If a CapMetro bus or a City of Austin vehicle hit you, the first deadline you face is not the two-year statute of limitations. It’s a written notice requirement, and in Austin it can run out in as little as 45 days. The Texas Tort Claims Act requires written notice of your claim within six months of the crash, but it also lets cities set shorter windows. The City of Austin does exactly that: its claims rules require a written notice letter within 45 days of the incident.
CapMetro is a different story. It’s a separate transit authority, not a city department, so the Tort Claims Act’s six-month notice rule is the baseline for a CapMetro bus crash. Miss the deadline that applies to your case and the government can ask a court to throw out your claim before anyone looks at what happened to you.
This guide explains which deadline applies to which vehicle, what your notice has to say, how damage caps limit what you can recover, and why you should treat 45 days as your working deadline for any government vehicle crash in Austin.
What to Know
- The Texas Tort Claims Act requires written notice of an injury claim against a governmental unit within six months of the incident.
- The City of Austin requires a written claim letter within 45 days for injuries or damage caused by a city vehicle or employee.
- CapMetro is a transit authority created under Chapter 451 of the Texas Transportation Code, so its notice rules come from the Tort Claims Act rather than the Austin city charter.
- Damages are capped: up to $250,000 per person for claims against the City of Austin and up to $100,000 per person for claims against CapMetro.
- Filing a notice does not stop the two-year clock to file a lawsuit, so both deadlines have to be tracked at the same time.
Why a Crash With a Government Vehicle Is Different
Texas government entities are protected by sovereign and governmental immunity. Without a specific law allowing it, you can’t sue them at all.
The Texas Tort Claims Act is that law, but it only opens the door partway. It waives immunity for injuries caused by a government employee’s negligent operation of a motor vehicle, which covers most CapMetro bus crashes and collisions with city trucks, cars, and work vehicles. In exchange, the Act imposes conditions a private driver’s insurance company never could: strict notice deadlines, caps on damages, and no punitive damages.
Those conditions are not technicalities. Under Section 311.034 of the Texas Government Code, statutory prerequisites to suing a governmental entity, including notice, are jurisdictional. A court can dismiss a case with no ruling on fault if the notice was late or missing.
The Two Notice Deadlines That Matter in Austin
City of Austin Vehicles: 45 Days
Section 101.101(b) of the Tort Claims Act ratifies city charter and ordinance notice provisions that were in place when the Act was passed, and Austin’s requirement is far shorter than six months. According to the City’s own claims page, you must send a written claim letter within 45 days of the incident.
That covers crashes with vehicles operated by city employees doing city work. Austin Resource Recovery garbage and recycling trucks, Austin Water and Austin Energy service vehicles, Transportation and Public Works trucks, and city fleet cars all fall in this category. Austin police and fire vehicles do too, though emergency responses add another layer: the Tort Claims Act limits liability for crashes during an emergency call unless the driver acted with conscious indifference or reckless disregard for others’ safety.
The City accepts claims by email at lawclaims@austintexas.gov, by mail to the City of Austin Law Department – Claims, P.O. Box 1546, Austin, TX 78767-1546, or by fax at 512-974-1311. You can find the current requirements on the City of Austin’s claims page.
CapMetro Buses: Six Months Under the Tort Claims Act
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority is not part of the City of Austin. It’s a metropolitan transit authority organized under Chapter 451 of the Texas Transportation Code, and Texas law treats it as a governmental unit under the Tort Claims Act. The baseline rule is written notice to CapMetro within six months of the crash.
Six months sounds like plenty of time. It isn’t. Medical treatment, insurance calls, and missed work eat those months fast, and the evidence that proves fault, such as onboard camera footage and the bus’s data, is controlled by the agency you’re making a claim against.
There’s also a practical problem. People often don’t know who owned the vehicle that hit them. A white truck with a city logo, a contractor van doing city work, a CapMetro support vehicle, and a Travis County truck can all look alike from the driver’s seat. If there’s any doubt, the safest move is to send proper notice to every entity that might be responsible within 45 days.
Other Government Vehicles in the Austin Area
Travis County, Austin ISD, the University of Texas, and state agencies such as TxDOT each operate their own fleets. Each one is a separate governmental unit with its own claims process, and some have their own shorter notice rules. A claim sent to the wrong office does not satisfy the deadline for the right one.
What Your Written Notice Must Include
Section 101.101(a) requires the notice to reasonably describe three things:
- The injury or damage you’re claiming
- The time and manner of the incident
- The place where it happened
The City of Austin asks for more. Its claims page lists the date, time, and location; a description of what occurred; the type of damage or injury; copies of invoices, receipts, or estimates; supporting documents such as photos and the police report; and your full mailing address and daytime phone number.
Specifics matter. A vague letter invites the argument that the notice was defective. At the same time, what you write in that notice becomes part of the record, so an offhand statement about your injuries or how the crash happened can be used to undercut your claim later. This is the document most worth having a lawyer draft.
Don’t Count on the “Actual Notice” Exception
Section 101.101(c) says the formal notice isn’t required if the government already had actual notice of the death, injury, or property damage. People hear this and assume a police report or a bus driver’s incident report is enough.
It usually isn’t. The Texas Supreme Court has read this exception narrowly. The agency has to have known not just that a crash happened and someone was hurt, but that its own fault produced or contributed to the injury. An incident report that blames you, or says nothing about fault, won’t get you there.
Treat actual notice as a fallback argument for a case where something went wrong, not as a plan.
Who Actually Drives CapMetro Buses?
Most CapMetro bus operators are not CapMetro employees. Keolis Transit Services took over operation and maintenance of CapMetro’s fixed-route bus service on January 1, 2024, replacing MV Transportation. That means the driver who hit you likely works for a private contractor.
You might expect that to remove the government protections. Texas law says otherwise for the most part. Under Section 451.056 of the Transportation Code, a private operator performing a function of a transit authority is liable only to the extent the authority would be liable if it had performed the function itself. In practice, that means the caps and procedural rules of the Tort Claims Act follow the claim even when a contractor’s employee was behind the wheel. Identifying the correct parties, and notifying all of them, is part of protecting the claim.
How Much Can You Recover? The Damage Caps
The Tort Claims Act caps damages differently depending on the type of governmental unit:
- City of Austin (a municipality): up to $250,000 per person and $500,000 per occurrence for bodily injury or death, and $100,000 per occurrence for property damage.
- CapMetro (a unit of local government): up to $100,000 per person and $300,000 per occurrence for bodily injury or death, and $100,000 per occurrence for property damage.
Punitive damages are not available against either one. If a jury awards more than the cap, the court reduces the judgment to the cap.
A $100,000 limit disappears quickly after a hospital stay, surgery, or months out of work. That’s why it matters whether anyone else contributed to the crash. If a private driver cut off the bus, or a negligent contractor created the hazard, their insurance is not limited by the government’s caps. A thorough investigation looks for every responsible party, not just the obvious one.
What to Do After a Crash With a CapMetro Bus or City Vehicle
- Get medical care right away. Your health comes first, and medical records created soon after the crash are the strongest proof of your injuries.
- Call 911 and get a police report. Ask for the report number before you leave the scene. Once it’s filed, you can buy a copy of the crash report through TxDOT’s Crash Report Online Purchase System.
- Write down the vehicle details. Note the bus number, route number, vehicle number, agency logo, license plate, and the driver’s name if you can get it.
- Photograph everything. Take pictures of the vehicles, the intersection, traffic signals, skid marks, and your injuries.
- Get witness contact information. Other bus passengers are often the most useful witnesses and the hardest to find later.
- Don’t give a recorded statement to the agency or its contractor. Their claims staff work to limit what the government pays.
- Mark day 45 on your calendar. Count from the date of the crash, not from when you finished treatment or learned the extent of your injuries.
- Talk to a personal injury lawyer before you send notice. A lawyer can confirm which entities to notify, draft a notice that meets every requirement, and demand that video and vehicle data be preserved.
The Two-Year Lawsuit Deadline Still Applies
Sending notice is the first step, not a substitute for a lawsuit. Texas still gives you two years from the date of the injury to file a personal injury suit under Section 16.003 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, and filing a notice doesn’t pause that clock.
Government claims also tend to move slowly. If the claim hasn’t resolved as the two-year mark approaches, a lawsuit has to be filed in time to protect it. Tracking both deadlines from day one avoids the worst outcome: a valid claim lost to a calendar.
How Joe Lopez Law Handles Government Vehicle Claims in Austin
A claim against CapMetro or the City of Austin runs on different rules than an ordinary car wreck, and the early weeks decide a lot. When we take one of these cases, we start by identifying every entity that could be responsible, including contractors, and sending notice that meets both the Tort Claims Act and any local requirements. We send preservation demands for bus camera footage, onboard data, maintenance records, and driver records before they can be overwritten or discarded.
We also look past the government. If another driver or a private company shares fault, their insurance can cover losses the caps won’t. And we keep the two-year lawsuit deadline in view the whole time, so the case is never at the mercy of a slow claims office.
Joe Lopez Law handles Austin personal injury cases on a contingency fee basis. You pay no attorney’s fees unless we recover compensation for you.
Talk to an Austin Injury Lawyer Before the Deadline Passes
If you were hurt by a CapMetro bus or a City of Austin vehicle, the clock started the day of the crash. A short call now can tell you which deadline applies, who needs to be notified, and what your claim is realistically worth under the caps. The consultation is free and confidential, and you won’t owe us anything unless we win.
Call Joe Lopez Law at (512) 580-9962 or contact us online to schedule your free consultation.