with free drinks
14:09
and flamingo koozies to boot.
14:12
Let's hop aboard and join the Art
14:14
Bus Tour.
14:20
And did you guys all meet Anthony when
14:23
he came on? Anthony's our driver today.
14:25
Let's clap for Anthony!
14:28
He is also a DJ, so
14:31
ask him about that. He always has digs after
14:33
he drives bus.
14:36
It's important that you see everything,
14:38
because you may not
14:41
appreciate it, you may appreciate it.
14:42
You may not like it.
14:44
You may love it.
14:45
You may hate it, but you have to
14:47
see it. You have to experience it to
14:49
know what you don't know and what you
14:52
do know.
14:54
I do the Art Circuit in Houston,
14:57
but the Art circuit in Austin is
14:59
a little crazy.
15:01
The few times I've tried to do it here, it's
15:03
been extremely difficult.
15:05
Because you get to a location and
15:07
it's hard to park and then hard to see
15:09
everything.
15:11
So we're on our way to Blackster Elementary,
15:14
again it's their annual showcase of
15:16
their students.
15:17
So they're going to have like drama club
15:19
there, they're gonna have what they call a
15:21
trash-in show, which is reusable
15:23
fashion, I think they're having an
15:26
auction, and a lot of visual art to
15:28
see. So we'll be there in just a couple
15:30
minutes.
15:31
Woo! You can woo, by the way.
15:34
Woo!
15:40
A lovely boy stolen from an Indian
15:42
king. She never had so sweet a
15:45
chain link.
15:46
But Janice overrun it hard with the child.
15:49
But she prefers Holtz's loving boy.
15:52
Comes to him with flowers and makes them all
15:53
her joy. And now they never meet or grow
15:56
but green, By fountain clear or
15:58
sprinkled starlet sheen.
15:59
But if they do square all their elves, Both
16:01
of you creep into acorn cups and hide them
16:03
there.
16:14
All right, we made it to a future kind
16:16
studio. Again, this is the home studio
16:19
of Elena Cortez.
16:21
She is expecting us.
16:22
She's welcoming us into her
16:24
home. I told her it was 40 people
16:27
coming into her homes.
16:29
So she's a very eclectic house.
16:31
She likes to collect things.
16:33
So expect to see bright, cool, unique things.
16:50
Did you make this already?
16:51
Yeah. All of it?
16:53
Yeah. You made everything? Mm-hmm.
16:55
Almost ready. It's all her already.
17:00
We are on our way to see
17:02
an artist collective, they're calling
17:04
themselves Pierce and Paint.
17:06
So it's a few different artists that are
17:09
all kind of working with the theme of West
17:11
Texas, so they say it's very kind of
17:13
western-y looking.
17:15
So we'll be there in about six minutes.
17:19
Woo! Okay woo girls let's go!
17:25
Thank you.
17:27
This is my fifth year.
17:29
So I say I'm a recovering interior designer,
17:32
turned artist.
17:33
So I've been figuring it out and growing slow
17:35
and steady every year, and each tour has been
17:38
bigger and better. So this is my first time
17:39
hosting six people.
17:40
Last year we had three, but it's been tons
17:42
of fun. We're doing a Western theme this year
17:45
because a lot of us have a passion for
17:47
the West, and three of us did a residency
17:50
at different times out in West Texas at a
17:52
place called Willow House in Terlingua for
17:54
two weeks each.
17:55
And yeah, so you'll see a common thread of
17:57
art, like cowgirls, yucca,
18:00
landscape, just anything that speaks to that
18:02
genre.
18:04
Our last stop is going to be the Little Gay
18:07
Shop, so this is a retail shop supporting
18:09
LGBTQ artists around Texas and
18:11
a lot of locals.
18:14
I think as artists, you
18:17
spend hours and hours or months on
18:19
a piece, and if it's in a gallery or it's on
18:21
a wall, you don't always get to interact with
18:23
the people seeing it.
18:24
So that's why having a conversation with
18:27
someone about your art makes it feel
18:30
so special.
18:32
People always have their own interpretation
18:33
too of what you're showing, so it's really
18:36
cool to hear what people think or like
18:39
what's coming up for them, you know, what are
18:41
they relating to in your work.
18:43
So it really helps artists grow in their own
18:45
process too.
18:47
But just supporting art in any way you can.
18:49
Not everybody can afford an art piece, that's
18:51
okay. But if you can compliment
18:54
someone, if you show up, if can
18:56
follow them, if could share their work, it
18:58
really goes a long way.
19:02
Thank you, thank you, again, one
19:05
more, wait, when
19:07
I say art,
19:10
you say buzz, art, buzz, art, all
19:12
right, thank guys so much.
19:18
We heard from Natalie Earhart, Candice
19:21
Pearson, artist Bartell there.
19:23
Tonight, John Mulaney kicks off a run of
19:26
four shows at Bass Concert Hall.
19:28
He spoke with Texas Standard this week about
19:30
his Texas-sized tour and
19:32
about how the state played a big moment,
19:35
a big role during the beginning of his
19:37
career.
19:37
The first club I ever headlined in my life
19:40
was the Laugh Stop in Houston.
19:41
Wow. 2007.
19:43
Yeah.
19:44
What's your takeaway when you think of Texas,
19:46
what comes to mind?
19:48
I think of it like a Texas is this
19:51
father with like a bunch of different
19:53
sons that are his cities and,
19:56
you know, Dallas is like trying to
19:58
do everything right and run
20:01
the family business and is responsible with
20:03
money and Houston's has a
20:06
good job is just boring as hell and
20:08
Austin is like
20:10
the little more emo kid at the
20:13
end of the table that's like, What did you do
20:15
today, Austin? He's like, I colored and,
20:17
you know. A sort of artistic
20:19
libertarian son at the end of the table that
20:22
does whatever he wants.
20:23
Yeah, well you're gonna be going to San
20:25
Antonio. You don't want to say anything about
20:26
San Antonio here?
20:27
I love San Antonio.
20:29
San Antonio is like that kid that's just
20:31
always fine but doesn't visit a lot.
20:33
All right, so maybe Austin is the artsy
20:36
Sibley to the other cities.
20:38
We are, after all, the live music capital
20:40
of the world.
20:42
And while both music and comedy light up the
20:44
stage, Mulaney says how the two acts prepare
20:47
is different.
20:49
You know, it's funny, like,
20:51
we're the reverse of musicians.
20:53
We tour and tour and then record
20:56
the special, whereas musicians record the
20:58
album and then play the album as they
21:01
recorded it. We're putting it, we are like in
21:03
the studio the whole time through the tour,
21:05
putting the hour together.
21:07
Mulaney says the show, called Mr.
21:09
Whatever, will consist of all new material,
21:11
and he's set to tour the country till summer
21:13
of 2026.
21:15
But Austin is the last stop for the Texas
21:17
States. He is doing a show tonight,
21:19
tomorrow, and a pair on Saturday at the Bass
21:22
Concert Hall.
21:23
But if you miss him there, maybe, just maybe,
21:25
you'll find him casing the Harry Ransom
21:27
Center as the Texas Standards David
21:30
Brown found out.
21:32
Big deal recently here at the Harry Ransom
21:34
Center at the University of Texas unveiled
21:37
the Lauren Michaels collection.
21:39
Lauren's papers, yeah.
21:40
Right, right.
21:41
I know you were a writer on SNL for a while.
21:44
Any thoughts on Michaels and his impact on
21:46
comedy?
21:48
Well, the impact is enormous
21:50
and I feel like that was kind of fun about
21:52
the 50th anniversary of Saturday Night Live
21:54
as we got to pay
21:57
tribute to him a lot.
21:58
But I'm just heading, I'm breaking into
22:00
the Ransom Center at night and seeing if
22:02
there's any inter-office memos about
22:04
me. I just want to find a piece of paper that
22:07
says, you know, John's my favorite writer and
22:09
then I'll steal it and I'll be content
22:11
with myself for life.
22:12
But I can't wait to break in and loot the
22:15
papers.
22:16
That was John Mulaney speaking to Texas
22:18
Standard earlier this week.
22:20
His show, Mr. Whatever is on tour
22:22
in Austin today through Saturday.
22:24
We'll have a link to more in the Austin
22:26
Signal podcast show notes.
22:28
That's at kut.org slash signal.
22:31
And there's more from that conversation at
22:33
Texas standard dot org.
22:35
That's it for today here on Austin signal.
22:38
Kristen Cabrera is our managing producer.
22:40
Rayna Sevilla is our technical director
22:42
and I'm your host, Jerry Quijano.
22:45
We will talk to you tomorrow.