Texas - Commuting in Austin

Hello everyone, I plan on moving to Austin at the end of the year to go to the University of Texas, GO LONGHORNS!

I've been looking online at apartments and would like to get something fairly close to campus so I can ride my bike. I would like to live outside of downtown. I really like the Spyglass apartments right off the Mopac. So my question is, how biker friendly is Austin? How close to campus should I get so I can safely commute?

This is the official city bike routes map. It's pretty accurate; the places they say are hard are hard, and the places they say are easy are generally pretty easy. On the whole, Austin is considerably more bike friendly than any other major city in Texas.
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/bicycle/bikemap.htm

If this (http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&q=Spyglass+apartments,+Austin,+TX&fb=1&cid=0,0,13645986623281465476&ll=30.259178,-97.792869&spn=0.014234,0.019312&t=h&z=16&iwloc=A) is the apartment complex you're thinking of, I might reconsider, as the only access to that neighborhood appears to be the Mopac feeder. It's bikeable, I guess, but not what I'd call "bike friendly." Having to ride between there and the UT campus would get old really fast, if it were me.

The area to the north of the UT campus would be considerably less of a pain in the ass, in my opinion, having ridden through it several times.

Once you find a place to live let us know and I'm sure we can suggest some routes. I know a lot of good routes from the north side of town.

You could ride from Spyglass, but I wouldn't.

Try the apartments in and around Barton Hills Boulevard.
You could ride if you wanted but it its raining or whatever, the #29 bus goes right to campus.
I'd consider living in north campus area. It's basically flat to campus.

There's always a way to get where you're going by bike in Austin. Obviously, the further you live from campus/downtown, the cheaper it's going to be. It's probably in the longer extreme for campus commutes, but I ride everyday from about 2222 and Mopac to campus and feel safe/reasonably respected on my route. Plus it's all generally downhill/north wind at my back to class when I'd rather not be as sweaty. I don't mind that much that I'm working a lot harder to get home.

Anywhere north of campus is definitely an easier ride. West campus would be easy too, but is generally more expensive and unless you bring your bike inside EVERY NIGHT, it's going to get stolen. Actually, that goes for everywhere. Never lock it up outside overnight.

If you go from Barton Hills Blvd, it'll be cake to the river but you'll have to work uphill all the way past that through downtown to class. The east side of 35 will be cheaper but some areas are a bit sketchier. Like ravenmore said, we can help with a good route once you pick a spot and without a doubt, "Austin is considerably more bike friendly than any other major city in Texas."

I'd look at neighborhoods on the UT shuttle route if you don't live in West Campus or on campus. The shuttles run very frequently Su-Fri and are free. Most of the neighborhoods on those routes are pretty bikeable, and it's nice to have the option to hop a shuttle when you need to.

As for errands outside of commuting to school, I think the Hyde Park neighborhood is going to be the most walkable and bikeable on the shuttle routes followed by Far West.

Only you've finalized your location, check out AustinBikeRoutes.com (http://www.austinbikeroutes.com/) for routes other people have come up with.

Btw - lot of students live up in the Far West area. Its a bit farther out but not too bad and it would be easy to commute by jumping over across Mopac and then heading south on Shoal Creek. Probably wouldn't take much more than 30 minutes.

Change of Plans! I have decided to go to St. Edwards University instead of UT. I think a small private college will be a lot better fit for me.

Thanks for the help everyone!

If you can afford it St. Edwards is awesome.

Since I will only be paying for two years, it makes it somewhat affordable. :twitchy:

You'll enjoy S. Austin, Congress, and that small campus area. Everything you'll likely need is only a short ride away, even downtown.