By Katherine Blunt, Staff Writer Nov. 4, 2015 Updated: Nov. 4, 2015 8:43 p.m.
In anticipation of a City Council discussion later this month, the Technology, Transportation and Utilities Committee considered the implications of transferring a portion of the city’s sales tax revenue to VIA Metropolitan Transit.
District 4 Councilman Rey Saldaña, a member of the committee, proposed that the city give VIA its share of Advanced Transportation District funding after he had used only the bus to get around in all of June. The quarter-cent sales tax already provides some funding for VIA, but Saldaña’s idea would make it an even more substantial revenue source for what he considers a chronically underfunded agency.
While riding the bus, Saldaña saw that riders struggled to use the system’s infrequent service — a problem he hopes more ATD funding will help solve. Unlike Dallas, Austin and Houston, which fund their transit systems with a one-cent tax, VIA is mainly funded with a half-cent Metropolitan Transit Authority sales tax set in 1977 when the agency was established.
“If multimodal (transportation) is important, here’s where we made our biggest mistake,” he said, referring to the 1977 decision.
San Antonio voters approved the ATD tax in 2004 to fund transit and traffic safety improvements, congestion relief and sidewalk construction. Half the revenue is allocated to VIA, and the other half is split between the city and the Texas Department of Transportation for use in Bexar County.
In a presentation, VIA President and CEO Jeff Arndt explained the challenges of providing frequent service across a 1,200-square-mile service area funded mainly by MTA and ATD sales tax, together expected to account for 76 percent of the agency’s revenue this fiscal year.
“The larger and more spread out a service area is, the more expensive it is to serve,” Arndt said.
Most buses run every 30 or 60 minutes, and service grows less frequent farther from the city’s core.
With more ATD revenue, VIA could boost service frequency by expanding its express and Prímo routes and improving its regular routes. Those improvements would increase annual operating costs by as much as $33 million, Arndt said.
VIA expects to collect about $31 million in ATD revenue this fiscal year. In the past, the agency has used that funding source to build its express, Prímo and limited-stop routes, including one that travels around Loop 410.
The city has used its ATD revenue to build new sidewalks and bike facilities and improve traffic signals and signs, among other things. It budgeted $17 million in ATD funds this fiscal year for 130 projects carried out by 24 employees.
If the city were to give up its ATD share, it would have to either cut projects and staff or find a new source of revenue such as the General Fund or a bond program, said Mike Frisbie, director of the city’s Transportation and Capital Improvements department.
District 9 Councilman Joe Krier said the council will need to find a way to balance VIA’s needs with those of the city.
“If we make (bus service) more available, we have to find a way to do that and not necessarily strip (funding) away from other good things,” he said.
The full council will discuss the idea Nov. 18.