parking opinions

Austinites respond to new paid parking on South Congress

People paying for parking on South Congress Avenue in Austin

Both vendors and visitors are adjusting to the new parking situation.

Photo courtesy of KVUE

One of Austin's most popular and iconic streets is looking very different these days.

Aside from the changing store fronts, South Congress Avenue has been implementing paid parking for a few months.

New signs indicating the change can be seen up and down the street and along some side streets too.

For decades, South Congress was known for free, all back-in parking, allowing shoppers to stroll for endless hours. Now visitors have to use the Park ATX App or have a code sent to their cellphones.

The city of Austin said this new change was added in an effort to create more parking turnover and to allow more people to use the spots.

KVUE's Hannah Rucker visited South Congress and chatted with some visitors who feel the new parking conditions are a hassle and the app isn't very user-friendly.

"There's just so many decisions you have to make before you can finally walk away from your car," one shopper, Ashley Woods, said. "It's just unfortunate that now I feel like I'm paying even more out of pocket, and it feels like a money-grab to come down here"
Some of the local vendors aren't fond of the new design either.

Adam Schnitzer runs a small business called Stitches Vintage, which is part of a pop-up market across from Home Slice Pizza. He said it's hard for vendors who drive work vans that need to be parked for several hours to load merchandise to the market.

Read the full story and watch the video at KVUE.com.

Self-driving Roller Coaster

More self-driving cars expected to roll out in Austin for 2025

Photo courtesy of Waymo via KVUE

Various brands offering self-driving cars are on-and-off in Austin.

Expect to see more self-driving rideshare vehicles, also known as robotaxis, on Austin roads next year.

Robotaxi company Waymo, which you may have already seen on Austin's roads, is partnering with Uber. At some point next year, customers will be able to use the Uber app to call a self-driving ride.

Austin-based company Avride is in the testing phase and plans to roll out its robotaxis next year.

Currently, Volkswagen ADMT and Amazon's Zoox are in the testing phase in Austin, while Hyundai's Motional is in the mapping phase.

Last year, robotaxi company Cruise paused operations in Austin after the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the company's permits to operate driverless vehicles in the state. And last week, General Motors said it would no longer fund the company because of the time and resources needed.

This way of getting around has come with its safety concerns and issues. The city is tracking those concerns. According to the Transportation Department, the problems span from blocking the roads and parking in front of people's homes for weeks with lights beaming through their windows, to actual wrecks.

Since July 2023, robotaxis have been involved in 75 incidents. Only 21 of those incidents happened in 2024. It's important to note that Cruise has not been operating in Austin this year.

Since July 2023, driverless rideshare vehicles have been involved in 22 near collisions, eight collisions and seven instances where driverless taxis ignored directions from the Austin Police Department (APD).

According to the data, at least four of those Austin police incidents happened in recent months. The issues varied from driving through police checkpoints, to malfunctioning and getting stuck at an APD road closure near pedestrians, causing safety concerns.

A Waymo spokesperson said their vehicles have gesture recognition capabilities, which they've been training APD officers on using.

As the report shows, sometimes it does not work and Waymo said it is working to improve that. The spokesperson said that as of just last week, Waymo's First Responder Program has been independently verified by TÜV SÜD, making Waymo the first autonomous vehicle (AV) company to receive third-party validation for our emergency response protocols. They also said the data to date indicates the Waymo Driver is already reducing traffic injuries and fatalities in the places where the company currently operates.

Read the full story and watch the video at KVUE.com.

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