VIA Metropolitan Transit Authority (referred to as VIA Metro or simply VIA) is the mass transit agency serving San Antonio, Texas, United States, and its surrounding municipalities. It began operation in 1978 as a successor to the San Antonio Transit System. In, the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of. In addition to the city of San Antonio, VIA serves many other Bexar County municipalities, including Alamo Heights, Balcones Heights, Castle Hills, Converse, Kirby, Leon Valley, Olmos Park, Shavano Park, and Terrell Hills. While VIA does not directly serve some Bexar County municipalities such as Hill Country Village, Hollywood Park, Live Oak, Selma, Schertz, Universal City and Windcrest, many of them are within driving proximity of outlying park-and-ride facilities.

History

VIA was created in 1977 when the citizens of Bexar County voted in favor of a one-half cent sales tax to fund the service. Subsequently, VIA purchased transit assets from the City of San Antonio and began operations in March 1978, taking its name from the Latin word for "road". In 2004, city voters in San Antonio approved the formation of the Advanced Transportation District. This quarter-cent sales tax expanded and improved VIA operations. VIA has received several accolades from the American Public Transportation Association, most notably the award for Best Transit System in North America in 1990, as well as several of APTA's safety awards in multiple years. VIA added a limited-stop bus service known as Prímo to the Fredericksburg Road corridor on December 17, 2012. Designated as Route 100, it connects the South Texas Medical Center to Downtown San Antonio. The route had connected the main campus of the University of Texas at San Antonio to its downtown campus using an extension from the Medical Center to the UTSA Main Campus, as well as a second extension that ran from the Medical Center to the nearby independent city of Leon Valley until January 2017 (when the extensions were split into Route 101 which later became Route 501 in January 2019). An expansion of Prímo to Zarzamora Street opened in January 2019 and an expansion to Military Drive opened in late August 2019, additionally VIA is looking into other corridors to which to add improved bus transit in the coming decades. In March 2020, fares on all VIA services were temporarily suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The fare suspension was set to last until April 1, 2020, but was later extended until the end of May 2020. On April 6, 2020, VIA implemented temporary service changes, including temporarily suspending some routes, implementing capacity limits on buses, and changing their fleet to Saturday service hours. On April 27, 2020, VIA implemented further temporary service changes, including suspending additional routes and further decreasing frequency. Fare collection continued on June 1, 2020, and capacity limits were later removed on June 1, 2021.

Services

VIA operates over 500 wheelchair accessible buses on 75 bus routes, serving the entire city of San Antonio and most of Bexar County. About 36 million trips are made on VIA every year. The bus routes are separated into Frequent, and Standard Service types. VIA additionally provides special event service from its Park & Ride locations to events such as San Antonio Spurs basketball games at the Frost Bank Center, selected annual Fiesta San Antonio activities, and the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo. VIA also offers "VIATrans" paratransit services for disabled travelers. Fares for VIA have remained relatively modest during its existence. At its inception in 1978, fares were 25¢ for most routes. Fares for most fixed routes during 2006 were 80¢, and a monthly bus pass was $20, much lower than most other transit systems in the country. On January 1, 2007, basic fares were raised to $1, and monthly pass prices were raised to $25. Basic fares increased to $1.10 and monthly pass prices were raised to $30 on January 1, 2009. On March 1, 2014, the basic bus fare was $1.20; day passes were $4 and a 31-day pass was $35. , the base fare is $1.30, express fares are $2.60, day passes are $2.75, 7-day passes are $12, and 31-day passes are $38. Children 4 years old and under ride fare-free. On November 9, 2019, transfers became free and can be requested when paying to board the bus. To transfer from a local to an express bus, the difference of the service must be paid. One-day, seven-day and 31-day passes are accepted on all routes except for VIATrans and Special Event Service. High school, college, and trade students are able to purchase a semester pass for $38 with proof of enrollment. Upon boarding, students must display valid VIA-issued IDs, or school IDs with stickers for the semester. Students, faculty, and staff attending or working for the Alamo Colleges District, Our Lady of the Lake University, Texas A&M San Antonio, the University of Texas at San Antonio, and the University of the Incarnate Word can ride the bus for free by showing their school-issued goMobile pass as part of VIA's U-Pass program.

Bus service types

The color of a route is assigned by its average off-peak frequency. Some routes contain portions of their route which operate at lesser service types. Additionally, some routes operate with increased frequency during certain parts of the day (e.g. Route 90 is every 30 minutes outside of the hours of 9 am - 3 pm but is classified as a Dupain colored Standard Service).

Special event service

VIA runs special service for major events in San Antonio, ranging from sporting events such as UTSA home football games, San Antonio Spurs home games, the annual Valero Alamo Bowl, and events such as the Monster Jam, Fiesta San Antonio, and The Texas Folklife Festival. Park & Ride Service is usually offered from the Randolph, and Crossroads Park/Rides as well as the Frank Madla Transit Center. The cost for the service is $1.30 one way, $2.60 round trip with discounts for students, children 5-11, seniors 62+, and persons with disabilities.

VIA Link service

On May 4, 2019, VIA launched a new ride-share service in the Northeast San Antonio area which promised more frequent service reliability as well as more flexible drop off points compared to traditional fixed route service. This service was later expanded to the Northwest Side in 2021, the South Side in 2022, southeast of Randolph Park & Ride in 2023, and Downtown in 2024 to also include The Little Runner, which shuttles UTSA students between the UTSA Downtown Campus and its surrounding parking lots.

Keep San Antonio Moving

The public with a 68% vote approved the Keep San Antonio Moving in October 2020. The plan has three primary projects:

Governance

VIA is governed by an eleven-member Board of Trustees, all of whom have two-year terms. Ten of the trustees are appointed by the various governmental entities in Bexar County—the City of San Antonio appoints five members, the Bexar County Commissioners Court appoints three, and the mayors of the suburban cities acting in concert appoint two. The appointed trustees then elect a chairperson as the Board's eleventh member. The current President and CEO is Jeffrey C. "Jeff" Arndt.

Current routes

The following is a list of VIA's routes as of the service changes on August 19, 2024. Many routes that travel through Downtown San Antonio or change directions at a major transfer point continue with a different number; this route pair is also indicated.

Radial routes

Radial routes are numbered from 1–99, providing service to Downtown and travel along major streets. The route number also encodes the general direction the bus travels away from downtown:

Prímo routes

Prímo routes are high frequency skip-stop routes that operate on heavy ridership corridors. Route 100 features stations along Fredericksburg Road and Medical Drive, while Routes 102 and 103 feature enhanced bus stops with real-time arrival information. The northern portion of Route 103 also uses Fredericksburg Road's stations.

Lineup routes

Lineup routes are numbered from 200–299. At 10:30pm, 11:30pm, and 12:30am, all buses that are part of a lineup route will arrive northwest of Travis Park and leave Downtown to provide riders with a final opportunity to arrive at their final destinations. The last two digits of each route number is inherited from the number of the base route that heads away from Downtown (e.g. Route 275 inherits its route number from Route 75 instead of Route 67, as the bus leaves downtown following Route 75).

Crosstown routes

Crosstown routes are numbered from 500–599, providing service on major travel corridors that are outside of Downtown.

Circulator routes

Circulator routes are numbered from 600–699, providing local service within residential areas and allowing transfers to other lines at transit centers. The route number also encodes the general area that the route serves:

Bus fleet

Active fleet

Historical fleet