TX: VIA secures $268 million federal grant for rapid bus route
Summary
"The grant is the largest federal investment VIA has received in its history, the agency said.Along with reducing traffic while the local population continues to boom, the rapid routes are intended to reduce stress and save time for residents who rely on buses in their daily lives, Mayor Ron Nirenberg said.Speaking during a Wednesday ceremony outside VIAs transit hub on San Pedro Avenue which will serve as the spine for much of the Green Line Nirenberg said the project offers "mobility, in the broadest sense. "Federal Transit Administration Deputy Administrator Veronica Vanterpool said 60% of VIAs riders use its services to get to work, and 15% dont have a car in their household.VIA plans to begin construction next year and to have the route running by late 2027.Along with designated lanes and new stops designed so that riders will pay before hopping on, reducing the amount of time the buses are stopped the construction will include 7.3 miles of new or repaired sidewalks, 13 new signalized pedestrian crossings and 151 new or replaced stormwater drains, according to information supplied by VIA.The total budget is $480.8 million. VIA plans to contribute $54.1 million, which it will be able to raise thanks to a ballot measure that voters approved in 2020 redirecting a 1/8-cent sales tax to the agency starting in 2026.The Advanced Transportation District a taxing entity that has the same board as VIA will raise $153.7 million by issuing revenue bonds.The route will stretch from Interstate 10 near the vacant Lone Star Brewery through downtown all the way to San Antonio International Airport north of Loop 410.VIA has based its growth strategy on offering more frequent service. "A lot of communities automatically think of rail as synonymous with public transportation, but here in the United States were using our roadways, built to support a car culture, to create a new, cost-efficient way for people to get around, and so attract a new generation of riders," she said.The Silver Line set to run from Our Lady of the Lake University on the West Side through downtown to the East Sides Frost Bank Center is about two years out from getting its own federal grant locked down, said Jeffrey Arndt, VIAs president and CEO. Arndt is preparing to leave VIA on Jan. 4, to be replaced by Jon Gary Herrera, currently the senior vice president of public engagement.Some of the ongoing "bus rapid transit" projects across the U.S. were launched in the first Trump administration.