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