Better Transit Service, More Transit Riders

San Antonio's investment in more frequent service on several popular routes has resulted in many more riders.

1 minute read

February 5, 2020, 11:00 AM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


San Antonio, Texas

Ridership on the 26 bus in San Antonio has increased by 20.3 percent. | Wangkun Jia / Shutterstock

"VIA ridership is finally showing an increase due to big gains on routes where bus frequency has increased," reports Jim Lefko from San Antonio.

The city invested more than $14 million to improve headways on 18 routes in the VIA Metropolitan Transit system, resulting in ridership gains of more than 20 percent on the system's most popular routes, according to Lefko.

"Overall, monthly ridership numbers jumped between three and six percent from September through December of 2019, compared to the previous year," reports Lefko.

The ridership progress is announced months before voters are expected, later this year, to consider a proposal to shift the revenue from a one-eighth cent sales tax, money currently used to pay for aquifer protection and greenway trail funding, to the VIA system.

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