VIA Metropolitan Transit’s board unanimously approved a $767.2 million budget for the new fiscal year that funds expanded bus service, new shelters and preparations for the launch of the agency’s first Advanced Rapid Transit line.
The budget, approved last week, includes $383.8 million for VIA’s day-to-day operations and a $383.4 million capital plan for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1.
The spending plan comes as VIA enters its first full fiscal year collecting revenue from an additional one-eighth-cent sales tax approved by San Antonio voters in 2020. VIA began receiving the revenue in January after the tax was previously dedicated to workforce development programs.
In its proposed budget, VIA estimated the tax will generate about $51.2 million in fiscal year 2027. That money will be used to support VIA’s new rapid lines, microtransit programs such as VIA Link and other transportation projects.
“We’ve made strategic decisions in this budget that represent a foundation to align resources that support the improvements implemented last year and continued delivery of major capital projects,” said VIA Board Chair Laura Cabanilla in a statement.
Much of VIA’s focus this year will be maintaining service improvements rolled out under its Better Bus Plan while preparing for the VIA Advanced Rapid Transit Green Line.
VIA improved service on 61 routes to run at least every 30 minutes as part of an accelerated rollout of its Better Bus Plan. The agency expects to expand its VIA Link on-demand service again following the launch of the VIA Link Southeast Zone last fiscal year, with a new Stone Oak zone planned for later this fiscal year.
“We continue to prioritize delivering the best experience possible for our customers while planning ahead as we deliver these transformational projects,” VIA President and CEO Jon Gary Herrera said in a statement.
The budget will also add 150 bus shelters, an initiative VIA says is a direct response to customer feedback over the need for more comfortable and convenient places to wait for the bus.
To further address customer satisfaction, VIA will launch a new transit ambassador team made up of nine employees who will help passengers navigate the transit system while providing support to bus operators in the field.
VIA enters the fiscal year with more than 1,000 full-time bus operators, which the agency said is the largest full-time operator workforce in its history. VIA says it will now focus on retaining and supporting that workforce while recruiting more operators, fleet and facilities employees and transit police and safety officers.
Those service and workforce investments come as VIA prepares for the planned April 2028 opening of the Green Line, a north-south corridor that will become the agency’s first advanced rapid transit line.
During the budget process, VIA set a goal of having 80% of Green Line construction underway or completed by the end of fiscal year 2027. Work planned for the year includes station construction, utility relocation and other corridor work, along with staffing and service changes needed ahead of the line’s opening.
The VIA board also approved a five-year, $1.1 billion capital improvement plan that includes the Green and Silver rapid transit lines, new vehicles, facility improvements and the planned Eastside Transit Center.
VIA described the new budget as a new financial baseline following the expansion of bus service and its workforce. The agency said the budget accounts for the recurring costs of those improvements along with higher labor, benefits, fuel and contracted transportation costs.
This story first appeared in the San Antonio Report.