How San Antonio wants to catch up on mass transit
San Antonio is the largest U.S. city without a light rail system, but experts say two new rapid bus lines can offer similar transportation benefits with lower costs.
Why it matters: As the city cements its status as one of the most populous in the U.S., it has lagged behind its peers in public transit efforts.
Context: A decade ago this month, San Antonio voters passed a charter amendment that said the city would have to get voter approval for any light rail or streetcar systems.
In 2000, voters rejected a light rail proposal; in 2014, a streetcar project died.
State of play: Fast-forward 10 years, and VIA Metropolitan Transit leaders and transit experts say two coming bus rapid transit routes — the Green and Silver lines — will offer an experience similar to rail and move almost as many people.
And officials are betting on it to increase public transit use. VIA's buses had nearly 27 million trips in 2024, up more than 11% from 2023, per American Public Transportation Association data.
"People taking the Green Line are going to be able to get to their connections to other lines faster and more reliably than ever before," Rod Sanchez, VIA's senior vice president of planning and development, tells Axios. "We're definitely taking our service to an all-new level."
The latest: The Green Line will run along San Pedro Avenue from San Antonio International Airport on the North Side through downtown to the Missions on the South Side. Construction is slated to begin in July.
The Silver Line will run from the Frost Bank Center on the East Side through downtown to North General McMullen on the West Side. It's still undergoing design; construction could begin in 2027.
How it works: A rapid bus runs in a dedicated lane, rather than sharing the street with cars. It's expected to arrive every 10 minutes, and riders can pay their fare before boarding to speed up the process.
Construction of both rapid bus routes is largely funded with federal dollars. Despite threats to funding under the Trump administration, Sanchez says VIA feels confident the city will keep it. It's already secured $268 million for the Green Line.
Maintenance and operation will fall to VIA.
Follow the money: The Green Line is projected to cost a total of $480.8 million and the Silver Line $289.2 million.
What they're saying: Frequency is what matters most to convince riders to take public transit over driving, Kelly Blume, associate research scientist at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, tells Axios.
If San Antonio creates "a transit service that achieves high frequencies and fast speeds and can carry a lot of people, you could meet that need with bus rapid transit or with rail," Blume says.
Zoom out: As San Antonio builds out its transit future, systems in major U.S. cities are faltering. Ridership and revenue tanked during the pandemic and has still not fully recovered. Federal funding is uncertain.
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