SAN ANTONIO – As proposals to scrap bus fares on VIA Metropolitan Transit gain traction at San Antonio City Hall, the union representing bus drivers and other VIA employees say they’d rather skip that stop.
At least four council members have shown support for moving toward “zero fare transit,” and Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones has asked VIA officials to lay what’s needed for a pilot program on some of the most popular routes.
Supporters say getting rid of fares — up to $1.30 for a single ride on a normal route or $2.60 for express service — make it easier for cash-strapped riders to get around and could even make the bus routes more efficient.
But the president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 694 (ATU), which represents VIA drivers and other employees, said his union is “not on board” with making buses free for everyone.
He said VIA’s suspension of fares early on in the COVID-19 pandemic means they’ve already seen how the idea plays out.
“That didn’t work. You get too many undesirables. You get people with no destinations riding. They don’t want to get off,” ATU President Robert Garza told KSAT.
“They interrupt service, delay service. The buses are dirtier,” he said. “You have more passenger-customer confrontations. You have a more operator-customer confrontations every time we ask them to follow the rules. You have people that don’t want to follow the rules get on the bus. You wind up having a rolling shelter.”
Garza clarified his definition of “undesirables” as people with “problems,” like mental health issues or drug addiction, who wouldn’t normally ride the bus but would because it’s free, without a particular destination.
“They’re dirty,” he said. “They don’t want to get off. They don’t want to wear the shoes. They don’t want to follow the rules. And if we ask them, you know, ‘You need to wear shoes,’ and what not ... they get upset. They spit on us. They throw stuff at us. And it just creates a big old mess.”
“You’d be surprised how many of them start riding, you know, and it’s overcrowded as it is,” Garza said. “You know you’re picking up your normal commuters — and that’s what our goal is, is to have more commuters. But those commuters are going to go elsewhere because they don’t want to deal with that. They’re trying to get to their appointments on time, to work on time. And now we’re having service delayed because we’re have to call supervisors or transit police out there to deal with some of the problems we have."
KSAT requested statistics from VIA on Monday about documented problems with riders but did not receive them before this article was published.
Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (D2), Councilman Edward Mungia (D4), Councilwoman Teri Castillo (D5), and Councilman Ric Galvan (D6) have all shown support for moving toward with “zero fare” or “fare free” transit plans.
>> Can a proposal for free VIA rides get enough supporters on board?
Jones sent VIA CEO Jon Gary Herrera a letter Monday, following up on a request she made during a Feb. 11 council meeting.
Jones asked for a proposed approach for a six-month pilot program of fare-free rides on VIA’s five most-used routes, as well as the transit agency’s top five concerns about such a test run and how to mitigate them.
VIA officials’ biggest public concerns so far have been financial. Rider fares make up less than 5% of the agency’s total revenue in the current budget year, but Herrera told Jones during the Feb. 11 meeting that scrapping that much would mean stopping its plans for two “advanced rapid transit” routes, known as the Green and Silver lines.
As part of her request, Jones asked for options on how VIA would offset the potential lost revenue, without impacting the two ART routes.
Alternatively, she asked for options on how VIA would handle a smaller 3% drop in its operating budget, which she said would reflect if the city council were to approve VIA receiving additional sales tax on certain telecom services.
A VIA spokesman confirmed VIA had received the mayor’s letter and would be discussing it with its board of trustees. Jones asked for a response by March 11.
During the same Feb. 11 council meeting, McKee-Rodriguez said he worried the opposition to “zero fare transit” wasn’t actually due to cost concerns.
“I worry that the concern is really about homeless people existing on the bus,” he said. “And if the fear is that homeless people are going to be sleeping on the bus or sitting on the buses for extended periods of time, I think that’s missing the forest for the trees."
McKee-Rodriguez declined further comment Monday through a spokeswoman.
Garza, who has driven for VIA for 22 years, said a free fare program may sound easy, but he does not believe it will work.
“Let them ride the bus during the pilot program every day,” he said.
“I think they’d see the problem, the challenges that it’s going to create,” Garza said. “You know, and maybe they would understand a little more, maybe come up with a better plan."
When asked for comment on the union’s concerns, a spokesman for Jones emailed a statement.
“The Mayor understands that we will have many stakeholders in this conversation,” the spokesman wrote. “She is focused on ensuring the city has a world-class public transportation system and one that helps working people. She understands that those are not mutually exclusive.”
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