The VIA Metropolitan Transit Board of Trustees has appointed Jon Gary Herrera as the agency’s new president and CEO.

VIA Metropolitan Transit will develop a new transit center east of Frost Bank Center that will expand the system’s multi-mobility strategy.

Bexar County Commissioners agreed Tuesday to set aside $100 million for an East-West rapid transit route through downtown San Antonio. County and transit officials say it’s needed to lock in federal funding for the $289 million project.

The Alamo City agency could lock in as much as $150 million to support its plan for a second line.

Advanced Rapid Transit (ART) is essentially large buses, typically running in designated lanes. With a new bus arriving every 10 to 15 minutes, and riders paying before they get on, VIA officials say it offers the benefits of a rail line at a lower cost.

VIA leaders expected to wait a few years before being able to embark on some of their expansion plans, but federal stimulus dollars have changed the equation.

SAN ANTONIO – In the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic, public transit agencies across the country are pledging to keep passengers safe. VIA is now part of the American Public Transportation Association’s (APTA) Health and Safety Commitments Program, which outlines best practices when it comes to COVID-19 safety protocols. Protocols include requirements for masks and face coverings, frequent disinfection of vehicles and social distancing. The social distancing requirements have prompted a bit of a balancing act for VIA. “And the social distancing has suddenly and effectively shrunk those buses to vans.

More than two years after it began operating, a “now open” sign still hangs from the side of a giant, 400-space parking garage at the corner of south Highway 281 and Stone Oak Parkway. The Stone Oak Park and Ride facility opened in June 2018 as a place where drivers can park their car and hop on a VIA bus that ran two routes throughout the city: one into downtown and one to the Medical Center. “But I don’t think it’s wrong.”Since its 2018 opening and before the pandemic hit, when VIA temporarily halted the route into downtown due to COVID-19, VIA says buses transported passengers 275,000 times from the Stone Oak garage. And so clearly, they were more likely going to Stone Oak for work, for a job and not necessarily from Stone Oak to get into town,” Arndt said. “People that live in the Woodlands or people that live in Kingwood or Sugarland or Katy, communities much like Stone Oak, right?

SAN ANTONIO – VIA Metropolitan Transit announced Monday that a bus driver with the company has died after a battle COVID-19. VIA said bus operator Harvey A. Fauria died Thursday. Help honor frontline/essential workers,... Posted by VIA Metropolitan Transit on Monday, September 14, 2020“Mr. Fauria is being remembered as a well-liked and respected employee of five years,” Arndt said in the Facebook post. Related: VIA bus operator shares experience behind the wheel amid coronavirus pandemic