VIA Transit offering more frequent bus service along certain routes

$4.3 million from city made changes possible

SAN ANTONIO – VIA Metropolitan Transit began offering more frequent bus service Monday along certain routes throughout the city of San Antonio.

Buses will pick up every 30 minutes along nine different routes as opposed to the previous one-hour wait.

In two areas, the Martin Luther King and New Braunfels corridors, buses will arrive every 12 minutes.

"When we're taking a route that's currently running once an hour and make it once a half-hour, when you miss your bus, you're going to wait 30 minutes less. That's a big difference,” said Jeffrey Arndt, VIA president and CEO.

The changes were made possible through $4.3 million in funding was approved by the San Antonio City Council in September. Additional improvements are planned for May of this year and January 2019.

"That'd be nice. Then we won't have to sit here so long, especially when it's cold,” said Ron Sturgell, a regular VIA passenger. "I have no other transportation. Without this, I couldn't get to where I wanted to go.”

Sturgell says sometimes, he can wait up to 20 minutes for a bus. He’s looking forward to getting where he’s going sooner.

The more frequent service is just the latest change VIA is making in the hope of making bus travel more convenient and appealing.

The company currently is completing about $560 million in improvements that include increasing the number of bus shelters in the city to 1,000, adding the super-sized PRIMO buses in high-traveled areas, building a transit center in the Zarzamora corridor and adding a Park & Ride in Stone Oak. 

Arndt said the ultimate goal is to increase ridership, getting more drivers to give up the wheel and ride the bus.

“The first thing we need to do is provide the service that would make them want to ride the bus,” he said. “So that’s what we’re all about today.”

For more information on VIA’s new, faster routes, click here.


About the Author:

Katrina Webber joined KSAT 12 in December 2009. She reports for Good Morning San Antonio. Katrina was born and raised in Queens, NY, but after living in Gulf Coast states for the past decade, she feels right at home in Texas. It's not unusual to find her singing karaoke or leading a song with her church choir when she's not on-air.