SAN ANTONIO \u2013 The head of VIA Metropolitan Transit says the agency has seen a jump in riders as they improve bus routes and cuts wait times.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the State of Transit luncheon at the Boeing Center at Tech Port, Jon Gary Herrera told the crowd VIA has seen an increase of 2 million trips across its transit system so far, compared to the same time last year \u2014most of that from its traditional, fixed-route bus services.<\/p>\n
Though that still doesn\u2019t put ridership above a historic high, Herrera confirmed to KSAT that it is the best it has been since the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
Many of the gains, he said, came from routes the transit agency has been improving over the past 18 months with improved route efficiency and increasing how often buses come along.<\/p>\n
Last year, he said, 70% of the system had a frequency of more than 30 minutes. Now, 72% of the system is at 30 minutes or less.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that is the big contrast,\u201d he told KSAT. \u201cWe call that flipping the script.\u201d<\/p>\n
He credited a push to hire drivers as one of the main factors in getting the time down.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs soon as we brought them on, instead of waiting for all of them to be on, we started getting them out to the system and making improvements in the system,\u201d Herrera said. \u201cSo we have done a tranche of about four different service changes that we call it in the system, which each one of those are powered by the additional operators that we\u2019ve hired.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the VIA Brooks Transit Center, Robert Barnes told KSAT one of the routes he takes now partly overlaps with another, meaning more frequent buses. He estimated he saves about 30 to 45 minutes each way.<\/p>\n
\u201cDepending on where I\u2019m going, if I have to catch multiple buses, it might take a little bit more of my time, but the majority of my routes that have changed, it\u2019s a little bit quicker,\u201d Barnes said.<\/p>\n
Of course, not every rider is pleased with how every route performs.<\/p>\n
Angel Rolon sat waiting for the next 32 line bus, about 23 minutes away according to his app.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the 32 would come on time when they say they\u2019re supposed to come, then we would never have any problems,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Another rider, Joshua Clark, said he\u2019d only been riding the bus for a short time while his car is in the repair shop.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s pretty frequent. It\u2019s pretty good,\u201d he said. \u201dIt gets me all around town, wherever I need to go pretty much.\u201d <\/p>\n
Herrera told KSAT the boost in rider numbers is only \u201cchapter one\u201d of a multi-chapter story.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we have the green line and the silver line coming on board, we\u2019re gonna see an increase as well,\u201d he said of VIA\u2019s planned advanced rapid transit lines. \u201cOur goal is to get to 50 million, and we want to get the 50 million within about seven years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read also: <\/p>\n
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