VIA seeking Community Feedback on Advanced Rapid Transit project’s design and concept
VIA kicked off a series of public meetings in March to gather the community’s input on the regions’ first Advanced Rapid Transit project, part of the voter-approved Keep San Antonio Moving plan.
Meetings will be held throughout 2022 to discuss the project with community members, whose feedback will help shape the ultimate design and concept that moves forward for potential federal funding.
A virtual meeting is available online at KeepSAmoving.com for those who wish to comment but cannot attend one of the scheduled in-person meetings.
While visiting the website, sign up for alerts about upcoming events, including telephone town halls, in-person and virtual meetings.
More About Advanced Rapid Transit
Voters overwhelmingly passed the Advanced Transportation District’s Proposition A in November 2020 that secured dedicated funding for transit projects and improvements, including VIA’s Keep SA Moving Plan and an Advanced Rapid Transit, or ART, network.
Keep SA Moving projects are designed to move more people faster and farther with trip options like the proposed ART North/South corridor that connects the San Antonio International Airport, along San Pedro Avenue, through Downtown and south to the Missions area.
The transformative ART project would offer frequent, reliable service that’s convenient, comfortable, and still affordable, with high-capacity vehicles operating in their own lane outside of traffic, using signal priority for faster trips, off-board fare collection for smoother boarding, and real-time route information for easier planning.
The proposed North/South corridor earned an initial Medium-High project rating from the Federal Transit Administration in February — the second highest ranking possible. Funding for the project is requested in President Biden’s Fiscal Year 2023 Budget and has been recommended by the U.S. Department of Transportation. This is the first time San Antonio can be competitive for access to federal support in delivering a modern mass-transit system. Federal funding would complement local funding from the partial 1-cent sales tax approved by voters in 2020 and allocated to VIA, beginning in 2026. The current project schedule shows the ART North/South corridor opening for service in mid-2027.