Of interest, at least to me.
San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones is asking VIA Metropolitan Transit to map out how the agency would test free bus rides on its busiest routes, a move supporters say could ease transportation burdens for working-class residents. But there are practical questions about how to replace lost fare revenue and manage expected increased ridership demand.
In a letter dated Feb. 16, Jones asked VIA President and CEO Jon Gary Herrera to provide a written plan for a six-month pilot program offering fare-free rides on the agency’s top five most-used routes — lines that Jones said represent about a quarter of VIA’s ridership.
The mayor requested that VIA deliver the written proposal by March 11. In the letter, Jones also referenced a VIA update given to the mayor and City Council on Feb. 11 and asked that the pilot be structured so it could begin July 1, 2026.
Jones’ letter asks VIA to spell out its “top five concerns” about implementing the pilot and to propose ways to mitigate those concerns. She also directed VIA to include options for how to offset the revenue impact of fare-free service.
[…]
Other cities have tried fare-free service in different ways. Some have adopted systemwide free buses and others have implemented targeted route-by-route no cost ridership.
The outcome has been consistent with increased ridership, especially among lower-income riders. But the long-term question becomes how to sustainably replace fare revenue and manage crowding and service quality.
Kansas City made buses fare-free in 2020. A University of Kansas analysis found the policy attracted new riders and increased overall use. But Kansas City’s experience also shows the obvious downside of fare-free service: when budgets tighten, service suffers. After more than five years of free service, RideKC in Kansas City will reinstate a $2.00 fare for all buses starting June 1 due to budget constraints.
I’ll get to my concerns about this in a minute, but first this update:
A majority of VIA’s operating budget — 75.8% — is funded by sales tax revenue. This year, VIA started collecting between a one-eighth cent sales tax that had previously gone to the city’s Ready to Work program. That tax is projected to generate between $47 million and $48 million annually.
VIA currently charges $1.30 for a bus ride and $38 for a 31-day pass. The agency launched a pilot program for free student fares in January.
VIA President and CEO Jon Gary Herrera said fares make up about 5% of VIA’s revenue, around $18 million.
“$18 million is still $18 million,” Herrera said. “That’s a very important aspect of our budget, as small as it is.”
Jones asked VIA to present options for offsetting that 5% and Herrera brought up cutting VIA’s rapid bus projects.
“We don’t need a memo for that, we’d stop the Green and Silver Line, to be honest,” Herrera said.
“I’m sure there’s not just one thing you would look at. Please lay that out, how would you offset that 5%,” Jones replied.
The Green and Silver Lines are planned rapid transit buses that will go through downtown, one from north to south, the other from east to west. The bus lines will use raised platforms, dedicated bus lanes and synchronized traffic signals to move passengers more quickly.
Construction for the Green Line started in 2025 and the Silver Line will break ground in 2027. Both projects received funding from the federal government — $268 million is set aside for the Green Line, while another $134.7 million is going through congressional review processes.
In an email, VIA officials said they were concerned that removing fares could trigger reviews of those federal grants. VIA submitted a financial plan to the Federal Transit Administration that included fare revenue.
“Any material changes to that financial plan, including the removal of fare revenue without a stable and dependable replacement source in place, could trigger federal review,” said VIA Director of Communications Josh Baugh in an email.
Baugh said on Wednesday that the agency is discussing the mayor’s proposal with its board of trustees.
See here for the latest update on those BRT lines. If I were still in San Antonio, I would not be thrilled at that possible swap. Be that as it may, this idea has been discussed before in Houston for Metro, but was ultimately shelved, except for a brief suspension of fare collections during COVID. As for my concerns about this idea, I’ll just quote myself from that first post:
If public transportation were completely fare-free, a significant portion of the population will come to see it as an entitlement, something that “poor people” get that “the rest of us” pay for with our taxes. Once that happens, there will be political pressure to cut funding for transit, since after all it only “benefits” a small number of people. […] I am fully aware that this is a factually inaccurate and morally bankrupt way of thinking about transit. But it’s there, and it will be even more there if we eliminate fares. Which is a shame, but this is the world we live in. We’ll see what the result of Metro’s study is.
On the one hand, there have been experiments with fareless transit in other cities, and if any of them have led to the attitude I feared, I’ve not heard of it. On the other hand, these experiments have largely taken place in cities that are much more transit-reliant, so I’m not confident their experience would mirror ours, or San Antonio’s. The concern about service being cut when the revenue is down is surely a strong one. But maybe it’s worth that risk, to increase ridership and reduce traffic. If some agency in Texas needs to try that, I’m happy it’s not Metro. We’ve got enough to deal with now.
And in the end, at least for now, that won’t be VIA, either.
VIA’s Board of Trustees rejected the idea unanimously at a Tuesday evening meeting. Trustees ordered staff to stop analyzing, developing or pursuing fare-free programs and focus on its existing plans.
VIA is publicly funded and 75.8% of its budget is funded by sales tax revenue. Jones and several other council members argued that if most residents are supporting VIA through their taxes, they should get free rides.
The agency charges $1.30 for a bus ride and $38 for a 31-day pass. About 5% of its budget, or $18 million, is covered by revenues from fares.
But VIA has said that 5% is essential to its budget and to grant agreements with the federal government for the Green and Silver Lines, planned advanced rapid transit bus routes that are under construction.
On Tuesday, VIA staff took more than an hour to lay out a case against any fare-free program. Staff said when surveying residents about their priorities, San Antonians were primarily concerned about bus reliability and frequency, not cost.
VIA’s Deputy CEO Tremell Brown said a fare-free program would require the agency to use more buses and more drivers.
Those additional costs, along with the loss of fare revenue, would impact VIA’s budget, added Chief Financial Officer J’Maine Chubb.
Chubb estimated that cutting all fares would reduce revenues by $18 million and add $16.3 million in operational costs. There would be $1.3 million in savings if VIA stopped collecting fares. The net impact was $33 million. For a partial fare-free program, that number was $20.6 million, he added.
Chubb said those impacts would hurt VIA’s ability to reliably pay its debts and build large projects. VIA has said it worries federal officials could review grants allocated to the agency if its budget and financial ability are affected.
The Green Line received around $268 million in federal funding while the Silver Line has $134.7 million going through the congressional review processes.
VIA’s bus drivers raised their own concerns with free bus rides on Tuesday at the board meeting.
“When the bus becomes free, the respect for the service and the person providing drops by opening the doors to everyone, without exception. We lose the ability to protect our passengers from those who aren’t there to travel,” said Robert Garza, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 694, which represents VIA bus drivers.
Garza was one of a half dozen bus drivers who spoke at the meeting. They were concerned about their safety and passengers’ safety if fares are cut. It was one of the few issues the union agreed with VIA management on, Garza added.
Brown added that VIA had allowed free bus rides during the pandemic and heard increased concerns from drivers about bus riders who would board and stay on with no particular destination. That impacted cleanliness, safety and other customers’ satisfaction, Brown said.
He said VIA bus operators had experienced increases in verbal abuse and incidents where angry riders had spit at them, leading the agency to add physical barriers to protect drivers on buses.
That’s a pretty emphatic rejection, though from the article it sounds like Mayor Jones and some members of SA’s City Council haven’t abandoned the idea. It may come up again, and if so we’ll see if they can gain more traction. I’m not sure I agree with all of the concerns expressed by VIA and the union, but there clearly are a number of concerns that would need to be addressed before there could be some consensus on this. Until next time, then.