SAN ANTONIO – A trio of San Antonio City Council members wants to consider how to make VIA Metropolitan Transit free for all riders eventually.
But it’s not clear whether they will be able to secure enough support to get an official policy discussion moving forward.
Councilman Ric Galvan (D6) sat down with KSAT earlier this month to talk about the proposal he, Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (D2), and Councilwoman Teri Castillo (D5) are trying to introduce.
“I think that’s the biggest thing here, is that we’re making sure that people are able to afford to get on here in a quick and easy way, but also that the whole route is faster,” Galvan said. “That the whole operation is a bit easier here, and that when we’re investing in our transit agency, that we are delivering for all of our residents here, no matter their income, their age, where they’re at, that they’re able to get on the bus quickly and easily."
Galvan’s office shared a draft of the proposal, which requests city staff to work with VIA to develop a smaller, test run, as well as a plan for implementing a full roll-out.
“The pilot program of zero fare transit should identify a target population and timeframe to provide fare free transit to, such as riders under the age of 18, riders on specific bus lines, residents of selected ZIP codes, income-based, specific workers (City employees, active military, veterans, educators, etc.), or all riders for a limited time,” the proposal reads.
“The long-term implementation plan should include a full evaluation of the upcoming voter-approved additional 1/8-cent sales tax revenue to VIA, and other potential revenue sources, to determine how the additional revenue could support zero-fare transit by 2035.”
But that request is still a draft, lacking the necessary signatures to move ahead through the city’s council consideration request (CCR) process.
Galvan said a fourth council member was supportive, though he declined to name them. However, they have not found the final, fifth signature they would need.
Instead, Galvan said he’s trying to meet with VIA and the transit workers’ union to “make sure that we’re on the same page about it.”
“If there is an agreement by VIA, if there is agreement by (ATU Local 694), if there is agreement by all parties to say, ‘you know what, this can maybe fit within our framework of what our larger vision is’, then I think we can have a bigger conversation about the how-to, the implementation,” he said.
VIA confirmed a meeting between the councilman and senior VIA staff is scheduled for February and declined to interview afterward.
However, a transit agency spokesman sent a lengthy statement, saying, in part, “VIA does not have funding to cover what would be lost through canceling fares.”
VIA, which draws most of its revenue from sales tax dollars, is “the least-funded major transit agency in Texas,” he wrote, and depends on all its revenue, including passenger fares. The agency has outstanding debt tied to farebox revenue and plans to bond against it in the future.
Passenger fares made up less than 5% of VIA’s total revenue in FY 2024. The transit agency expects to collect roughly $18 million at the farebox in its current 2026 fiscal year.
While the council members proposal alludes to possibly using a 1/8 cent sales that voters agreed to divert in 2020 — first to San Antonio’s Ready To Work job training program and now, beginning this month, toward transportation — VIA said that money is “completely obligated” to support projects in its “Keep San Antonio Moving Plan,” which includes plans for “advanced rapid transit” and more frequent bus service.
Galvan acknowledged the projects in his conversation with KSAT, but asked “Once those are completed, what does that annual funding then can be used for? How much of it can be left over?”
The city council recently moved ahead with a plan to provide free semester bus passes to thousands of middle and high school students, using $150,000 in district funds set aside by Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito (D7).
Alderete Gavito said she had spoken with Galvan about the zero-fare transit proposal but told him she wouldn’t be signing on. The Northwest Side councilwoman previously served on the VIA Board of Trustees and pointed to the agency’s existing funding issues.
“All of us want frequent and reliable transportation, but we have to pay for it,” she told KSAT. “And so the difference with this program is that we’re actually paying for it. We’re subsidizing the student fare so that kids can get to school for free. We’re not asking for free fare for everyone.”
Castillo, though, thinks Alderete Gavito’s program could help make their point.
“You know, with the pilot program that Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito has initiated, I think will serve as a model of the impact, importance and why we should need to free fare for all,” she said.
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