AUSTIN, Texas -- The region's transit leaders are setting out to get public feedback on the big transit plan known as Project Connect.

• Leaders seek input to craft Project Connect
• Proposal would greatly expand Capital Metro service area
• Voters would have final say in November 2020

It may share a name with an effort that resulted in Austin’s failed 2014 Urban Rail proposition, but officials say its scope is much greater. It includes bus and rail service that could expand far beyond Capital Metro's current footprint.

"We are trying to develop a regional plan for high capacity transit," said Wade Cooper, Chair of the Capital Metro Board.

IN-DEPTH | Learn More About Project Connect

That could include expansions of MetroRail, MetroRapid and MetroExpress. However, transit planners say now is not the time to get hung up on the mode of transit. They want to learn what the public wants to gain from the service.

“If you go to H-E-B right now and ask people if they know about Project Connect, most people are going to say no. The inform part is very important. Then there's a part where we consult and we want information from the public--sometimes on very specific things,” said Jackie Nirenberg, who oversees community engagement for Capital Metro. “Things like spacing of stations, amenities at the stations, frequency, what this is going to look like in terms of their neighborhood.”

Nirenberg said the goal is to finish the project by early 2020 and send it to voters that November. Austin City Council Member Jimmy Flannigan, who represents far Northwest Austin, said some big lessons can be gained from 2014's urban rail failure. It proposed using $600 million in bond money to secure federal matching dollars for a starter line from ACC Highland to Riverside at Grove Boulevard in Southeast Austin.

"If you just try to sell them Stage 1, but you don't tell them what Stage 2 is--even if Stage 2 is great, even if you are obviously going to do a Stage 2--the trust just isn't there with the community," he said. “It’s time to get some stuff done.”

The initial vision of Project Connect contemplates transit access for communities as far away from Downtown Austin as Georgetown, Hutto, Bastrop and Lockhart. None of them are currently served by Capital Metro.

Austin Mayor Steve Adler said, while the public should provide invaluable feedback, it’s important not to sink the broad vision over minimal disagreements.

“We are still going to disagree, but we have to have the conversation,” he said. “We have to try to find consensus where we can. We need to move this forward. I think people are ready for us to actually start solving our big challenges.”

Cooper said it’s crucial that Project Connect thinks big.

"We have had crazy growth here, really phenomenal growth,” he said. “We are guilty as a region for not having planned for that. Hopefully now we are really looking over the horizon in a way where the next generation will be thinking, 'Those guys did their job.'"