About Women’s History Month
Women have continually overcome obstacles and paved the way for movements and transformations both locally and globally in transit history, such as Mary Anderson and Helen Schultz. Noticing that trolley car operators had no way to clear their windshields in the early 1900s, Mary Anderson patented the first practical windshield wiper. Anderson was inducted into the National Inventor’s Hall of fame and the windshield wiper became ubiquitous on automobiles and moving vehicles. Helen Schultz launched the Red Ball Transportation company in 1922, becoming the first woman to own and operate her own bus line. Schultz grew her company against fierce competition, extreme weather, and railroad company opposition to be dubbed the “Iowa Bus Queen.”
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VIA By The Numbers
VIA celebrates and encourages the advancement of women in the transportation industry and is committed to supporting a diverse and inclusive environment. Women serve in every role on our team, including Operations and Maintenance, Safety and Security, Public Engagement, Administration, Management and more.
VIA’s workforce includes 569 women in a wide range of areas from bus and van operators, to communications and marketing, fleet and facilities maintenance, customer relations, planning and engineering, legal services, accessibility services, human resources and many more.
307 women make up nearly half of VIA’s administrative work force.
198 women. including bus and van operators, help keep San Antonio moving every day.
There are 32 women in leadership roles at VIA, including 8 women in our Senior Executive Management Team.
VIA’s fleet and facilities maintenance staff, which keeps VIA vehicles and facilities clean features 40 women, including 3 mechanics.
There are 32 on VIA’s Transit Police Department, including one on the K9 unit.