[0:01] Okay. Good evening everyone. As
[0:05] my trustees are grabbing a seat. Yes,
[0:09] it is now 5:01 pm and I'd like to call to order the february 24th,
[0:14] a td board meeting. Actually,
[0:20] we're gonna do, we're
[0:24] gonna call to order the february 24th via board meeting. Let's begin with roll call
[0:32] vice chair gomez. Present. Secretary malone. Present
[0:37] assistant secretary cooper. Present. Trustee flores present.
[0:41] trustee tu will, trustee rena present. Trustee
[0:46] deon. Present. Trustee howard present trustee
[0:50] fernandez present and trustee rete present welcome
[0:55] trustee. A to the via board of trustees.
[1:02] all right. Uh, we do have a quorum.
[1:06] please stand and join me in reciting the pledge of alle and the texas flag.
[1:15] a pp of allegiance to the flag of the united states of america.
[1:19] and to the republic for which stands? One nation,
[1:24] underg god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all
[1:29] honor, honors texas flag to texas.
[1:35] they under god one.
[1:40] yeah. Thank you. Got it? That was too cute.
[1:47] all right. Okay. Thank you.
[1:51] mr. Duh. Do we have any announcements? No announcements, madam chair. Thank
[1:56] you. We'll, next,
[2:00] move on to a special moment for us, uh, swearing in our of our via
[2:04] transit chief of police. Um, please welcome judge william k. Shaw,
[2:09] who will serve in vias new chief, uh, who was warren vias new chief
[2:13] of police and transit security. Joseph richard rose. Jamal, would you like to introduce
[2:17] both gentlemen, please? Sure. Thank you. Madam chair. The honorable
[2:21] judge william h. Cruz shaw is a native of houston, texas. As a passion for helping people
[2:26] in his community, the pastors reflected in his educational, professional and
[2:30] public service pursuits. Judge shaw served his country as a yeoman,
[2:34] second class united states navy reserves from 2003 until 2011.
[2:39] while in reserves, shaw served in san antonio and in singapore. He graduated
[2:43] from thurgood marshall school of law at texas southern university, he 2009,
[2:48] and opened his own law practice in the heart of the east side of san antonio in september, 2010.
[2:53] judge shaw was elected as city council in june of 2017, and was appointed
[2:57] as associate judge in the 436th district court in bexar county in january of
[3:01] 2019, and was elected to the 436th district court
[3:06] november, 2022.
[3:11] rick? Yes, sir. Next up,
[3:15] if we'll have, uh, you stand there, chief rose, some background on our
[3:19] chief rose. Joseph rose is an accomplished law enforcement executive with 20 plus years
[3:23] of progressive leadership in municipal and trans policing. Specialize in
[3:27] building and modernizing public safety organizations, leading complex operations
[3:32] and developing policy infrastructure and personnel systems that support accountable
[3:36] community-centered policing. Schultz was known for his commitment to ethical
[3:40] leadership, organizational development, and trust-based community engagement. His
[3:44] leadership style balances operational excellence with transparency,
[3:48] personal mentorship and strategic stakeholder partnerships. His educational
[3:53] background includes a master's of public management from the university of maryland,
[3:57] a bachelor of science in organizational leadership from johns hopkins university and
[4:01] associates in criminal justice from excelsior university. He's also attended from
[4:05] penn state university, the police executive development program, fbi, national
[4:10] academy, session 2 81 fbi, national academy graduate.
[4:14] and despite that, he's originally from brooklyn, new york.
[4:19] he began his transit career as a bus operator for new york mta
[4:23] for eight years. Uh, then he went to the world of transit policing at ada in washington, dc.
[4:28] from that point, he progressed to municipal law law enforcement in, in, uh, boy
[4:32] maryland, and made his way down to texas to help begin the start of the
[4:36] capitol metro transit police department. And we're proud to have him here today. And so, at this
[4:41] time, I'll leave you chief to, uh, be sworn in by the honorable judge
[4:45] khaw. Thank you. Without
[4:49] the line. Can
[4:53] I me in the back. Good. Okay. Oh, we get 'em. We gather for
[4:57] more than just a formal appointment. We gather to a firm commitment,
[5:02] a commitment to service, a commitment to leadership, and the commitment to
[5:06] the values that define public trust. The role of the transit
[5:10] police chief carries a profound responsibility. Our tr
[5:15] oh, okay. The role of transit police chief carries
[5:19] a profound responsibility. Our transit system is more than buses, stations,
[5:23] and routes. It's a lifeline of our community. It
[5:27] protects people to opportunity, education, healthcare,
[5:32] and one another. The chief entrusted with protecting this system
[5:36] must lead not only with authority, but with integrity.
[5:41] chief joseph rose, as you prepare to take this oath, you accept
[5:45] the responsibility to uphold the highest standards of professional conduct.
[5:50] you are called to lead with transparency, ensuring that trust between
[5:54] law enforcement employees and the public is earned and
[5:58] maintained. Every day, you are expected to lead with compassion,
[6:03] recognizing that those we serve include our writers, our employees,
[6:07] and members of our community who may be experiencing vulnerability crisis
[6:11] and hardship. Now, please raise your right hand.
[6:16] do you solemnly swear or affirm that you will faithfully execute the duties
[6:20] of the office of transit police chief, that you'll support and uphold
[6:24] the organizational policies and practices, as well as the laws of
[6:28] this state that will perform your responsibilities with integrity,
[6:32] transparency, and ethical practice, that you'll serve
[6:37] our employees and our community with fairness, courage, and
[6:41] compassion. So help you guide. Yes, I do. I do. There
[6:45] you go. By the authority vested in me, I hereby recognize you
[6:49] as the trans police. Congratulations, chief joseph rose.
[7:02] trustees, uh, if you can join me, we're gonna go take a quick photo right here and recognition of
[7:06] this momentous moment here. Thank you.
[10:03] well, again, congratulations, chief, welcome to the team.
[10:08] uh, I also, again, wanna welcome in joining me today, our newest
[10:12] trustee, ms. Chris reta, uh, steward of this community,
[10:17] lots of years of experience and wisdom, uh, that she has imparted
[10:21] on san antonio. So we are, uh, just thrilled that
[10:25] you have joined our board. Welcome. Thank you. Yes.
[10:34] we got a packed house today. I I think we need to see this every, every
[10:38] meeting. Yeah. Let's do that. . All
[10:42] right. We have citizens to be heard next. Um, yes. I'm assuming we have a few
[10:47] citizens who signed up. Yes, we do. We have, we have 20 individuals signed up to speak with
[10:51] one of them. Relinquishing their time to another speaker. Very good. Thank you. We now
[10:55] come to assistance to be heard portion of our public meeting. The board is interested in hearing
[10:59] the comments and concerns from our patrons and citizens in san antonio bayar county area.
[11:04] questions or comments concerning public business or policy over which the board has supervision
[11:08] and the control may be addressed at a later date by the president, ceo and
[11:12] or his staff. This process assures that you receive the most accurate response
[11:16] to your question or concern. Thank you. And via appreciates you taking the time and effort
[11:20] to share your comments with us this evening. Our first speaker
[11:24] is mr. William hernandez.
[11:49] uh, good afternoon, uh, chair
[11:53] via board, mr. Herra and via staff.
[11:57] my name is william hernandez. I'm the president of a
[12:02] tu 6 9 4 retiree chapter, and I'm here today to speak
[12:06] on two subjects. First, I would like to bring to your attention
[12:10] the 10 99 irs forms that were mailed out in
[12:14] 2025. I was notified by a handful of members that
[12:18] they did not receive their forms after advising them
[12:22] to contact payroll. They were told to come in and pick up a copy.
[12:28] the question arises of, you know, what happened to the original copies.
[12:36] they, um, they've talked to, uh, postmasters and they
[12:40] said, well, it would be sent back to payroll. So if you can have payroll
[12:44] due, due diligence and tracking down
[12:48] these original copies because their concerns about, um, identity theft.
[12:54] and, um, so if you can get with them and have them get with those people,
[12:58] we appreciate it. Secondly, um, free
[13:02] rides for all. I was a bus driver for 39 years.
[13:08] I've seen what happens when you open up the gates and let every wedding in
[13:13] to ride free at a feel for the
[13:17] homeless. I really do. But these people will come
[13:21] and they'll just camp out on the bus all day long. And if
[13:26] they're riding for free, there's, I mean, I don't know how you get 'em off the bus.
[13:31] a lot of them are dealing with mental illnesses,
[13:35] you know, and I've seen it where, you
[13:39] know, they have a manic episode and it scares
[13:43] the jitters out of the regular passengers that are riding the bus.
[13:49] a lot of them, um, they leave the bus un unsanitary
[13:53] and, you know, they'll defecate, they'll urinate, you know, I,
[13:57] I've seen it. So a driver will have to call
[14:02] transit police. And depending how close the transit police officer
[14:07] is, is to the, the bus is, uh, the re the, the
[14:11] time it takes 'em to get there. Um,
[14:23] it is a good political talking point, but it will only de
[14:27] delay service for regular rider.
[14:32] I know they already have, uh, free fare for, um, college
[14:36] students and, and elementaries and the kids, you know, and that's
[14:40] all perfect. That's, that's fine, you know, but, um,
[14:45] free for all, for everyone. I mean, I hope you all really consider that, or
[14:50] not y'all, but city council. Um, thank you for your time.
[14:57] thank you.
[15:04] roger. Signs. I,
[15:16] all right. My name is roger signs, and I am the pastor of south city church,
[15:20] and we are located at 34 32 south florida street on the south side of san antonio.
[15:24] and I made a request to have a bus stop moved, and, uh, the bus
[15:28] stop number is 6 6 8 3 6. And the reference number for my request
[15:33] is 5 5 6 8 4 0. My request was denied,
[15:37] and I asked if I could appeal, and they said no. And I said, well, there's gotta be somebody I could talk to.
[15:41] and they said, I could come here before y'all, and that's why I'm here today. The reason I made
[15:45] my request to have a bus stop movie, because there's always a lot of homeless people
[15:49] there, and on sunday mornings, there's a lot of trash. There's empty beer bottles, empty
[15:54] beer cans and stuff like that. And I'm out there, you know, picking it up. But my
[15:58] main concern is one time, one sunday morning, I went out there and I was looking, there
[16:02] was a, a big group of people waiting for the bus. It was about eight people, something like that.
[16:06] and, uh, the, there's a big concrete bench that's right in front of,
[16:10] uh, the entrance into our building. We have a gate out there, right, right in front of
[16:14] the, the, the entrance to the, to the gate. There's a big concrete bench that's part of the,
[16:18] the bus stop, right? And, uh, there was a big group out there, and our people, the
[16:22] congregation had to walk around them, walk into the street in order to get
[16:26] into the gate. And my concern is that I'm afraid somebody's gonna get hit by a car or
[16:30] something, you know? So that's why I made the request. And I wanted to ask to see, I don't know if y'all could
[16:34] look, take a look at it again. And, uh, if y'all could move the bus stop, and I wouldn't
[16:39] even mind if y'all could just move it to the edge of our property, but right now, the bus stop is
[16:43] right in front of, of our building, right where the main entrance is at
[16:47] the gate entrance. There's a big concrete bench right there, and that's where people are waiting for the bus.
[16:51] and I just don't want anybody to get hit, you know, get into an accident or anything like that.
[16:55] so I would like to ask y'all if y'all could take a, you know, look at that again, if that would be
[16:59] possible. And I just thank you for your time. That's all I had for today. Thank you.
[17:04] thank you. Our next speaker, ms. Our next
[17:08] speaker, mr. Paul baal.
[17:20] all right. A little weird to be on this side of the, the board table here.
[17:25] um, madam chair board, thank you for having me. Um,
[17:29] congratulations, chris. Um,
[17:33] all right, well, thank you for allowing me to speak today. Uh, for those that don't know me,
[17:37] my name is paul alua. I'm president of, uh, sera development,
[17:42] and this year I'm serving as the chairman of the metro sa chamber.
[17:46] um, I'm here to discuss our position on free bus fairs. One
[17:50] of my priorities this year is proper infrastructure. Investment free fares
[17:54] is not proper infrastructure investment. Um, so I have
[17:58] a letter that I have written to the board that I think has been handed out to you guys.
[18:02] I'm going to go ahead and read it for you. Um, so since its
[18:07] inception in 1977, via metropolitan transit has been hobbled by
[18:11] insufficient funding, rather than the full cent sales tax that
[18:15] the texas legislator leg legislature made available to municipalities
[18:19] for public transit. C city leaders chose to only utilize
[18:23] a half cent back then. Our community has been playing, playing catchup
[18:27] since. The consequence of that decision was twofold. First,
[18:31] via, over the course of the five decades, lacked literally billions of
[18:35] dollars in revenue that its peer cities have dedicated to public transit. Second
[18:40] via, uh, could not receive federal grants for public transit. The
[18:45] transit agencies across texas and across the nation received grants paid
[18:49] for by tax dollars spent by san antonio residents
[18:53] sent to washington dc the result was a public transit system in
[18:57] san antonio that has struggled to meet the needs of our community over the past 10 years,
[19:02] via has started to change this environment, most notably with the passage of prop a.
[19:06] in 2020, the dedicated an additional one, a sales tax to the public
[19:10] transit. That additional increment not only provided via with desperately,
[19:15] desperately needed revenue, but it also unlocked those previously inaccessible
[19:19] federal transit grants. As a former via trustee,
[19:23] I know that our transit, uh, system runs a lien operation. Calling for universal free
[19:27] fairs without providing funding puts all of that at risk. Um,
[19:32] the metro sa chamber has been a strong supporter of the silver line, uh, including back in
[19:36] the policy, uh, commitment to deploy a hundred million dollars in
[19:40] advanced transportation district funds to pursue $300 million in federal grants that would make
[19:44] the silver line a reality. Eliminating fair revenue without funding replacement
[19:49] could place that strategy at risk by not just jeopardizing the a hundred million dollars in local investment,
[19:53] but the $300 million that the federal government is matching as part
[19:58] of, uh, its grant making process. The fda must confirm vias financial
[20:02] capacity to operate the green and silver lines. And a $20 million reduction
[20:06] in fairbox revenue without replacement funding would almost certainly put negative
[20:11] light on our ability to operate economic mobility,
[20:15] uh, is dependent on physical mobility. As the chair of the metros sa chamber,
[20:19] I strongly encourage my former colleagues on the via board of trustees to continue to prioritize
[20:24] the transformational investments vias making in a rt. Thank you.
[20:33] always good to see a fellow trustee over here. First, meaning out door.
[20:37] I will point out . Our next speaker,
[20:42] rebecca vran.
[20:55] good evening, everyone. Um, chair, vice chair, mr. President,
[21:00] trustees. Um, I'm here to speak on item number
[21:04] six, free fair. Um, my name is rebecca vran,
[21:08] and I serve as the president and ceo of the south texas business partnership.
[21:13] the mission of the south texas business partnership is to stimulate sustained
[21:17] economic prosperity across san antonio and south texas.
[21:21] a critical challenge in achieving that mission is mobility.
[21:26] connecting people to opportunity and businesses to the workforce
[21:31] via metropolitan transit has been a valued partner in
[21:35] addressing this challenge. Vias rapid transit
[21:39] green line, along with the planned south texas parkway
[21:44] represent transformational investment in south san antonio.
[21:48] the green line will connect with the existing brooks transit center,
[21:53] enabling san antonio residents to more efficiently access jobs, healthcare,
[21:58] education, and training opportunities throughout the city.
[22:02] it will also better connect residents across san antonio
[22:06] to the growing employment centers in south san antonio and south bexar
[22:11] county rider throughout the city have consistently
[22:15] asked for expanded mobility options and increased
[22:20] frequency improvements. The green line is
[22:24] designed to deliver. Given the significance of this
[22:28] project, we would be deeply concerned about
[22:33] any shift in priorities that could jeopardize
[22:37] the federal grants already secured for the green line. These
[22:41] funds were awarded based on a clear commitment and
[22:45] plan, any departure from that commitment risks not only
[22:49] critical funding, but also the economic momentum and public trust
[22:54] tied to this investment. On behalf of the south texas
[22:59] business partnership, I respectfully urge the via metropolitan transit
[23:03] board of trustees to adhere to its
[23:07] existing commitment to the green line, maintain its full investment
[23:11] in the project, and continue advancing increased
[23:15] mobility and frequency for the south san antonio
[23:19] and south bexar county region. Thank you for your time and consideration.
[23:24] I believe you all have a copy of on your, on your dais. Thank you very much.
[23:30] thank you.
[23:36] our next speaker is katie farrier.
[23:44] she greater chamber. Okay.
[23:51] good evening, chair, uh, board. My name is katie farrier,
[23:56] and on behalf of the greater san antonio chamber of commerce, I came to speak about item
[24:00] six. The greater chamber supports a strong,
[24:04] reliable and financially sustainable public transportation system.
[24:08] transit is economic infrastructure, connecting workers to jobs and
[24:12] supports regional competitiveness, while framed as an affordability
[24:17] and access measure. The proposed pilot program is a structural
[24:21] policy change that warrants deliberate and transparent evaluation.
[24:26] first, federal funding implications should be carefully considered,
[24:30] even though fair revenue is not vias primary funding source, it contributes
[24:35] to financial stability and is part of the metrics used in competitive grant
[24:39] evaluations. And today's performance driven federal funding environment,
[24:44] san antonio must remain strong fiscal metrics to remain
[24:48] competitive with pure cities. Second evidence suggests
[24:52] that ridership challenges are more closely tied to service design, including
[24:57] frequency, reliability, travel time connectivity,
[25:01] and safety, rather than fair levels. If the goal is increasing,
[25:05] ridership resources may be more effectively directed toward improving
[25:09] service quality on high demand corridors and strengthening connections
[25:14] to major employment centers. Third, operational
[25:18] and safety considerations matter. Via must remain a
[25:23] mobility first system focused on connecting people to opportunity.
[25:28] any policy change that alters usage patterns should include clearly
[25:32] defined metrics for safety, service quality,
[25:36] operational performance, and fiscal impact, along with transparent
[25:40] public reporting. Finally, fiscal sustainability
[25:44] must remain central. Eliminating fares without a dedicated revenue
[25:49] replacement source increases reliance on sales tax and public
[25:53] subsidy. Any funding strategy should avoid increasing the cost
[25:57] burden on residents or employers, particularly in a period of rising
[26:02] economic pressures. Long-term stability is essential to maintaining affordability,
[26:07] public confidence, and business support. We stand ready to work
[26:11] collaboratively with via and the city to ensure that any policy decision
[26:16] strengthens not winks san antonio's long-term economic competitiveness.
[26:21] thank you for your consideration. Thank you.
[26:29] our next speaker is jessica palacios.
[26:44] good evening, madam chair, members of the board. My name is
[26:48] jessica palacios. I'm here on behalf of the san antonio hispanic chamber
[26:53] of commerce, who represents nearly 900 member businesses, and
[26:57] we appreciate the opportunity to speak to you today. On item number six,
[27:02] the san antonio hispanic chamber of commerce has long supported strategic
[27:06] investments in mobility infrastructure that strengthen workforce
[27:10] participation, improve access to employment centers, and enhance economic
[27:15] competitiveness. Our support has always been grounded in fiscal responsibility,
[27:20] long-term sustainability, and the protection of funding streams
[27:25] critical to transit operations. We understand and respect that the
[27:29] goal of increasing access and affordability, however, we're concerned
[27:33] of the potential risk to federal funding.
[27:38] if federal dollars are jeopardized, the impact would extend beyond the five routes and could,
[27:42] um, impact capital projects. Our members rely
[27:46] on reliable transit systems to move employees to manufacturing
[27:50] plants, healthcare facilities, hos and hospitality and tourism
[27:55] corridors, and most importantly, um, small job
[27:59] sites, small and micro business job sites. Um, we believe that
[28:03] decisions of this magnitude require a clear understanding of
[28:07] federal implications, stakeholder engagement, and long term sustainability
[28:12] planning. Um, to kind of reverse course just a bit,
[28:16] in 2020, our members supported
[28:20] a, a formally adopted resolution supporting the via metropolitan
[28:25] transit proposition a, which reallocated the one eighth sales tax
[28:29] to, to via, and our position has not changed. Um,
[28:34] I wanna echo what, what members have already stood
[28:38] up here to say that we are in full support in collaboration
[28:42] efforts with via and the city of san antonio. Thank you so
[28:46] much. Thank you.
[28:51] our next speaker is mr. Robert garza.
[29:15] good evening trustees. I'm robert garza, 22 year bus operator,
[29:19] currently president of a tu local 6 9 4. I'm here to discuss
[29:23] our concerns with free fare for all. Removing fares can increase overall
[29:27] ridership, increased conflicts, higher rates of verbal abuse,
[29:32] greater risk of physical assaults, more on board disturbances, delay
[29:36] of service, and will affect our employee retention. When the bus becomes free,
[29:41] the respect for the service and the person's providing it drops by opening
[29:45] the doors to everyone without exception, we lose the ability to protect our
[29:49] passengers from those who aren't there to travel, but are only there to cause trouble.
[29:53] you can't put a price on safety, but you certainly shouldn't trade it away for,
[29:57] for a political talking point. City hall should focus on fixing real issues
[30:02] in our city, like housing and mental health, rather than try to solve a problem that
[30:06] does not exist. By eliminating fares, our operators, maintenance
[30:10] employees, and rider deserve better. This is a rare occasion where labor and management
[30:14] are 100% on the same page board members.
[30:18] our safety is in your hands. We respectfully ask that you do not allow this
[30:22] program to move forward. Thank you. Thank
[30:26] you.
[30:31] our our next speak. Our next speaker is amalia soto, and
[30:35] he has had time, uh, yielded to him by gilbert les.
[30:41] good evening via trustees, mr. Herrera and mr. Brown. First
[30:45] and foremost, I'd like to thank all the a two members and the families that are here today. They truly are the
[30:49] backbone of this company.
[30:58] my name is amal soto. I'm the a tu 6 9 4 treasurer business
[31:02] agent. But more importantly, I've been a bus operator for 38 years.
[31:06] I'm here today to echo what mr. Garza just mentioned concerning free fares. Eliminating
[31:10] fa eliminating fares is a bad idea, bad business from the negative,
[31:15] bad business from the negative effect it can have from a financial standpoint, at the safety
[31:20] and to the safety issues that will arise from the impact of free fares. As
[31:24] far as the negative effect that will, that will have the, uh,
[31:29] will have with the company. That's mr. Heda and mr. Brown's job.
[31:33] but as far as the safety implications that free fares can have, I can
[31:37] speak on this because a few years ago during the pandemic via was
[31:41] offering free fares. Many of us experienced a negative effect that free fares
[31:46] had during that time. Bus operator assaults and disturbances increased,
[31:50] and that had a snowball effect and caused issues with delay of service and just overall
[31:54] quality of service in general. Our passengers lost reliability service
[31:58] due to all of this in general. Uh, our passengers lost
[32:03] reliability service due to all of this, not just reliable service on the buses, but at
[32:07] the transit centers too. There was overcrowding and cleanings issues
[32:11] at the transit stations. The maintenance employees were having a hard time keeping the
[32:15] facilities safe and clean. Then came the employee turnover. Our
[32:19] workforce started loo looking elsewhere for work because their safety had been compromised
[32:23] and their families wanted them home safely. But vias making
[32:28] progress and we're in a better place now. Via is increasing its workforce to satisfy demand,
[32:32] and our ridership is increasing. Again. We're adding new service such as
[32:36] the new rapid, green and silver line. We're excited
[32:40] that this will create new jobs and opportunities for our community. In
[32:45] addition, morale is also going up due to these new opportunities. So we don't wanna
[32:49] go backwards. The value of reliable service only costs a dollar 30, which
[32:53] is one of the lowest faires in the nation for a major city. But that, that dollar
[32:57] 30 for a bus ride shows that the patron has some skin in the game
[33:01] and holds them accountable when they ride. So trustees, please
[33:06] consider the safety of our passengers and employees when making our, when making
[33:10] your decision. And remember, reliable serves is much better than free service.
[33:14] thank you.
[33:24] thank you. Our next speaker is mr. Jd salinas,
[33:43] madam chair and trustees, thanks for having me and thanks for welcoming
[33:48] me. To, to your chamber. That's good evening. My name's jd
[33:52] salinas. I'm with at and t. I'm the vice president of external affairs. I've
[33:56] been here for, for a bit. And thank you for the opportunity, opportunity to speak.
[34:00] I'm here today to respectfully oppose a proposal to fund the
[34:04] free pilot program and using any kind of tax, any
[34:08] type of revenue. Let me start by saying we understand
[34:13] and respect the goal, improving mobility and affordability for riders,
[34:17] but public transit is important for workforce access
[34:21] and regional competitiveness. But the question before you
[34:26] is not only whether fair free rides or a worthwhile concept,
[34:30] the question is also whether the proposed funding mechanism is
[34:34] appropriate, sustainable, and fair to san,
[34:40] any consumer tax is worth is the wrong tool because
[34:45] it increases cost on households subject to multiple federal,
[34:49] state, and local taxes already being paid.
[34:53] adding another local tax effectively creates quadruple
[34:57] taxation, and the result is higher. Monthly bills from
[35:02] san antonio household and small businesses, taxing
[35:06] san antonios in the name of increasing affordability is counterintuitive.
[35:11] a six month pilot offering free fair service on
[35:15] five routes may be well-intentioned, but if it is funded through
[35:19] consumer taxes, shifts the burden to san antonio residents and households, including those
[35:24] who may never ride the bus at all. Simply
[35:28] put, this proposal does not eliminate cost for sanitary residents.
[35:32] it just re re relocates them onto monthly household bills.
[35:37] and if long-term success requires a permanent tax stream, then it isn't
[35:41] truly a pilot. Instead, it's a policy change
[35:46] with lasting cost implications for san antonio households
[35:50] with san with. If the city and via want to evaluate fair free
[35:54] services, we encourage funding options that do not increase the burden for
[35:59] every household in san antonio. For those reasons, we respectfully oppose
[36:03] adopting, expanding any consumer facing tax and quadruple taxing
[36:08] hard work in san antonio's to fund this pilot project project.
[36:12] thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you again for having me.
[36:21] thank you. Our next speaker is diana amador
[36:25] luna.
[36:36] this one? Yes. Okay. Hello everyone. Thank
[36:40] you for letting me talk for a little bit. I have
[36:44] so much to say. So I have been with via
[36:49] going in this june for eight years.
[36:53] as much as I loved my job at greyhound lines, I sh I tell myself
[36:57] I should have been here years ago because via is a great company.
[37:02] I have great coworkers, I have met a lot of friends here. Via is
[37:06] a good company. It has great benefits, great insurance, and
[37:10] of course the good 4 0 1. I could tell you stories all
[37:14] night long, but I don't have more than three minutes. So
[37:18] I did pick my top three stories to tell you whether
[37:22] they were paying passengers or not paying passengers. I have
[37:27] been threatened to be cut up in a thousand pieces. Sapd
[37:31] had to be called out to cadillac, and it is spelled like this cadillac
[37:35] 'cause it's short for kelly and lackland. Um,
[37:40] I had been also, when I was driving the 26th
[37:44] route, when I had just finished coming over the bridge, alamo jones, bill miller's,
[37:49] my bus was surrounded by unmarked cars, doors opened
[37:54] us marshals, came out with assault weapons. Little to, I
[37:58] was scared to death. I didn't know what was going on. I thought for a minute they were coming after me 'cause
[38:02] I had like maybe five passengers on my bus. Little did I know
[38:06] I had two fugitives on my bus. They said they had been keeping it on my bus.
[38:11] um, another one is where I was driving the 1 0 2, late at night. I was almost
[38:15] done with my route. I was at pleasanton, the military. I had 15 minutes left to get
[38:19] to brooks. When somebody starts breaking my fur box, just
[38:23] breaking it, he was angry. Starts kicking the mirror on the port primo,
[38:27] starts kicking my door. Had to call sapd. I was late
[38:31] getting home for two hours. That's okay. 'cause we get late pay. But I can see
[38:36] my time is finishing. I have been spit on, yelled
[38:40] at, cussed at. I have been, um, had windows broken,
[38:44] doors broken. I had somebody pay for somebody that did not have their fare on the 88
[38:49] route, only to start jumping up and down, having the bus violently
[38:53] shake because he said he was the son of god. I have had people
[38:57] try to ju use their jail card as free. Fair.
[39:02] yes, we do have free fairs in honor of ms. Rosa parks.
[39:06] december 1st of last year was the day that we honored her for free. Faires
[39:10] fia came out with a new program, free fairs for children 12 and eight.
[39:15] I wanted to tell you that this is my schedule, which is a schedule for
[39:19] this. I try to keep it on time because I have my regular passengers
[39:24] and I have my irregular passengers. So I wanted to
[39:28] tell you that all the, all the bus drivers
[39:32] here, extra board and regular passengers, they start coming at three 15
[39:36] in the morning. So you, you do the math, they're probably waking up
[39:40] at two o'clock in the morning to be here to get the routes running. Please
[39:45] do not have free fare. It causes a lot of problems. I'm echo echoing everything
[39:49] what robert and amalia said. Oh, by the way, amalia 36 years.
[39:54] safety. Alia, where are you?
[40:00] 36 years.
[40:04] that's my friend, my coworker. Thank. Alright, diane,
[40:13] thank you. The next speaker is georgina galong
[40:17] or kalo. Am I pronouncing that right?
[40:24] she wanted to speak on route number two.
[40:29] all right. She, she might have left. Um, our next speaker is
[40:33] barbara stock.
[40:45] if I hit it, I hit it.
[40:50] okay. Am I close enough now? Yes. Hello everyone.
[40:54] I know it's been a hard week. Um, the reason why I came tonight is
[40:58] to tell you that I appreciate the service so much.
[41:03] I know about the, what we're talking about.
[41:07] I have been on a regular bus just once or twice and experienced
[41:12] that for myself. But, um, via trans
[41:16] is a wonderful service. Okay? Without you,
[41:21] I don't have my independence to go anywhere or do
[41:25] anything. So I want you to know how much I appreciate
[41:30] it and my family or my friends that live nowhere
[41:34] near me whatsoever. Thank you for your service.
[41:39] we all have issues, but we can all work together and get
[41:43] things accomplished. Thank you for your time. And
[41:47] sometimes the buses do run early, sometimes they run late.
[41:51] and I anticipate that. Thank you very much.
[41:58] thank you. Our next speaker is sina calvin,
[42:08] can I make it?
[42:18] good evening trustees. Um, I had a big, long thing written
[42:22] down because of the number two and I, but I still
[42:27] wanted to come and, uh, thank bob cuomo for helping
[42:31] me get my concerns. Um, elevated thank mr. Herrera
[42:36] for hearing those concerns, not only mine, but others
[42:40] that have been expressed and for pulling that from the agenda
[42:44] and giving us another bit of time to take a
[42:48] look at that. So I did wanna, uh, thank uh, those
[42:52] people. I also wanted to let staff know that I empathize with them. I
[42:57] myself have worked on projects for multiple months or multiple years,
[43:01] only to have someone or someone's come out of the woodwork
[43:05] at the last minute and say, what I didn't know,
[43:09] I'm against this. So I get it. And again, I appreciate the opportunity
[43:14] to be heard and to have further discussion. Um,
[43:18] I have lived on magnolia beacon hill for 20 years, and
[43:23] in 2022 I decided to give up my vehicle,
[43:27] um, because of the number two, because I have that easy access, half
[43:31] a block from my house. And that gets me downtown phil harberger park,
[43:35] roosevelt park, lots of places. So it is an important route to me.
[43:40] I'm also, um, the planning team rep for beacon hill and
[43:45] multimodality, and improving biking, pedestrian
[43:50] access and transit is very important to us. And so I think
[43:54] if we can keep the number two, we can really work on bolstering
[43:58] that ridership, encouraging folks in those neighborhoods that live along
[44:02] the route to see it as a viable way to get downtown.
[44:07] I do wanna take this opportunity since I'm here. Um, on a separate
[44:11] topic, I would like to encourage via to look for ways to engage the untapped
[44:15] households that live along via routes. I know that via recently mailed out
[44:19] free bus passes for february, since a few folks posted about
[44:23] that on our neighborhood page. I like this idea. I also think
[44:28] there would be value in working with neighborhood association
[44:32] associations and other groups on bus field trips where a coordinated
[44:36] trip could be planned with a via steward. A fun trip to phil harburg or
[44:40] park or roosevelt park kind of helps get people over that intimidation
[44:44] factor. And once they've done it once, believe you me,
[44:49] they'll do it again. My sister now thinks she's this great transit writer because
[44:54] I taught her how to do that while she was here. Lastly, I do wanna
[44:58] register a complaint about the fact that there is no ability to load money online
[45:02] onto the go-karts. It practically defeats the purpose and is pretty
[45:06] disappointing in the day of an age of advanced technology. I hope that's
[45:10] something that's a priority. Um, as to the free bus, uh,
[45:14] thing, I respect the via drivers. They get me to where I need to go.
[45:18] I would hope that a limited pilot program would be something that could be considered. Thank
[45:23] you. Thank you.
[45:29] thank you. Our next speaker is elizabeth cheney.
[45:50] hello. Thank you so much for letting, um, us speak. My name's
[45:54] elizabeth cheney. Um, I'm a member of the alamo council of the
[45:58] blind, um, the blended veterans association,
[46:03] auxiliary and a few other, um, groups that
[46:07] have lost, got lost in my mind at this moment. , um,
[46:11] I just wanted to speak, uh, about drop off and
[46:15] pickup spots. Um, we go once to twice a month
[46:19] to the san fernando, uh, catholic church downtown.
[46:24] and it seems like we get dropped off at a
[46:28] spot and we're used to being dropped off and we go back to the same spot to get picked up.
[46:32] but it's not the same spot that our driver will end
[46:36] up being around the corner or further up. And
[46:41] my husband and I are both visually impaired. We, uh, met at,
[46:45] actually at austin, um, at the blind school, chris
[46:49] cole. So we're very familiar with capital metro.
[46:53] and uh, and I don't want it to sound like that we're,
[46:58] uh, this, we just need it to be consistent
[47:02] because when we go back to the spot, we were dropped off. That's where we're
[47:06] expecting our ride to show up. And then they mark us.
[47:11] no show, but we're where we're supposed to do. And a lot of times there's police
[47:15] officers outside and they're remember us from getting dropped off and they'll make sure we're
[47:19] in the right spot and they have to look out and they'll tell us, oh, it's around
[47:23] the corner and they have to go get it for us. And, uh, uh,
[47:27] same thing when we go to the, the majestic theater. Um, and
[47:31] other, and I understand it, um, there might be traffic
[47:36] or other things going on where they, but it would
[47:40] really help, especially in major places like the tobin,
[47:44] they, um, majestic theater, the,
[47:48] um, catholic church that we could have one consistent spot
[47:52] to go to. And I wanna say how much I appreciate all of you,
[47:56] and especially the drivers because of y'all. I can consistently
[48:01] be at work early or on time. I have never been
[48:05] late to work. My boss really appreciates it. I
[48:09] appreciate 'cause I have a paycheck and it really comes in
[48:13] handy when bills come every month, . So I,
[48:18] because of y'all, you've given me my mobility back, my able to,
[48:23] um, be able to get a paycheck,
[48:28] um, to have my self-worth and having my
[48:32] children proud of me because, um, I'm working.
[48:37] I am, um, able to call in, make my rides and
[48:41] I'm very independent at best to my abilities. I appreciate
[48:45] all of y'all and I know how hard these bus drivers work,
[48:49] how hard these drivers, uh, make sure that I safely get
[48:54] to work safely, get to grocery store, and they make sure I get
[48:58] safely, get to the doctor's office and I, um,
[49:02] wanna know how heartfelt I feel about them. Thank you.
[49:10] thank you. Our next speaker is gregory williams.
[49:15] yay.
[49:29] uh, good afternoon. Um, board trustees, uh, ceo herrera, and everybody here.
[49:33] thank you very much for coming. My name is gregory williams. I've been here at via for three years,
[49:38] since february of 2023. It's a great place and a great opportunity
[49:42] for me to be here at via. I enjoy it so very much. But I,
[49:46] I have to put my, um, put my say in for the no fair free transit,
[49:50] uh, the nofa transit, um, proposal. Um,
[49:55] it, it will open the door for, um, many issues. I echo with, uh,
[49:59] what robert garza, our a tu union president says, uh,
[50:03] it will open up the door for us. Many, many more issues. I've already like
[50:07] the way it via is now. I do feel safe and I enjoy my, uh,
[50:11] job. I enjoy taking all the passengers everywhere, uh, across the city. I'm an extra board.
[50:16] um, but there are many times where I've been, uh, assaulted verbally. I've
[50:20] been, um, almost physically assaulted on the bus. The doors have been broken.
[50:24] I've had rocks thrown at the window. And opening this door for anybody to
[50:28] ride this bus, um, does propose, uh, a
[50:33] dangerous risk for everybody on the bus, including the operators. Uh,
[50:37] the, uh, via pd response is slow. The supervisor
[50:42] response is slow. I understand. We, we have so many and they can only be
[50:46] so many places at one time. Um, the, I there's faster
[50:51] response with sapd. Um, sometimes I'm on the bus waiting for a supervisor
[50:55] and via pd for 45 minutes. And that's a service delay. People have somewhere
[50:59] to be, they have to go grocery shopping. They have appointments, they have, uh, some
[51:03] just somewhere very important to be. And with the reliability of the bus
[51:08] going down with allowing free rides to the door, the line will be out the door just
[51:12] to get on the bus. And if someone just unhappy that they can't get on a certain bus, who
[51:16] knows what they're gonna do to that bus? It's gonna delay it. And the, so there's questionable
[51:20] people, undesirable people that linger around that are transit centers. I'm not saying
[51:24] that they're not allowed to ride. Everybody should be able to ride the bus. But the
[51:28] people that that make the bus unsafe are the people that should
[51:32] not, uh, the people riding the bus should feel protected from
[51:37] the buses can become unsanitary already as it is. And there's the,
[51:41] just the people alone around central plaza, they're just unsanitary
[51:45] and exposing paying passengers for their security is going to risk
[51:49] disease in contact with, uh, bacteria. And,
[51:54] and it, that's one thing that via strives to have is clean safe
[51:58] opera buses on time efficient. And I'm glad to be a part of that. And
[52:02] I wanted to continue. I say no to fair trans, uh, no free fair,
[52:07] or no fair transit. I oppose that. I, I believe that
[52:11] fair is security for passengers across the city. Thank you so much. That's my time.
[52:20] thank you.
[52:25] our next speaker, eloy saara. I believe you yielded
[52:29] your time, so he does need to speak.
[52:34] all right, we'll move on to chris morales.
[52:54] good evening via board. Madam chair, my name
[52:58] is chris morale. I'm the president of communication workers of america in
[53:02] san antonio. I'm here to express my opposition to the proposed
[53:07] expansion of vias telecom sales tax for san antonio residents.
[53:12] I understand vias needs to secure reliable funding to improve
[53:16] public transit. And I support the goal of better service for our community.
[53:20] however, taxing telecom services places an unfair
[53:24] burden on something that has become essential for everyday life.
[53:28] phone and internet access are critical for work, for school, healthcare,
[53:33] and staying connected. For emer emergencies, many
[53:37] residents are still facing economic pressure from the rising cost of living. And
[53:41] adding additional taxation would negatively impact on the very communities
[53:47] that public transit is meant to support. I want to reiterate
[53:51] my respect for v's. Mission and the important role public transit
[53:55] plays in the success of our city. My comments today offered
[53:59] in the spirit of partnership and what the shared goal of ensuring san
[54:03] antonio continues to move forward in a way that is fair and sustainable
[54:08] for all residents. I respect, respectfully ask the va
[54:12] board to reconsider this proposal and to continue working toward funding
[54:16] solutions that are fair and mindful of the financial realities
[54:21] of many san antonio's residents are facing. Thank you for your time
[54:25] and consideration. Thank you
[54:30] will. Bridges. Yeah.
[54:46] good evening. My name is will bridges. I'm a driver here of
[54:51] operator here at via for 12 years. Um, excuse me if I'm not following
[54:55] decorum. 'cause I thought the mayor was here, gonna be here since she wanted
[55:00] this meeting and everything. Uh, ms. Herrera and board members and
[55:04] trustees, I'm speaking today as someone behind the wheel every day. I want to be
[55:08] clear, free fair is what make buses harder to operate less safe
[55:12] and less reliable for the riders who depend on our service. When
[55:17] passengers pay even a small amount, it creates
[55:21] structure and respect. It sets expectation expectations and keeps
[55:25] boarding orderly. Without that, buses quickly become a space for
[55:29] loitering, repeated riding with no where to go,
[55:34] and a place for unruly behavior. Re removing fares also
[55:38] increases safety problems. Operators deal with more confrontations,
[55:42] more unpredictable riders, and more delays. Affairs isn't just
[55:46] revenue, it's one of the only twos we have that keep
[55:50] and maintain safe, respectful, behavioral on board.
[55:55] and from an operational standpoint, free fare slows service down,
[56:00] increases crowding and strains equipment and staff. As
[56:04] they said before, I've had people defecate and
[56:08] other things on my bus who weren't in their right mind or whatever.
[56:12] and bus change, you know, all of that, that delay
[56:17] service. Um, if the goal is helping low income
[56:21] riders, target discounts can do that without, uh, messing
[56:25] up the entire system. San antonio has one
[56:29] of the lowest rates in the country.
[56:33] I've been all over the world, all over the country via fares
[56:38] are really low. As a driver, I want a system that's
[56:42] safe, reliable, and workable for riders and operators. Free fair is undermine
[56:46] all of that. Mr. Herrera and board members. Please show the mayor, mayor
[56:51] that the employees that you are responsible for in matter and say no to free fares.
[56:55] thank you on that. And I don't know if I can say this, but for the
[57:00] mayor, you know, as an operator, I enjoy my job. I strongly disagree
[57:04] with making faires free. Free sounds nice and all, but in the end, someone
[57:08] has to pay for it. Making buses free doesn't make transportation
[57:12] free. It only shifts the entire cost onto taxpayers and local businesses.
[57:17] and if you really wanna help out people, don't
[57:21] raise the cps. Don't raise saws,
[57:25] you know, eliminate fares at the airport, you know, city
[57:30] municipal building, uh, parking lots and stuff like that
[57:34] on the bus. It's just gonna make more issues for us as drivers.
[57:40] and that's pretty much it. And thank you all and
[57:44] no to free thank
[57:51] george perez.
[57:56] george betis not here.
[58:00] all right. Jack finger.
[58:34] oh, good afternoon, ma'am. Madam chair, another members of our board.
[58:39] uh, my name is jack m. Finger and route number
[58:43] two. Well, you say you're, you're going to probably leave it as it is, but that hasn't
[58:48] ha that has not happened yet. And so I'm not celebrating just yet.
[58:52] okay. Um, you,
[58:59] my comment is that you need to fire, fire the
[59:03] jerk or jerks that are responsible for this debacle.
[59:07] yeah, . I don't, I notice that, uh,
[59:12] , I notice that none of you were at
[59:17] one of those hearings that this came up all 24. No,
[59:21] the 25 of you were there. J just of two or three staffers.
[59:28] look where and look where the notice
[59:32] is on this change. Buried, buried deep inside
[59:36] this pamphlet. Two thirds, half, two thirds deep in
[59:41] there. What is via trying to
[59:45] hide? I don't like my tax dollars.
[59:49] going to such, yes, deception.
[59:58] round number two is upon a major thoroughfare blanco road.
[1:00:02] it's been around for decades. I repeat decades
[1:00:09] yet you bury this bad proposal.
[1:00:14] what does it say to be replaced? Replaced
[1:00:18] by routes 6 49 and 5 0 6. When
[1:00:22] I an average writer, see that I start to
[1:00:26] panic. I don't read any further. 5 0 600
[1:00:30] and 500 routes are beyond loop four 10. I don't see
[1:00:34] anything indicating where it's below that. So
[1:00:39] and so now, maybe my panic would've been assuaged if I'd seen some maps
[1:00:44] in this thing. Where are the maps? And I was told,
[1:00:48] well, we wanted to save a little bit of money and not, not put 'em in there.
[1:00:53] huh? Excuse me. What
[1:00:57] stupidity? You've had 'em before. So you're saving money this time,
[1:01:01] huh? We,
[1:01:06] the, you would be able to, sir, you still be able to
[1:01:10] transfer at five points and ride downtown? Excuse me. This
[1:01:14] route number two is a major route. I shouldn't have to transfer anywhere.
[1:01:20] please don't let this go forward.
[1:01:25] and on another subject regarding free rides, uh,
[1:01:29] did, does it ever occur to you? What happens when you give away something free? People
[1:01:34] will start disrespecting it. They start trashing it and filthy, filthy. That's
[1:01:38] what happens when will happen on our buses. Thank you.
[1:01:55] there are no other citizens to be heard. Very good. Thank
[1:01:59] you very much. Appreciate everyone's comments. Uh, next we're gonna go
[1:02:04] ahead and go out of order and address item six first, um, which is presentation, discussion,
[1:02:08] and board direction on request received from the february 11th, 2026
[1:02:13] b session at subsequent subsequent communications from mayor jones
[1:02:18] related to via operations and services. Mrta, would you like to
[1:02:22] begin the discussion please? Thank you, madam chair. And as we pull together
[1:02:26] the agenda, I, I should say the presentation, um,
[1:02:32] we're gonna, we're gonna bring up a slide here that we're gonna, we're gonna walk us through the, um,
[1:02:36] through the agenda.
[1:02:42] so before we walk through the analysis, I wanted to briefly frame how we're
[1:02:46] approaching the fair, free question and why the agenda is structured in such a way.
[1:02:51] this is not a single policy conversation. Fair free touches every dimension
[1:02:56] of this organization. It touches our strategy, our customers,
[1:03:00] our workforce. We're hearing that tonight, our operations, financial
[1:03:04] legal frameworks and our long-term commitments to the community.
[1:03:09] that's why today discussion is organized around the core
[1:03:13] responsibilities of not only management, but of our board
[1:03:17] and the opening and the operating realities of, of via.
[1:03:22] we'll begin with the strategic alignment because every major policy choice should be
[1:03:26] measured against how the strategy of this board has, that this board has already
[1:03:30] adopted ie that keeps antonio moving plan, uh,
[1:03:35] is our guiding framework for building a system that people choose to
[1:03:39] use and for delivering on commitments made to voters. The
[1:03:43] first question is whether fair free advances or distracts from that north star,
[1:03:47] that strategic alignment? Next we'll ground the conversation, the ground,
[1:03:51] the conversation and customer priorities. We're not speculating about what
[1:03:55] rider want. We are bringing forward what they have told us through thousands of surveys and community
[1:03:59] engagements. This section also intended to anchor our discussion in rider
[1:04:03] reality, not assumptions. We then will address safety workforce
[1:04:08] and operational issues and impacts. This is about the people who
[1:04:12] run the system and the environment in which service is delivered every
[1:04:17] day. Safety for our employees and our customers. Service reliability and our
[1:04:21] ability to attract and, and retain operators are not secondary
[1:04:25] considerations. They are foundational whether this system works.
[1:04:30] from there, we'll move into the financial, legal and federal considerations. This section reflects
[1:04:34] the board's fiduciary responsibility. We walk you through the financial
[1:04:39] realities, our financing instruments, our revenue bonds, federal funding posture,
[1:04:43] and the long range financial plan. These are, these are constraints within
[1:04:48] any policy change must operate. We will also review
[1:04:52] our existing fair program because the affordability is not new to via,
[1:04:57] we have been delivering and supporting affordable programs for decades. And we
[1:05:01] will show how targeted responsible partnerships already remove barriers for
[1:05:05] those who need support the most without destabilizing the system.
[1:05:10] and finally, we will close with a summary and staff recommendation and of course, seek
[1:05:14] board direction, um, on that. Our intent today
[1:05:19] as management is to provide you a comprehensive fact-based framework so the board can
[1:05:24] exercise its governance role with clarity and confidence. With
[1:05:28] that framing, I will turn it over to the team to begin with that and we'll kick it off
[1:05:32] with strategic alignment. Thank you joe. Gary, uh,
[1:05:36] rod sanchez, senior vice president of planning development. Uh, I've been
[1:05:40] with via for, for two years. And, and I wanted to share with the, the group
[1:05:45] I came to via two years ago because of all the exciting, transformative
[1:05:49] things that we were doing here. It was building the green line.
[1:05:53] it was, you know, adding to our via link service. Uh, and it was the,
[1:05:57] the better best plan that attracted me to via I went the city. I was happy 30, 30
[1:06:02] years there. Uh, but this stuff was really the stuff that I wanted
[1:06:06] to do. 'cause this is the stuff that transformed the city. This is what makes a city, uh, a great
[1:06:10] city to live, work, and play in the city that I want my kids to grow up in. So that's why I
[1:06:14] came here. Uh, as john gary said, you know, our, our mission here, our north star
[1:06:18] is to build a system, uh, that our writers, uh, want to ride.
[1:06:22] that our writers choose to ride. And you don't do that, uh,
[1:06:27] by going to a conference room, putting up a map and drawing a bunch of lines. It doesn't work that
[1:06:31] way. It's not that easy. Uh, you build a system that people wanna ride
[1:06:35] by engaging them in meaningful conversation by having that conversation about
[1:06:39] our services and what they want to see in our services, where they
[1:06:43] want our services to go about frequency, about expanding our service. You know,
[1:06:47] what is it they want? That's how you, you get to the system, uh, that
[1:06:52] that works for everybody. You know, we've done this at via
[1:06:56] over a decade and, and it's funny. The same things
[1:07:00] come up over and over again. You know, that our customers tell us that they want from us.
[1:07:04] it's improved frequency, it's reduced travel time,
[1:07:08] and, and they wanna feel safe aboard our buses. You know, they wanna know that they're
[1:07:12] safe at the bus stop. They wanna know that they're safe, you know, on the bus. I mean, it's funny, I
[1:07:16] was having a conversation today, uh, with somebody that said, you know what? My daughter attends utsa.
[1:07:21] I want to, I want, I wanna know that she's safe when she's on your bus. Those are the things over
[1:07:25] the last decade that our customers have told us. And when you look at what we're doing,
[1:07:30] you know, improve frequency. We have to keep san antonio moving plan. We have the better bus plan.
[1:07:34] we have v link. All things are designed to improve frequency, reduce
[1:07:38] travel time, it's all those things. Plus we're looking at improving our technology
[1:07:43] to, to improve that travel time and keep people safe. It's funny, today
[1:07:47] we just introduced our new chief, you know, and he's, you know, uh, in charge
[1:07:51] of a department that's growing, you know, to face those, those issues.
[1:07:57] and here are the plans that, that, uh, are kind of our founding blocks, if
[1:08:02] you will. And we start out with, with, uh, with the mpo plans, uh,
[1:08:06] mobility 2040, mobility 2045, and the city's sa tomorrow.
[1:08:10] these are all building blocks that we build our plans upon. And all these, you know,
[1:08:15] know plans have, you know, one thing in common, they weren't built in a conference room.
[1:08:19] they were built having those meaningful, engaging conversations with the community.
[1:08:24] and then with via, we started out with our vision 2040 plan, our via
[1:08:28] reimagine and then our keep san antonio moving plan. The vision and,
[1:08:32] and the reimagine plan. Those are, those are good visionary plans, but the keep san antonio movie
[1:08:36] plan, that's where the rubber meets the road. Those are our, that's a, a funded plan,
[1:08:40] uh, where we're starting to execute some of these things that our customers want.
[1:08:45] and what have we learned from all these plans? What have our customers told us they want
[1:08:49] faster travel time, they want shorter weights. You know, these are things
[1:08:53] in the better bus plan. They want late night service. They want expanded service.
[1:08:57] once again, those are all things that we put in the better, better bus plan when we've heard from
[1:09:01] them. They want new express routes and they want direct services. Once
[1:09:06] again, better bus plan sa tomorrow. Uh, these are all
[1:09:10] things in those plans, uh, 'cause that's what we've heard from our customers. So with that,
[1:09:14] I'm gonna turn it over to our resident expert on, uh, ks a to kinda walk you through
[1:09:18] a few slides. Mm-hmm .
[1:09:25] thank you. My name is manger koker. I'm a major
[1:09:29] capital program officer. I have been, uh, working on
[1:09:34] these plans for many years or keep san antonio moving
[1:09:38] plan, as ron mentioned, is culmination of lot of community input
[1:09:42] that we received through mid-range long range plan via vision,
[1:09:46] uh, 2040. And we are reimagined. It is also implementation
[1:09:51] plan, which is based on a td two sales tax
[1:09:56] and leveraging that 82 a t two sales
[1:10:00] tax for our federal funds. So that is the plan. Um, that
[1:10:04] plan has three major, um, transformative
[1:10:09] pro. Uh, the
[1:10:13] guiding, uh, four principles, uh, form the basis of
[1:10:17] these transformative projects. More frequency direct service,
[1:10:22] which results in faster trips, shorter wait times,
[1:10:26] more simple and convenient mobility options that result in
[1:10:31] improved service coverage and connections. And this overall results
[1:10:35] in increased frequency ridership and customer experience.
[1:10:40] the plan is designed to improve the existing transit system, expand
[1:10:45] mobility options, and invest in our capital and technology.
[1:10:49] uh, there are three projects which we are going to shortly go over.
[1:10:54] I'm going to do advanced rapid transit or via rapid rod is going to
[1:10:58] take over better bus plan and via link via rapid
[1:11:02] delivers, faster travel times, broader access, stronger community
[1:11:06] and economic connections that will transfer our urban mobility.
[1:11:11] the these lines will provide reliable, high frequency,
[1:11:15] faster service seven days a week with help of
[1:11:19] dedicated bus lanes and priority transit signals
[1:11:24] via green line, which on this map is north. South direction.
[1:11:28] connects the airport from the north through downtown
[1:11:32] to the brooks on the south, uh, with 10.3
[1:11:36] miles of infrastructure improvements. The construction on this
[1:11:40] project is underway and has al this project has already
[1:11:45] received federal funds via silver line, which connects
[1:11:49] san antonio's east and west communities. Also intersects
[1:11:53] this north side line and together it forms a basis
[1:11:58] of our network. Vi is also applying for,
[1:12:02] uh, a cig capital improvement small starts grant
[1:12:06] for the silver line. And I will get into financials a little later.
[1:12:14] alright, so I'm gonna geek out for
[1:12:18] you just a little bit. Uh, I'm, I'm a planner and, and, uh, you
[1:12:22] know, the father of planning is daniel burnham. And, and one of his famous quotes is,
[1:12:27] make no little plans. They have no magic to stir
[1:12:31] men's blood. So that's not what we do. We make big plans and, and I think
[1:12:35] the biggest plan that we have is a better bus plan. Uh, this is a plan
[1:12:39] and it's one of the most exciting plans that we do. This is, this is where it's where it's all at.
[1:12:44] uh, this is a plan that we built with our customers for
[1:12:48] our customers. And what do our customers tell us? They want more frequency. They
[1:12:52] want us to expand our service and they want more direct routes. They want to go where
[1:12:56] they need to go. And when we're all said and done, uh,
[1:13:01] we implement this plan. We'll have the green line, we'll have the silver line.
[1:13:05] uh, every single one of our routes will have a frequency better than 30 minutes.
[1:13:10] and we're gonna go, we're gonna direct those routes to where people want to go. Uh,
[1:13:15] when we presented this plan to you last year. Uh, you
[1:13:19] guys are really excited about it. You said, great job. We're happy with what
[1:13:23] you're presenting. Uh, but this was designed to be a six year implementation plan, and that's when you
[1:13:27] guys frowned and said, no, it's not good enough. Uh, we, we want you to put this great
[1:13:31] service on the ground sooner than that. Uh, so that's what we did.
[1:13:35] we rolled up our sleeves, uh, worked with our finance department.
[1:13:40] uh, we hired a ton of operators, uh, and, and we figured out how, how to
[1:13:44] do that. So happy to report that at the end of
[1:13:48] 25, uh, before a year had passed, 24%
[1:13:53] of this better bus plan was implemented. This year, this year alone,
[1:13:57] were planning to improve 41%, 41% of the
[1:14:01] better bus plan. That includes over 45 routes. So at the end of, at
[1:14:05] the end of may, actually 65% of the better bus plan
[1:14:09] will be implemented. And on the streets, you know, it,
[1:14:13] it's gonna take us till 2031 to implement the whole thing. That's because
[1:14:18] we gotta get the silver line on board and we gotta tie into the silver line.
[1:14:22] but the vast majority of the plan will be, uh, implemented by that time.
[1:14:26] but, you know, here, here's the better plan is just a perfect example of
[1:14:31] we, we heard our customers, we listened to our customers, and we're delivering to our customers
[1:14:35] what they've asked for.
[1:14:39] and I wanted to share this, this slide with you. This was, uh, this was kind
[1:14:44] of a reimagined ski slope slide, uh, which tells, you know,
[1:14:48] we, we asked a simple question to potential riders. We said, at what frequency
[1:14:52] would it take for you to take our service? And, and that's what that,
[1:14:56] that slope represents, uh, is, is the interest in taking our service.
[1:15:01] at the bottom of the slide is, is the, the frequency in minutes.
[1:15:05] so you can see at 10 minutes, 84% of
[1:15:09] those folks we asked, they said they would be interested in taking our service if we're delivering
[1:15:13] a 10 minute frequency. And then it kind of falls a little bit at 20 minutes to 64%,
[1:15:18] about 20% at 30 minutes. And then the bottom drops out.
[1:15:22] when you're beyond 30 minutes, somewhere between five to 1% of the people
[1:15:26] said they're gonna take our service. So that's not good. And what's really not good, what
[1:15:31] the red represents in 25, 70% of our service
[1:15:35] was in that 20 to 60 or the 30 to 60 minute service. So we weren't doing
[1:15:39] very well. But now with the better bus plan, with 65%
[1:15:44] of it being on the ground, after may we flip the script, we will flip the script.
[1:15:49] in may, 72% of our routes will have service that's
[1:15:53] better than 30 minutes. So the team has done a great job doing that.
[1:15:58] and, and what's amazing is we're seeing the results already. When
[1:16:02] you look at our ridership numbers, people are responding to this service. Our ridership is growing,
[1:16:06] especially on those routes. Uh, where we've improved them
[1:16:12] also in the better bus plan is, is via link. And in via link
[1:16:16] this, I, I call this our coverage service. 'cause this is, the service is
[1:16:20] kind of in the perimeter city, uh, where you have cul-de-sacs, you have
[1:16:24] kind of verland streets, you have topography. Uh, it doesn't
[1:16:28] work to bring a 40, 60 foot bus out to these areas. Uh,
[1:16:33] but it makes a lot of sense to do an on dam, on demand service, like via link.
[1:16:37] and in the better bus plan, we call for 10 10, uh, via link zones.
[1:16:42] uh, we have six of them on the ground today. Those are the ones in purple,
[1:16:46] uh, with the southeast, uh, trustee gomez being the latest and
[1:16:50] greatest as a couple months old. And we are already seeing great, uh, uh,
[1:16:54] numbers and ridership there. Uh, since 2019, we've been
[1:16:58] delivering this service. Over 2 million people have used it this last year. We've
[1:17:03] seen a 35% growth in that, and about 500, 500,000
[1:17:07] people take this service, uh, on, on a yearly basis. So, once again,
[1:17:12] talk to our customers. They've told us what we wanted and we've delivered, and they've responded
[1:17:16] by, by using our service. So with that,
[1:17:20] uh, that concludes man juries in my presentation. We're
[1:17:25] available to answer questions if anybody has any questions for us. If not, we'll turn it over to leroy
[1:17:29] trustees. Do we have any questions at this moment? None. Okay.
[1:17:33] madam chair? I do. Yep. Vice chair gomez. I, I just want to,
[1:17:38] for clarity, the 70% flip occurred over
[1:17:42] a one year period, one and a half year period. What wa what was that time again?
[1:17:46] it was 25. At the end of 25, and it will occur
[1:17:51] in may of this year, in may of this year when we put 65% of the better
[1:17:55] buss plan in effect. So after the may service change,
[1:17:59] literally routes that were over 30 minutes comprised 70%
[1:18:03] of our routes. And now literally it'll be the complete opposite. That's
[1:18:08] right. Okay. Thank you that that was in response to the direction that you gave
[1:18:12] us when we, I, uh, when we present the plan to you. Thank you,
[1:18:20] madam chair, members of the board, leroy allway, chief of staff.
[1:18:24] as we transition into the next part of the presentation, we also wanted to take
[1:18:28] a moment and really reinforce for everyone
[1:18:32] that what we're delivering on today was also a promise that
[1:18:36] we made to the community. In november of 2020, when the community overwhelmingly
[1:18:41] supported reallocating the one eighth cent sales tax to the advanced transportation
[1:18:46] district for the keep san antonio moving plan.
[1:18:50] as you heard, rod and manger mention what we're developing and
[1:18:54] implementing with the keep. San antonio moving plan is the backbone of a reform
[1:18:59] revitalized transit system for our community.
[1:19:03] success for us looks like a system where people choose
[1:19:07] transit 'cause it gets them where they want to go, where they need to go
[1:19:12] on time, safely, and with dignity.
[1:19:17] the plan that is on the screen before you at this moment
[1:19:21] encapsulates that the launch of two via rapid lines, more via
[1:19:25] link and the better bus plan. That's how we grow
[1:19:29] ridership, how we improve the system, and in line with the mission, vision,
[1:19:34] and promise that the board has put in place as the last year,
[1:19:38] how we are also the driving force for our community's growth and success.
[1:19:43] I'm gonna be joined by terry travino to walk through what our community
[1:19:48] and customers continue to tell us about their priorities for our system.
[1:19:52] and again, just wanted to reinforce that what we're delivering today, we
[1:19:56] told voters we would deliver in november of 2020, even
[1:20:00] recognizing that that sales tax did not start coming over to via until january 1st
[1:20:05] of this year. So it would've been very easy to wait six years
[1:20:09] to start seeing that plan come to fruition. This agency
[1:20:13] didn't wait, and as you just heard from rod as well, we are even
[1:20:17] accelerating faster. The plans we've put in place to deliver for our community.
[1:20:24] thank you madam chair and trustees. Terry
[1:20:28] tino, senior vice president of marketing and communications
[1:20:32] marketing without data is like driving with your eyes closed.
[1:20:37] I'm here to provide you data and feedback on
[1:20:41] behalf of our customers and our community.
[1:20:45] customer feedback is at the core of all things we do to deliver service
[1:20:50] and provide value to our community. We have a dedicated staff
[1:20:54] of subject matter experts in the field of customer feedback and surveys
[1:20:59] who work on collecting, synthesizing, and delivering
[1:21:03] insights on the pulse of the region, including customers, future
[1:21:08] customers, and members of the larger community. Our main,
[1:21:12] main surveys focus on customer satisfaction, which measures
[1:21:16] what existing customers think, feel, and experience.
[1:21:21] we also measure net promoter score. It is the gold standard
[1:21:25] of future growth and focuses on brand loyalty,
[1:21:29] gauges, customer experience, and we administer community
[1:21:34] value surveys and market surveys, which identify value
[1:21:38] drivers conduct gap analysis,
[1:21:42] optimizing pricing and packaging and improvising,
[1:21:47] improving in, uh, retention. However,
[1:21:51] survey vail, validity and reliability are critical to providing
[1:21:56] trustworthy research. And our survey results work within
[1:22:01] nationally accepted validity scores evaluated by
[1:22:05] neutral third parties. Our data is very consistent
[1:22:09] across the mentioned survey channels. Fair free service
[1:22:13] is not a top of mind request from our customers.
[1:22:17] we ask about bears and affordability, and it simply
[1:22:22] does not resonate as a primary concern or barrier.
[1:22:27] what writers are asking for consistently and clearly
[1:22:32] is more frequent service, better on time performance,
[1:22:36] shorter travel times, and a system that they can rely on.
[1:22:41] these themes show up again and again in our surveys
[1:22:45] and our feedback. In fact, 89% of
[1:22:50] non-customers surveyed agree that even though
[1:22:54] they do not use via services, they are glad they, there
[1:22:58] are plans to improve public transit because either they or
[1:23:02] someone close may need it in the future. This
[1:23:06] overwhelming overwhelmingly concludes that our community
[1:23:11] sees the benefit in transit that is available for everyone.
[1:23:17] since 2021, via has conducted semi-annual customer
[1:23:22] satisfaction writer surveys, we do this to ensure that we understand
[1:23:26] the perspectives, perspectives of our existing customers
[1:23:30] to identify, analyze, and improve customer sentiment, to boost
[1:23:35] retention. This allows us to deliver on what matters most to our
[1:23:39] existing customers. Our most recent cu customer satisfaction
[1:23:43] survey shows that existing customers are largely
[1:23:48] satisfied with what they pay today. That's an important data
[1:23:52] point. It tells us that for most writers, the
[1:23:56] fair level itself is not a primary barrier in
[1:24:00] using transit. The primary barrier is whether
[1:24:04] the service works for their daily life. Overall,
[1:24:08] our customer surveys show significant satisfaction with the via
[1:24:12] system on average, and most recently, 87%
[1:24:17] of our customers say that they're satisfied or very
[1:24:21] satisfied with their experience on our existing system.
[1:24:25] that's compared to a transit industry average of 76%.
[1:24:32] and importantly, more than half of the survey respondents
[1:24:36] have said their experience has improved over the last
[1:24:40] year. Our net promoter score is the highest
[1:24:45] in the transit industry and falls within the range of world
[1:24:49] class across all beloved brands.
[1:24:57] now we look at what actually drives ridership growth.
[1:25:01] the data is clear frequency, reliability,
[1:25:06] and usefulness of the network. When service improves,
[1:25:11] ridership follows, when service is unreliable,
[1:25:16] even free fares don't overcome the inconvenience.
[1:25:21] as we continue examining customer feedback, we routinely
[1:25:25] ask what's most important to them on time performance
[1:25:30] has risen to the top of most important features of
[1:25:34] our system. In each of our last three customer
[1:25:39] satisfaction surveys. In the red summary box,
[1:25:43] you will see the top three important factors have
[1:25:47] been consistent on time, performance, service
[1:25:52] coverage, and weather protection. Once again,
[1:25:56] we do not see in our surveys that the cost affairs is prohibitive.
[1:26:02] in fact, 98% said they are satisfied
[1:26:06] or very satisfied with our current fair structure.
[1:26:11] on the left hand side of the slide, we summarized what our customers
[1:26:15] are most satisfied with and least satisfied with.
[1:26:20] our customers say they like the ease of purchasing,
[1:26:24] fare, trip planning, and access to
[1:26:28] stops. They tell us that we need to work on weather protection,
[1:26:33] weak weekend frequency and security at our stops.
[1:26:38] and they tell us they see tremendous value in the cost of
[1:26:42] their affair. Not that it isn't an obstacle.
[1:26:49] last summer in a community value survey, which
[1:26:53] measures the public's perception of the worth,
[1:26:58] benefits, and price of quality ratio of a product and service,
[1:27:03] we reached out to writers and non-writers. We found
[1:27:07] broad support of v's. Plans to improve services,
[1:27:12] quality service and price is a key
[1:27:16] dimension of feedback. And those surveyed agree
[1:27:20] that our planned investments will help those most in need
[1:27:24] across our community. That a strong transit network is
[1:27:28] foundational to economically competitive city to an
[1:27:33] economically competitive city. And that public transportation
[1:27:38] is an essential aspect for workforce development.
[1:27:42] as a result of this feedback, we know and are committed
[1:27:47] to overserving the underserved, we do this through working
[1:27:51] with over 120 nonprofits who
[1:27:55] purchase discounted bus passes to provide to their clientele
[1:28:00] population
[1:28:07] in the same community value survey. In terms of the
[1:28:11] questions of how do we broaden our customer base,
[1:28:16] the top responses from residents in our region
[1:28:20] include safety, more transit options,
[1:28:25] higher frequency service, the delivery of our advanced rapid
[1:28:29] transit program, better technology. And
[1:28:33] the continued expansion of via link
[1:28:38] absent from this list is the cost of fares.
[1:28:42] as a as survey after survey has shown us, our customers
[1:28:46] feel they're getting a significant value for the fares
[1:28:51] they pay, and the cost is not prohibitive.
[1:28:55] in other words, it is not a barrier to ride.
[1:28:59] thank you. And
[1:29:04] with that, we're glad to take any questions on this segment before mr. Brown joins
[1:29:08] us at the podium. Okay. Trustees, any questions
[1:29:13] trustee? Thank you, terry. This is amazing information. Uh,
[1:29:17] just wanna get some clarification. So this is a lot of great data
[1:29:21] and I like that you presented not only customer data, but
[1:29:25] uh, data from non-writers as well to try to understand what are some of those barriers.
[1:29:30] so just to clarify, um, you mentioned there, there
[1:29:35] wasn't any comment on cost of barriers being, um,
[1:29:40] cost affairs being a barrier for non-writers? Only 2%. Okay.
[1:29:45] and then was 98% said our, they were, they valued our
[1:29:49] fair structure. Was this a statistically valid survey or how do we
[1:29:53] make sure that we were, we got sample size from, uh,
[1:29:57] majority of the population? Yes, absolutely. As, as me, uh, mentioned earlier,
[1:30:02] um, survey validity and reliability is important to us. We work
[1:30:06] with third party vendors, um, to administer the,
[1:30:10] um, to administer the survey reports. And we always work within
[1:30:14] nationally accepted validity scores. Are there any
[1:30:18] ways of how, um, so thank you.
[1:30:22] are there any, uh, outlets outside of a survey where we are receiving feedback
[1:30:27] from non-writer and writers to understand, um, how
[1:30:31] to turn them into writers or how to remove any barriers for them to become writers?
[1:30:36] yes. Um, I covered some of our surveys, but when we
[1:30:40] talk about voice of the customer, we get the voice of the customer through many
[1:30:44] outlets, surveys, focus groups, tele-town halls,
[1:30:48] um, writer intercepts, so meeting people at the actual bus stops.
[1:30:52] so voice of the customer is really a matter of how we go about collecting
[1:30:57] data in a ma in various manners.
[1:31:04] trustees, any other questions? Uh, I as a follow up to that, and that's where I was
[1:31:08] going trustee, um, uh, fernandez was, uh, who conducted,
[1:31:12] do you have, um, the company that did conduct the surveys?
[1:31:16] yes, we do. So for our customer satisfaction score, uh,
[1:31:21] customer satisfaction survey, which is administered twice a year, that is done by
[1:31:25] trans pro, who also does other, um, transit industries within,
[1:31:30] uh, within the industry. In addition to that, our net promoter
[1:31:34] score is also administered by trans pro. That's done once
[1:31:38] a year, and that's an industry-wide standard. Um, I should say that
[1:31:42] that is a, that's a standard amongst all brands to survey
[1:31:46] once a year. Um, we have a community value survey
[1:31:50] that is administered by a company called base bass lease.
[1:31:55] and lastly, we do a market survey, which is also administered
[1:31:59] by mark, um, trans pro. So we work with third party vendors
[1:32:04] to, um, to develop and, um, synthesize data
[1:32:09] and gather feedback. Great. Thank you very much. Mm-hmm . Uh, trustee
[1:32:13] question? Sure. Um,
[1:32:19] outside of, uh, oh, are these surveys only administered
[1:32:23] digitally or are there any no, ma'am. We, we
[1:32:27] collect, uh, we collect survey feedback in many different ways.
[1:32:31] we collect it via, um, bilingual phone,
[1:32:35] telephone in person, electronically, digitally.
[1:32:40] um, we understand that we have to meet our customers where they're
[1:32:44] at, and so thus the way that we collect data is, um,
[1:32:48] reflective of how our, our, our community is, uh,
[1:32:53] is structured. Mm-hmm . Absolutely.
[1:32:58] good. Okay. Thank you.
[1:33:37] good afternoon, madam chair and trustees, pleasure to be before you today. My name's tramell brown,
[1:33:41] deputy ceo. Today I'll be talking to you about
[1:33:46] the operational impact and safety impact of a fair free system and a fair free
[1:33:50] service. One of the things I'd like to start off with, operator safety
[1:33:55] is rider safety. A safe system begins with safe operating
[1:33:59] additions for all of our frontline employees. The biggest thing
[1:34:04] to remember when operating conditions become more volatile, operator stress
[1:34:08] increases. When operator stress increases safety
[1:34:12] risk also increases. More importantly, protecting operator safety
[1:34:16] protects our rider safety. One of the things I wanted to stress today,
[1:34:21] it's like you'll see their safety's not negotiable. It's not only our priority, it's
[1:34:25] something we take very seriously. There's an increase affordability cost that takes
[1:34:29] place. We've learned this from nationwide examples as well as our own lived experience.
[1:34:33] most of what you heard from the women and men behind us that spoke, uh,
[1:34:37] on their experiences happen here in san antonio. These weren't canvassed
[1:34:42] from agencies from across the country. This was lived experience by people who
[1:34:46] actually did this job. What's important also, is that listening to our frontline
[1:34:51] is as important to us as listening to our customer. We canvas their thoughts,
[1:34:55] we listen to what they have to say. Say we have safety committee meetings. One of the priorities
[1:34:59] is that, is to be there to support those that support the community that they
[1:35:03] move. So we have a symbiotic relationship that works well.
[1:35:08] operators are also essential workers. For those that were here, and remember the era of covid,
[1:35:12] we were the ones transporting those that were essential to other
[1:35:16] moving parts of this, this community that we live in. So if we want more service, we
[1:35:20] must be able to attract and retain operators. Without them, we don't have a transit system.
[1:35:25] bless you. Next slide. So at this point,
[1:35:29] I'd like to talk to you about some of the operational impacts.
[1:35:33] fear free does not eliminate costs. We've already learned the herd already that it shifts them.
[1:35:38] universal fair free would increase supervision demands and reduce operational predictability,
[1:35:43] which is something our customers have come to enjoy. They don't only know the operators,
[1:35:47] they know the bus, they know what time it's gonna get there. They are norms that would be disrupted.
[1:35:52] one of the things that's important is that resources that are redirected towards
[1:35:57] expanded supervision or response are resources not invested in service
[1:36:01] frequency. More importantly, fleet reliability, route
[1:36:05] expansion or on time performance, increased complexity, makes consistent
[1:36:09] performance or harder to sustain. So I'm
[1:36:13] gonna use some, some terms and phrases. So forgive me, uh, for
[1:36:17] not waxing poetic, but some of these are vernacular that we use in transit.
[1:36:21] and so I'll, I'll kind of do like a rock scheme across the water and give brief examples
[1:36:26] and understanding what it is. But I'll yield to any questions that you have before I, I
[1:36:30] complete my time here. So the first step we have for service adjustments
[1:36:34] is daily efficiency and service adjustments. And that's on time performance.
[1:36:38] this will be greatly impacted. Again, this was a lived experience that we saw. It's not
[1:36:42] something that we estimated. This is due to additional space or buses that are needed
[1:36:47] due to increased calls for service related to capacity issues. Spacers
[1:36:51] are a term that we use loosely that we use to provide resources
[1:36:55] to regulate and deal with bunching and stacking of buses.
[1:37:00] when one bus starts to run late, it affects the bus behind it. And so we'll use
[1:37:04] other buses almost like accordions and deploy them from different
[1:37:08] areas throughout the city that are in the field. And the dispatchers, much like an
[1:37:12] orchestrated movement, will kind of wave the baton and start to send vehicles
[1:37:16] all over the city to alleviate congestion. You've seen this happen in the airline industry.
[1:37:21] we do that every day. There are hundreds and hundreds of people that help us provide
[1:37:25] the daily miracle that gets most of the people that need to get where they're going,
[1:37:29] going without even understanding what's going on behind the behind the scenes.
[1:37:34] so back to the capacity issues that will create standing loads.
[1:37:38] that means every seat taken the aisle almost completely full.
[1:37:43] that leads towards pass ups. We have policy, we have procedure
[1:37:48] that require the operator to call and contact the dispatcher anytime we pass up.
[1:37:52] anyone that at a service stop, that's our commitment to customer service
[1:37:56] outreach and impact. And when that call happens, the dispatcher has a couple of options
[1:38:01] that he or she needs to do. First, let's get that person
[1:38:05] picked up and addressed. Also, how do I find the people who need to
[1:38:09] do that? So they start to wheel their magic baton and find the solutions for this.
[1:38:13] the problem we have with that is these repeat pass up,
[1:38:17] become service adjustments. People get frustrated, the service reliability
[1:38:22] is impacted. They're literally watching the bus they would normally get on to get to work on time.
[1:38:26] pass them by because they can literally see people almost standing at the fair box.
[1:38:30] we saw this, we lived this experience before.
[1:38:35] um, one of the things that you also understand is for the calls for service,
[1:38:39] most often those are bus stoppages. Those are
[1:38:44] service disruptions. And that's something we're gonna talk about a little bit further as we go on
[1:38:48] right now. We'll move into the resource management operators is
[1:38:52] an important resource that we have and operator availability and the use of that is paramount
[1:38:56] to just getting service out. The transit industry is unlike many where
[1:39:01] there are actually platforms of work where we have employees that are on
[1:39:05] the ready just in case someone calls in sick, just
[1:39:09] in case someone's not able to come and pull that bus out on time.
[1:39:13] we have someone already standing by that within seconds will
[1:39:17] get their assignment, go out there, jump in that vehicle, and get to the start
[1:39:21] point and pick up a customer. And they never knew that wasn't the one that was supposed to pick them up.
[1:39:26] that's another example of the daily miracle. Whenever we have a
[1:39:30] situation where we're dealing with a fair free situation like this, we have an
[1:39:34] increase in those operators, what we call reserves or standbys, and they're always
[1:39:38] on the ready, but they're also the ones that are used to fill spaces. So
[1:39:42] if all the operators pull out for the daily pullout that morning, they
[1:39:46] stay here, they grab vehicles and they go wait in the field. In some areas
[1:39:50] that we call the hole, if I told you I'd have to kill you, but this is, this is,
[1:39:54] uh, high transit iq stuff. But these are just areas that we deploy from
[1:39:59] that are regionally located that help us get there in the most timely manner to some of
[1:40:03] these places where we, we see a lot of these things happening. We'd have an increase of operators
[1:40:07] each day just to stand by just to meet the additional demands. In addition
[1:40:11] to the standard work that we do every day. That would be our
[1:40:15] new life. If we were to get involved and to move forward into even a pilot program that began,
[1:40:20] additional buses would be needed, uh, we would have to dip into our spare ratio.
[1:40:25] the fta requires that we have backup buses on the ready to go out and call
[1:40:29] for service. It's not acceptable by the ft a to have a transit system that
[1:40:33] says we're all outta buses. Sorry, we, we we can't pick you up.
[1:40:37] you're on time. Performance will be affected. So we, we have to have those vehicles always
[1:40:41] on the ready. But what's worse than that? You have to have the operators to drive the vehicles.
[1:40:46] and we heard before from the famous dream team before I got here,
[1:40:50] that we've done well to follow up on what you've asked of us to do. And
[1:40:54] that's make the priority the people. And in doing so,
[1:40:58] we have to have a support group that helps that happen as well. There's also
[1:41:03] additional daily buses that need to be maintained. Service cleaned,
[1:41:07] the readiness for every single day, that's
[1:41:11] on top of what we normally do. So to have a fair free system
[1:41:15] that deals with some of these, and these are just the smallest ripples, uh, of that type
[1:41:19] of service to provide, we would always have to staff up,
[1:41:24] reprogram, re-strategize, and move forward. Next
[1:41:28] step we'll move into the safety and security area. Code
[1:41:32] of conduct compliance is one of the biggest things that would be the bucket or the
[1:41:36] box that you heard most from the women and men that came up to speak
[1:41:40] about what they remember. When we had a situation where we had fair free service that was going on.
[1:41:45] code of conduct sets the service expectations for all of our customers.
[1:41:49] it's behavior, the acts, the rules, all the safe service
[1:41:53] measures that create kind of the decorum, the environment that they're used to. They can
[1:41:58] tell what's normal by the adherence of that. When people are
[1:42:02] outside of that, they can tell something's a little bit different today.
[1:42:06] it's not a regular trip to get where I'm headed to now, operator
[1:42:10] engagement of code of conduct issues have a greater opportunity
[1:42:14] for conflict than enforcing the fair. I'll say
[1:42:18] that one more time. Operator engagement, just them engaging
[1:42:23] the people who are performing outside of the acceptable code of conduct behavior
[1:42:27] has a greater opportunity for conflict than enforcing the fair. Because
[1:42:31] most of them end up with not only a stopped bus, but some
[1:42:35] being removed from the bus. There's another impact that
[1:42:39] happens from there. The customers who routinely ride and they're trying to get to those,
[1:42:44] uh, quality of life opportunities, get to their job, um, get
[1:42:48] to their, their school, get to medical assistance,
[1:42:52] these are delays. And what's so bad about is what we saw is they could
[1:42:56] predict the delays. They could tell that if someone was at a bus stop and
[1:43:00] they got in with no shoes, no shirt,
[1:43:05] and some foreign substance just dripping from their body, this is
[1:43:09] not dramatic, this was just tuesday.
[1:43:14] they knew that they may not get to work. They would make
[1:43:18] comments like, keep going, pass 'em up. They
[1:43:22] just did not want risk, the opportunity to miss, to get
[1:43:26] to that undisrupted trip that they've grown to be used to. And so during
[1:43:30] covid, we saw a lot of this that was taking place. Now, the reason that it's an
[1:43:34] issue more so than the fair is because now it requires the operator to not only
[1:43:38] stop the bus, they now have to call and communicate with the dispatch, right? Because
[1:43:43] now it's time to mitigate that. So we'll have a supervisor, someone that will come on board.
[1:43:47] the operator will employ deescalation training as they get as part of our regular
[1:43:51] dna. But now they have to engage this individual
[1:43:56] when they say, why is the bus stopped? And now they've also gotta manage the
[1:44:00] crowd of people who thought they were going that way. And now they're trying to figure
[1:44:04] out, is the next bus right behind us, or am I gonna have to get off and just try
[1:44:08] to walk or find a friend? And so people would start to get their cell phones out all
[1:44:12] the time. That level of engagement doesn't happen in a fair free
[1:44:17] situation. I'll tell you why. Because in fair free situations, people
[1:44:21] come on board, they can state the fair if they don't have it, you know, they can go grab a seat,
[1:44:26] but literally anybody who's sitting watching a vehicle drive by
[1:44:31] can just jump on board. They don't even have to have a destination. They just
[1:44:35] need to have a, a zest for adventure. And they would get in there and they don't know the
[1:44:39] code of conduct and they caused different types of issues. And it just became a problem that
[1:44:43] got exacerbated. And we saw that. Now for the pilot
[1:44:47] fair free program, even in that situation, there's
[1:44:51] a new level of conflict that the operators never had to deal with. If
[1:44:56] we were to engage in that, anytime someone who was on one of the free
[1:45:00] lines, and I'm air quoting here, one of those free lines every time
[1:45:04] they transferred from that line, right? Because our system
[1:45:09] is a web of connections. Once they got off of that
[1:45:13] line and got into a paying line, now we got the old traditional fair
[1:45:17] conflict. What do you mean I have to pay the other bust didn't charge me. What are
[1:45:21] you talking about? And we're not talking about market saturation where people understand
[1:45:26] they had a chance to read, they had a chance to listen. This is just every day.
[1:45:30] not everyone's gonna play by those rules. And especially people that aren't traditional
[1:45:34] travelers. It's an adventure for them. So there's a lot of conversation that has to take place. That's
[1:45:39] a whole nother reintroduction of a, of a fair conflict
[1:45:43] that happens across the country. Now, most of
[1:45:47] the code of conducts commonly result in service disruptions where there will
[1:45:51] be a stopped bus, there will be a supervisor involved, and they'll
[1:45:55] come and triage a situation, determine does transit police need to get engaged or can
[1:45:59] they just remove that person from the vehicle, have a conversation with
[1:46:03] them, educate and inform 'em and decide it's okay if you to jump on the next vehicle behind.
[1:46:08] that way this bus can continue in service and allow people to make their connections.
[1:46:13] those are all precipitated by operator call for service and
[1:46:17] operator doing exactly what they're trained to do. They see something, they say something
[1:46:22] and they want to get this mitigated to keep the vehicle environment safe. Uh, bus
[1:46:26] exchange due to sanitary issues. That's something
[1:46:30] that happened a lot. People would come and bring different types of items on the bus that,
[1:46:35] uh, have leakage and seepage and things of that nature. And we can't
[1:46:39] have people sitting in foreign foreign liquids. That means that seed
[1:46:43] is unusable. We'd have to have people deploy in the field just to intercept
[1:46:47] that bus, clean that bus so we can still keep the seating capacity as necessary.
[1:46:52] others include customers that are exiting the bus due to escalating situations,
[1:46:57] customers not wanting to ride because the environment and reliability of service
[1:47:01] has completely changed. We literally saw people who were
[1:47:05] afraid to wait at the bus because the volume of people who lawyered
[1:47:09] and congregated at the bus stop, they would wait 20, 30, 50
[1:47:14] feet away and then make their way to the bus after that group decided to
[1:47:18] get on or off the bus.
[1:47:23] the most common one that you heard about today, and one that that's memorable from any
[1:47:27] agency that have lived, uh, this example, uh, is what we're calling
[1:47:31] day tripping customers. These are destination list customers.
[1:47:36] some occupy seating in high volume on buses and only exit after
[1:47:40] engaged by the operator. We literally mean that they are riding
[1:47:44] from one in the line all the way to the next with no expectation
[1:47:49] of exiting and then repeating. And they'll do this until
[1:47:53] someone engages them. Some remain seated at bus stops all day.
[1:47:58] they congregate and signal the operators that they're waiting for the next bus,
[1:48:02] rarely ever boarding to get on the bus. Right now, today,
[1:48:06] in our regular service sweeps our transit police, our supervisors,
[1:48:11] they'll engage people who are sitting at bus stops, that are watching buses go by. They've
[1:48:15] missed opportunities to board. And that's an opportunity for us to engage and say,
[1:48:20] sir, ma'am, this this region, this area you're at is for our customers that are rioting.
[1:48:24] you know, you want to grab a seat, you know, you could please sit elsewhere. And
[1:48:28] now we have supervisors that are getting into conflict. This is just the life that we've lived
[1:48:32] before. Um, so it's reminiscent of that area and that's why you heard some of the energy that was used
[1:48:36] by some of those that spoke previously. Some ride to stay in the air conditioning environment
[1:48:40] or simply just escape the weather. If it's raining outside, buses are packed. Nobody
[1:48:45] wants to get off. And if they get off, they'll get back in the next bus completely
[1:48:49] wet and just repeat. This keeps going on and on and some ride just to have a
[1:48:53] safe place to sleep. We see a lot of that. We've had a number of assault and
[1:48:58] instance that took place from operators who are merely just trying to do a welfare check
[1:49:02] and just ask, sir, ma'am, are you okay? And the person wakes up and,
[1:49:06] and just a different place, um, that doesn't
[1:49:10] fit the surroundings that they're in and have gotten into situations with other customers on board.
[1:49:15] we also have this, it creates capacity issues, standing lows and calls for
[1:49:19] service and bus stop loitering. These scenarios have proven problematic
[1:49:23] for customers. We had call ins, we had calfs. We have the information from
[1:49:27] what we lived through before. And so I just wanted to be sure that that's the one thing
[1:49:31] you hear even outside of via outside of our region this day, tripping or what industry term
[1:49:36] is usually round tripping. That's the first tipping of the scale.
[1:49:43] then we have this additional security presence.
[1:49:47] you know, an increase in system security will be needed just to handle the higher volume
[1:49:52] of on bus concurrent calls for service. If we change nothing else
[1:49:57] and we have more people using the vehicle, then more at a time and more buses
[1:50:01] on the road. It's almost a law of averages. Your, it will increase
[1:50:05] the probability that you'll have more concurrent episodes that you have to address. You
[1:50:09] have to deal with an issue. Um, bus stop safety calls
[1:50:13] for service will increase greatly. We saw this before. It was the fact that people were
[1:50:17] afraid to even go to the bus stop because they weren't sure if the people there
[1:50:22] were going to ride if they were not. We saw petty crimes
[1:50:26] increase. You know, unfortunately, um, there are some that prey on those that waited
[1:50:30] bus stops, uh, and it used to just be a senior citizen thing. Now it's just
[1:50:34] a crime of availability. And so they know that people who are waiting for the bus generally will have
[1:50:39] a fair, definitely have a cell phone and just other things that most of us keep
[1:50:43] close to us just to make our way through the day. And it just became target zones. We
[1:50:47] actually partnered with sapd to try to address these type of things if we saw those
[1:50:51] things. And so we continue to work and maintain those relationships. But it, it
[1:50:55] just takes our, our operators back to a life that they've lived before and it's
[1:50:59] just not a, a pleasant experience for them. There's also
[1:51:03] a see something, say something reporting response times increase for suspicious behavior.
[1:51:08] uh, sleepers, people who did not wanna get off of the bus. People who
[1:51:12] were performing different types of transactions on the bus. This was a group of individuals
[1:51:16] that were mixing with people who remember that it used to be okay to
[1:51:20] just put your head down and take a nap or check your phone, use the wifi
[1:51:25] or whatever. There's just quality of life interactions that just got engaged on
[1:51:29] that bus, that it just left people a a bad taste in the mouth.
[1:51:33] and more importantly, the risk factors. What we have is service quality
[1:51:38] definitely will be impacted. Service reliability will be impacted. Safe
[1:51:42] service expectations by our customers. What is the new normal?
[1:51:46] now, if we have a free fare situation and we go back to standing loads
[1:51:50] and we're not even getting into the situation that would happen for people with disabilities
[1:51:54] who are waiting. We've only got two wheelchair locations on
[1:51:58] that bus and we have people who have used wheelchairs to get to
[1:52:02] the bus stop and it's not theirs. We won't even talk about how they got it, but
[1:52:06] they'll use it. And when they realize that there's no more room for the wheelchair, they just leave
[1:52:11] it at the bus stop and get in and walk in, and then they'll just get off later on. We've
[1:52:15] seen that again. This is another lived experience. Um, vehicle and bus stop, cleanliness.
[1:52:19] it just happens anywhere. You have a larger concentration of people. Think of any major
[1:52:24] city where you have a lot of people living. You're gonna find some issues where,
[1:52:28] where sanitary conditions need to be addressed, which includes more touch points
[1:52:32] and the customer sat satisfaction experience. Uh, definitely be impacted.
[1:52:36] uh, next slide. So some of the budget investment
[1:52:41] recaps that we've done for safety, uh, through the years that led up to this time that we're
[1:52:45] in right now, uh, was workforce additional resources as
[1:52:49] far as security supervisors, operators, things to build a stronger
[1:52:53] infrastructure. Just allow us to deal with the volume of, of work that we have, right? It's
[1:52:57] not about just the bus that's traveling down the road. It's the amount of people who are in
[1:53:01] there, the transferring and everything that takes place. There's a lot of people that are getting where
[1:53:05] they need to go. Equipment. It was this era that I spoke
[1:53:09] of where we introduced the operator barrier doors. We did an
[1:53:14] emergency procurement to make that happen as fast as we could because
[1:53:18] the operators were getting spit on at a high rate, the highest
[1:53:22] rate we'd ever seen in our organization's history. Now, I've
[1:53:26] been involved with safety and a lot of things around here for a lot of years, but
[1:53:30] I can tell you I cannot recall the volume of people who were just spitting
[1:53:34] on operators. They were throwing drinks, they were throwing everything. We literally had
[1:53:38] to start with a curtain system just
[1:53:42] so there's some type of division between them. It accelerate all the way up to,
[1:53:47] uh, some of the industry's best and top operator protective barriers.
[1:53:51] I mean, we didn't just grab the first thing on the shelf. We even found the ones that had the greatest air circulation
[1:53:55] just to deal with any feeling of of claustrophobia or
[1:53:59] anything like that. The operators love it. We use a tu to get involved. They literally got to pick the ones
[1:54:04] that worked. We teamed them up with our maintenance teams. We wanted to make this successful.
[1:54:08] we wanted to make it work, decrease the spitting greatly.
[1:54:12] but they still have people that are trying to throw punches. They still have people that are throwing things at the doors.
[1:54:17] this is something that we put in place because that era spawned
[1:54:21] that behavior. It's still suitable now. And so we still maintain them. And you'll
[1:54:25] see the rest of the industry has, has done the same thing. Everyone's working in that, in that same vein,
[1:54:30] um, as far as equipment, we have dispatcher console and police technology. There's
[1:54:34] just so much more available now to find the issue,
[1:54:38] find the solution, and allow them to connect in our standard mo our
[1:54:42] standard practice. It's not if we have a threat or a crisis or situation
[1:54:47] that we always have to send the transit police officer there because of
[1:54:51] our joint law enforcement center. We'll find the first badge and the the first
[1:54:55] law enforcement individual that's closest and just get them there, even if it's just to hold the
[1:54:59] situation down. But we've got that vibrant relationship with the, the law enforcement community
[1:55:04] here, and we, we still enjoy that. Okay? Um, for education
[1:55:08] and the training and development, deescalation training is something that we champion. We've done it for
[1:55:12] a long time at a high degree. So much so it's baked
[1:55:17] into our dna for all brand new operators. We have biannual, uh, refresher
[1:55:21] classes that are for operators and other employees as well. But deescalation is, is
[1:55:26] critical. Uh, it's just necessary. We have customer service
[1:55:30] training, which is very important to us. But more importantly, we're, we're proud to introduce
[1:55:35] a fact, a collaborative effort between many of us within this room, uh, to
[1:55:39] bring an ambassadorship, an ambassador level of customer service to make
[1:55:43] sure that every employee that receives a check that spells
[1:55:47] via on it has some degree of a customer centric focus
[1:55:51] in how they deal and welcome and assist any customer who might need
[1:55:55] anything for. It's just to be way finding or just to find a, a comforting
[1:56:00] gesture of, hey, you're at the right bus stop. The, the bus should be here shortly.
[1:56:04] if you didn't know, you can call this number and read that number to 'em and they'll
[1:56:08] be able to tell you when that bus is gonna come. You could even text the following. And just
[1:56:12] that level of service is something that's a pedigree that we want to be all about
[1:56:16] our culture. We've heard that earlier. Also, uh, we're bringing back something that
[1:56:20] was very successful. Uh, and, uh, just show you right here.
[1:56:27] this is the, uh, a folder from the s four task force. See
[1:56:31] something, say something. This was a collaborative effort between
[1:56:35] across section group of administration,
[1:56:40] maintenance, hourly employees, the a tu executive board
[1:56:45] and a number of others that got together. We'd get together every month and
[1:56:49] we would go through and identify hotspots and systematically go through
[1:56:53] and clean things up. And you, you'll hear in other conversations, I'm sure
[1:56:57] in the future, that it was phenomenal. It was birthed, it was spawned during
[1:57:01] this last situation where we had free fare. We realized it was a service thing that
[1:57:05] we had to add, um, just to make sure our customers felt
[1:57:09] welcome to a clean environment. And they didn't have to fear being at bus stops. It literally had
[1:57:13] operators who would call in for someone that they've passed twice.
[1:57:18] and that information would go from the dispatcher to the transit police. And that would guide
[1:57:22] our, our metrics as far as street sweeping and just making context saying, hey,
[1:57:26] listen, you've been here for a bit. Which bus are you trying to catch with the
[1:57:30] free fair system? That doesn't work anymore. They can make up a
[1:57:34] bus number or move one block down and jump on the next bus. Um, the other
[1:57:38] thing that's important about this is the other safety committees that we have
[1:57:43] and the, the ease of hazard reporting is something that's also increased, and
[1:57:47] that's just another example of how we prioritize safety. If we can go to the next slide, please.
[1:57:53] hiring recruitment and retention is something that, that we're proud of. You know,
[1:57:57] this board challenged us, uh, in a very positive way to let us know
[1:58:01] we have to do better. We are not box checking. We, we wanna win this.
[1:58:06] and so we took that to heart and a number of the folks behind me and everyone
[1:58:10] else got together and figured it out. We got it done. We've done it so well.
[1:58:14] we had a chance to start to accelerate the better bus plan. Some of the things that
[1:58:18] we've talked about with the impact of on time performance, the increasing use
[1:58:22] of reserve operators, all the women and men that are there to make sure that supplemental bus
[1:58:27] service still makes us keep the same on time, desirable, uh,
[1:58:31] headway that people want it, it takes a lot of people. I can tell
[1:58:35] you right now in front of this full board, that if we were
[1:58:39] to go for fair free, those net gains that we got from all the hiring,
[1:58:44] all the buses that we have would then all be given towards
[1:58:49] supporting that pilot. And if we go beyond that,
[1:58:53] we won't have those same assets that we needed to continue to accelerate
[1:58:58] the better bus program. That's something that, that should be
[1:59:02] said. Uh, it needs to be known. We have the people, but
[1:59:06] their use has been diverted. And so I'll just briefly go through some
[1:59:10] of this. It's, it's important for you to understand that this is the culmination
[1:59:14] of everybody being asked to be bigger and think bigger. And so
[1:59:18] these solutions, they worked not just a little bit. They worked a lot.
[1:59:23] and so just to catch up those, we have new trustees that are here. Um,
[1:59:27] we had to increase job fair participation by moving events to evening hours. They used
[1:59:31] to be just during working hours when most people are work,
[1:59:35] right? We just missed a whole demographic of people. Uh, we extended same
[1:59:40] day contingency offers marketing communications, team support, outreach through
[1:59:44] media outreach and local news coverage. Right now. You can watch any news
[1:59:48] station and you'll see there's a job faired via on this night at this time.
[1:59:52] and that's refreshing to see. We implemented, uh, deferred retirement
[1:59:57] compensation to retain tenured full-time bus operators. We have a hundred
[2:00:01] operators enrolled in this, this strengthened long-term workforce ability.
[2:00:06] it's a program that hr had got together and put their wits there and found a
[2:00:10] way to say, listen, if you were gonna retire, we may have found a way
[2:00:14] for you to stick around for another 18 months. And so there's some bonuses involved
[2:00:19] with that, and it's an aggressive program and it worked great. Um,
[2:00:23] we also have this where we have enhanced interview protocols and strengthened pre-employment requirements
[2:00:27] using talent click and dlt, physical and drug screening. We just
[2:00:32] cleaned up and strengthened some of those thresholds that were there and
[2:00:36] just made them more efficient, made it easier to get through, but it gave us what we needed to where
[2:00:40] we can get better candidates that are more customer centric rather than someone who just saw
[2:00:44] the hourly pay. Um, this greatly reduced their attrition.
[2:00:48] and then we had the recruiter incentive program, which has done well, but every single
[2:00:52] thing that you've just heard me mention every last one of them is impacted
[2:00:57] by this last bullet at this current time right now, today,
[2:01:02] literally at 7 0 2, I can assure you this. I just heard two today.
[2:01:07] we already have. And we're hearing concerns from the new hire candidates that just got
[2:01:11] here, current trainees, existing
[2:01:15] operators that are working. Some may still be in this room, some may have been here earlier
[2:01:20] on, whether or not this is the right job for them. This is all anticipation or
[2:01:24] increased safety concerns related to fair free service. And that conversation
[2:01:28] has only been around for about three weeks. It's already reaching a saturation
[2:01:32] point where people are trying to figure out, is this a place I thought I was when I got here.
[2:01:37] it's obviously changing, and I think that's why you saw some of the, the energy and the effort
[2:01:41] from those behind me. And I think that may be
[2:01:46] the last slide. We'll pause for any questions. Uh, madam chair
[2:01:50] on this section. Any questions? Trustee ?
[2:02:02] is this it? I'm gonna stay for round two of the applause. ,
[2:02:07] thank you for your time. Got one. You have one question, justin gillion, I have question. I I
[2:02:11] think you're the one, um, for the reserve operators. So they may
[2:02:15] just be here waiting all day. Do they have like a full 40 hour
[2:02:19] week? Yeah. How many times are on the bus, that sort of thing? We, we do
[2:02:23] that. That's a great question. There is an entire infrastructure, um, that's in
[2:02:27] our working conditions. And I'll give you a brief example what it is. Um, that
[2:02:32] operator, he or she may come in in the morning and be assigned and be here from 4:00 am and be
[2:02:36] on what we call reserves arbitrary, let's just say till 8:00 am.
[2:02:40] and if they don't catch out, in other words, if everybody shows up for work and they're a need
[2:02:44] for that, some of them may be told to come back at a later time. Okay? Or some of them may
[2:02:48] actually just be given a bus and be sent out to one of the holes to just hang out and
[2:02:53] wait to be sent out and deployed. One of the things that we do have to augment that
[2:02:57] irregular lifestyle and workday is what's known as a guaranteed 80.
[2:03:01] that clause is in our working conditions. What that means is that as long as you show up,
[2:03:05] as long as you show up and be prepared to work, you don't miss and you're not late.
[2:03:11] you'll get a paycheck for 80 hours, even if that day you work six and
[2:03:15] a half or whatever the case may be. It's, it's just the investment, kind of the
[2:03:19] cost of doing business that this industry actually does to ensure that
[2:03:23] we can get that bus to that first customer on the first trip of the day. And that's,
[2:03:27] that came from the old railroad, uh, commission. That's why that term is extra board
[2:03:31] and reserves. They all come from, from the railroad industry that we began from. So,
[2:03:36] okay. Thank you. You bet. Trustee howard, just have one
[2:03:40] question. Yes, sir. You, you talked about the issue of when it was
[2:03:44] first happening, when there was free riding and the loading of the buses and the unloading.
[2:03:49] I'm wanna get into the area of obviously the issues that the driver
[2:03:53] are experiencing could be mentally disturbing, but has there ever been one with a physical
[2:03:57] assault created some, some, some of, of an injury injury
[2:04:01] that was medically in that in nature? Absolutely. Um,
[2:04:06] you know, that that is a yes and not in a, in any small form of the nature,
[2:04:10] not just here across the entire country. There were entire mandates that came
[2:04:14] from, uh, the fta, this one and it, you know, kinda getting transit
[2:04:19] geek language. But sms, which is safety management systems, um, these
[2:04:23] protocols that came from bipartisan, bipartisan infrastructure bill
[2:04:27] required agencies to start to track those, uh,
[2:04:32] identify those at different levels and report that through our national transit database reporting.
[2:04:36] that way they can just synthesize all the activity across the
[2:04:40] country and just take the pulse and find out do they need to make greater mandates to keep
[2:04:45] everyone in this industry doing that job much safer. So by all means, there were some that,
[2:04:49] that were far more than just verbal and tossing of cups and coffee. Um, there
[2:04:53] were some that that actually attacked operators, um, some that even
[2:04:57] off of the bus. We've got cameras and things everywhere, and usually people,
[2:05:02] uh, who have, uh, warrants or a a police involvement background,
[2:05:06] they'll wait till they get off of the bus. 'cause the belief is, well, nobody can see me. Well,
[2:05:10] we've got cameras outside the bus too. Thank you. You bet.
[2:05:14] trustee flores. Thank you madam chair. Uh, tramell the slide
[2:05:19] that listed out what you guys have learned from previous,
[2:05:23] um, times where you had these kinds of disruptions, had service adjustments,
[2:05:27] resource management, safety, security, and all the risk factors that you outlined for
[2:05:32] us. Did you have an opportunity to go back and assess what
[2:05:36] the financial impact was of all of that during that time? In hindsight,
[2:05:40] were you able to assess a percentage cost to all of those risk
[2:05:44] factors based on that prior experience? We, we did, and I don't
[2:05:48] have those numbers in front of me, but what everyone had to do was take a look back
[2:05:53] once everyone kind of survived covid and just kind of like, whew, we made
[2:05:57] it. And there was this look back to find out what, what was the destruction, what
[2:06:01] was the impact? Um, and the ft a and ata, the american public trans association
[2:06:06] encouraged people to do that. And so everyone galvanized at and and grabbed
[2:06:10] that information and most of 'em got submitted to, uh, some of the national reporting, like
[2:06:14] tcrp, uh, trb, these agencies that synthesize all these things.
[2:06:18] and just to find what does that mean, you know, where was most of the costs and how was
[2:06:23] it, how was it utilized? Remember there was all types of programs also where you
[2:06:27] could, uh, get access to dollars, right? To help address some of those burdens
[2:06:31] that you took. Um, but what your question is about is exactly what
[2:06:35] led to the ability for everyone to create emergency procurements, to
[2:06:39] get barrier doors. That was the fastest solution to providing
[2:06:44] an opportunity for the operators to still want to come to work, uh, and just
[2:06:48] keep the doors open and keep service moving. But I don't have them in front of me. There, there was
[2:06:52] a look back to just find out, you know, what was that fiscal hit, uh, to make sure
[2:06:56] we survive it and, and learned and live well from it. And many of those standards are still there
[2:07:00] 'cause they just became best practice for, because dealing with masses of people.
[2:07:04] you bet. Trustee flores, our next section actually is going to dive into
[2:07:09] some of the potential financial impacts on the agency as well. Great. Thank you.
[2:07:34] good evening, madam chair, board of trustees. I'm jermaine chubb, vp of fiscal
[2:07:38] management and cfo. I'm going to discuss the, uh, financial impacts of a fair
[2:07:42] free, uh, policy here. As you've heard, uh, many, excuse me, as you've heard many
[2:07:46] times tonight and other presentations, a fair free program is not free. There
[2:07:50] are costs that associated consequences that must be considered. Um, financial
[2:07:55] impacts are very real and we must have a financially, uh, stable system
[2:07:59] to deliver on the transformation that our community has told us that they desire
[2:08:03] by their vote and their ongoing request to this agency. If you look
[2:08:07] here, our, our, our fair box revenue is integrated into our financial plans
[2:08:11] that are submitted to the fta. Our fairbox revenue is needed to
[2:08:16] support our financial capacity and stability, uh, demand divided fta
[2:08:20] and their ongoing, uh, grants for the, uh, green line.
[2:08:24] um, I note also that we're currently spending these grant dollars for our green line and
[2:08:29] we're awaiting a decision on the silver line as well. And so
[2:08:33] lastly here, it has taken via almost 50 years to get to the point where
[2:08:37] we are today in, in a financially, uh, resilient state.
[2:08:41] and via must continue to show that ability to operate and maintain the system for us to,
[2:08:45] um, for, for decades to come for us to maintain financial
[2:08:50] support for these capital projects. Moving on
[2:08:54] to the, uh, next slide here. When management approached the board
[2:08:58] with our capital and operating plan for approval in, uh, late september
[2:09:03] of, uh, last year, uh, we showed a $1.1 billion capital
[2:09:07] improvement plan here. Uh, this plan includes $793 million
[2:09:11] in spend for ks a and includes spend of course on the, uh, green
[2:09:15] line, silver line and second o and m facility, those ks a projects there.
[2:09:20] uh, it also showed, uh, 126 million in spend for revenue vehicles,
[2:09:25] another $58 million for passenger and operating facilities.
[2:09:29] and you'll see here that we, uh, set aside $100 million as contingency
[2:09:33] spend to support the delivery of ksam as required by
[2:09:37] our federal partners, as we stated, and the cover for the lack of contingency that we
[2:09:41] have in a multitude of projects that are within this portfolio here.
[2:09:48] and so you can see by our financial projections here that that plan, and
[2:09:52] of course, the um, operating spend that we needed to incur with
[2:09:56] the, uh, next five years here actually yielded, uh, favorable results
[2:10:00] in terms of achieving the boards are requirements for debt service
[2:10:05] coverage ratio, and days cash on hand. This is how we determine if a capital plan is
[2:10:09] affordable for us or not. And so we show here in that green box here, you see
[2:10:13] that each and every year we achieve at least a 1.3 times or
[2:10:17] better debt service coverage ratio. That's management's planning
[2:10:21] threshold. The board's threshold is a slight bit lower than that and we didn't
[2:10:25] wanna plan to that level, of course, and that threshold is 1.15 times. And so,
[2:10:30] uh, we were doing good from that standpoint. And then when you look at dave's cash on
[2:10:34] hand, we achieved 126, well, I'm sorry, 126 days or
[2:10:38] better in the five year timeframe. The board's threshold is 120
[2:10:43] days or better. And so we, we achieved that as well. And so the board
[2:10:47] approved the capital and operating plan for the organization. Now I want to take
[2:10:51] a look at what would happen if we actually had some impact to our fairbox
[2:10:55] revenues. And so we'll go over to the next slide here. This slide here shows
[2:10:59] the results of a full, fair free policy on the organization.
[2:11:04] so it amounts to this, uh, 5% revenue loss or so. And so
[2:11:08] you can see here in the, um, chart here that a fair free policy will
[2:11:12] result in that full $18 million loss. If you just look at
[2:11:16] our fiscal year 26 budget, we plan for 18 million in spend
[2:11:21] and fair box revenues, all of that will be wiped away. We made an assumption
[2:11:25] here that let's just say that we knew that this was gonna be our policy before the
[2:11:29] year started, and we plan to remove all of the costs associated with fair
[2:11:33] box collections. And so you see that as a savings here in the chart here
[2:11:37] above. And then on the operating, um, side of the house, you heard
[2:11:42] tremmel brown's conversation and presentation about all of the impacts that this
[2:11:46] fair box, this free fair policy would cost for the organization.
[2:11:50] and if we wanted to maintain the level of service that this organization
[2:11:54] desires, there would be quite a bit of cost. And so what we did
[2:11:58] is we programmed what we, what we believe is a modest 5% impact to
[2:12:03] our fiscal year 26 operating budget here. And that's that $16.3 million
[2:12:08] that you see here. I note here below that, that I believe these costs could
[2:12:12] be within a range of five to 15%. And so at the
[2:12:16] 5% impact on our fiscal year 26 operating budget, we would have a
[2:12:20] total financial impact of $33 million at
[2:12:24] that 15% that could be as high as $67 million.
[2:12:30] and so moving forward to the next slide, this particular slide here shows, uh,
[2:12:34] partial fair free policy here, or 3% revenue
[2:12:38] loss. And so in, in this situation, we assume that, um,
[2:12:43] of course our fairbox revenues, we maintain 40% of our fairbox
[2:12:47] revenues. And then in terms of the operating impact, we
[2:12:52] just took a more modest number here, assuming that we'd have slight, um,
[2:12:56] slightly less impact here. But looking at the numbers here, you could see that
[2:13:00] you would have the fair box revenue loss of 10.8 million. We would
[2:13:04] no longer have the fair collection savings because we're still collecting faires.
[2:13:09] and then we would have about a $9.8 million operational impact
[2:13:13] on the modest end, resulting in a total financial impact of $20.6 million.
[2:13:19] the next slide actually goes over the impact of both of
[2:13:24] those scenarios. And you can see here in the, uh, middle here, we
[2:13:28] talk about that 4 0 4 fee, uh, policy here, that 5% revenue loss.
[2:13:32] and, um, you look squarely at the debt service coverage ratio.
[2:13:37] and over those five years that we talked about fiscal year 26 through 30, where we
[2:13:41] were showing an achievement greater than the boards required 1.15 times,
[2:13:46] we now have a minimum within that timeframe of negative one times,
[2:13:50] meaning that if we had debt service in a particular year of $20 million,
[2:13:54] our net revenues to pay debt service that year was negative $20 million.
[2:13:59] and our minimum debt, um, I'm sorry, our minimum days cash on
[2:14:04] hand in that timeframe was 78 as well. And so the board
[2:14:08] would not accept that. Management would not accept that we would have to go go back to the drawing
[2:14:12] board. And so we talk about some actions that we might need to pursue to, uh,
[2:14:16] cure this. We would need to look at stocking all of our major capital projects,
[2:14:20] the green line, the silver line, checking on m facility, better bus
[2:14:24] plan, and or make significant cuts to our operation. And when we
[2:14:28] talk significant, it would be a major cut to our operations
[2:14:33] that we have today. Looking at the, uh, 3% revenue loss
[2:14:37] scenario, similar results. We have a negative 0.2 times debt service
[2:14:41] coverage ratio. We have negative 71 days cash on
[2:14:46] hand and of course another, um, program that would not be acceptable
[2:14:50] by management nor the board standards. And we're still looking at stopping silver
[2:14:54] line second on m facility, better bus plan and again,
[2:14:58] and or major cuts to the operation. And one of the reasons that these numbers
[2:15:02] fall off so significantly is once we get to a point where we
[2:15:06] are no longer financially, uh, resilient, the ft a is gonna look at that
[2:15:10] and they're gonna pull all of the grants that they've promised us thus far
[2:15:14] and what we're planning for in terms of silver lining. So you have to take those out
[2:15:18] and then we have to overcome that in some manner and we're just unable to do it.
[2:15:25] and I would say lastly here, and so we, we've shown how it's, it's really
[2:15:30] unaffordable for the organization to consider this fair free policy, but
[2:15:34] we also have legal challenges as well. We're actually prohibited from allowing a total fair
[2:15:38] free, uh, policy here. And so with our fairbox revenue bond
[2:15:42] issuance on december 1st, 2020, we have a special coveted
[2:15:46] within that, uh, within that bond agreement that says that no
[2:15:50] free service of the transit authority shall be allowed to any customer or
[2:15:54] other person except for children under five years of age who ride pursuant
[2:15:59] to v's. Policy. And so again, we have
[2:16:03] an inability to afford the, uh, changes that we talked about. And certainly we have
[2:16:07] a legal restriction as well. Do you wanna go
[2:16:11] ahead and go through? Okay,
[2:16:17] so now I'm going to go over three things. First,
[2:16:21] the factors that fda evaluates for the overall
[2:16:25] award of the, uh, capital investment grant. The second one is
[2:16:30] going to be overall rating for vr, rapid lines
[2:16:34] and inputs to that, uh, rating. And then the
[2:16:38] last one, I I will cover impacts to the cig grant
[2:16:42] due to fear free policy. This chart here
[2:16:47] shows, uh, it's complex, but it shows the
[2:16:51] two areas where we look at rating. Um, to be
[2:16:55] eligible to receive cig construction grant, all proposed projects
[2:17:00] must go through a multi-year multi-state development process
[2:17:04] outlined in the law. Fda is required to evaluate and rate
[2:17:09] cig projects on statutorily defined project justification
[2:17:14] and local financial commitment criteria. Both are rated 50%
[2:17:19] and a project must receive at least minimum or above
[2:17:24] overall rating to advance through the steps in the process
[2:17:28] and receive construction grant awards. So that's the framework we use.
[2:17:32] then I'm going to go to the next, uh, step which dwells
[2:17:37] deeper into local financial commitment.
[2:17:41] um, as part of the 20 year financial plan that is
[2:17:45] required to be submitted for the, uh, grant,
[2:17:50] we look at three areas, the current conditions with capital and
[2:17:54] operating, uh, condition. Second
[2:17:58] one, which is most important in today's context is commitment
[2:18:03] of funds. It includes fairbox revenue, current and projected
[2:18:07] local sales tax and current and projected any other funds
[2:18:12] which we might receive. And the third one is reasonable
[2:18:17] of capital and operating cost estimates, planning assumptions,
[2:18:21] capital and operating funding capacity, including total debt
[2:18:26] capacity. All this together helps us look
[2:18:30] at these where we are today with the rapid green line. We have,
[2:18:34] uh, a grant agreement, full funding grant agreement with fda
[2:18:39] basis of which included fairbox revenue
[2:18:43] and some of the financial germane explained before. And that
[2:18:48] grant is $268 million
[2:18:52] silver line. We are in the process of submitting our final
[2:18:56] grant application, and both projects currently are
[2:19:00] rated medium high, which made us competitive
[2:19:05] and eligible to receive this grant next line.
[2:19:09] so a fair p policy also threatens greenline
[2:19:14] construction and evaluation of silver line grants as fda requires
[2:19:18] financial capacity to deliver projects and operate those projects.
[2:19:23] requirement to demonstrate a sustainable financial plan to fda
[2:19:28] is a key requirements of sustainable financial plan includes
[2:19:32] meeting via policies related to debt service
[2:19:36] coverage, cash in hand, and uh, also demonstrating
[2:19:41] funding for service and capital needs without
[2:19:45] impacting the service, the existing service for next 20 years.
[2:19:50] so we must identify replacement funding sources
[2:19:54] or cost reduction plan without impacting existing service.
[2:19:59] if we proceed with fear-free policy.
[2:20:03] in worst case, our inability to secure local funding sources
[2:20:07] whether taxes or fair fares as promised in
[2:20:12] the financial plan, can also, uh, expose us
[2:20:16] to potential paths in the grant for, uh, green line
[2:20:20] construction so they can stop, draw down our existing grant,
[2:20:25] or in the worst case, terminate grant agreement for the green line.
[2:20:30] it also, uh, may ask us if we cannot have
[2:20:34] local, uh, sustainable financial plan in the two
[2:20:38] scenarios that jermaine mentioned, they might ask us to
[2:20:42] repay those grant uh, awards. This also
[2:20:46] jeopardizes our silver line grant award.
[2:20:52] madam chair. With that, we're glad to pause and take any questions about the financial implications.
[2:20:57] trustees, any questions on the financials? No,
[2:21:02] we are good. Thank you so much.
[2:21:10] and then priscilla's going to join for the last section of this presentation.
[2:21:27] good evening. My name is priscilla ingle, senior vice president of customer
[2:21:31] support, customer care and support. And we're here to talk to you about the fair
[2:21:35] programs that we offer to the community for those who are seeking,
[2:21:39] uh, access to our service. We have for decades provided affordable
[2:21:43] transportation with numerous discounts for the community. And I can tell you
[2:21:48] that over the decades that I've been here, we've really been very progressive
[2:21:52] in providing services so that no one, uh, doesn't
[2:21:56] have the opportunity to use a service to get where they need to go. So we do have
[2:22:00] existing discounts in place and we also have a very robust program
[2:22:05] that we partnership that we have with area nonprofits for them to
[2:22:09] be able to acc have their clients access service as well.
[2:22:13] the partnerships are welcomed. We're glad that we are able to work with partners
[2:22:18] and with, but to be able to do that, we need to have funding in place, and
[2:22:22] that's where the fair comes in and we reinvest it so that we can put
[2:22:26] other programs in place to help those in need. Next
[2:22:30] slide. So this, uh, gives you a snapshot of what our faires look
[2:22:34] like today. And while they may look reasonable to all of us, there
[2:22:38] are unfortunately some communities that can't afford fair, but we do have
[2:22:43] programs where we can help them get where they need to go and be able
[2:22:47] to use a service. But as you can see on this screen, we've got
[2:22:51] four year children. Four years are younger, ride for free children, five
[2:22:55] to 13 can ride at half fair. The via trans rider can always use
[2:22:59] our fixed route service free, and they can also take a
[2:23:03] personal care attendant with them free as well if they ride the bus. And we
[2:23:07] last adjusted our fares in 2015. So it's been a while since we've,
[2:23:11] uh, been able to increase our fares, but that kind of has been intentional. We've put
[2:23:15] other things in place to help us, uh, work with our customers to get them where they need
[2:23:19] to go with and without them having to feel the, the pain of having
[2:23:23] to spend more money than they have. Next slide. So this
[2:23:28] gives you a snapshot of the, uh, discounts that we have. And, uh,
[2:23:32] we're, uh, our team spends a lot of time, uh, growing
[2:23:36] the programs that we have in place. We have our, um,
[2:23:40] semester pass that we offer to college students. Originally
[2:23:45] it was just targeted to students attending college, but then,
[2:23:49] uh, as we worked with the various institutions and colleges, they said,
[2:23:53] hey, can we extend that to our faculty and staff? And we were able to do that.
[2:23:58] so the tuition, the, the colleges pay $2 and 50 cents
[2:24:02] per student faculty or staff member per semester, and they have
[2:24:07] access to via service throughout the, that school semester. In
[2:24:11] fact, we've even extended it. So, uh, the, when the school
[2:24:15] starts, uh, in the fall, and really the passes are really available
[2:24:19] to them come august the first, and they run through the end of december.
[2:24:24] and I will tell you that we'll start getting calls from the students saying, hey, is my
[2:24:28] school already enrolled in the program? 'cause they wanna have access to this service.
[2:24:32] um, the colleges that are engaged right now with us, alamo
[2:24:37] community district colleges, ut san antonio, texas
[2:24:41] a and m, and we were, uh, just able at the start of january
[2:24:45] to also onboard the ut uh, medical school. So they're now,
[2:24:49] uh, members where, and all of these campuses allow the faires
[2:24:53] to be available not only to the students, but also to their faculty and
[2:24:57] staff and the same host through with the medical school. Everybody who's working there or
[2:25:02] attending classes is using, um, the service as well. And,
[2:25:06] uh, we, we really consider what we're doing as partners. Every,
[2:25:10] uh, we are engaged with the campuses, but we're also engaged with the businesses that we work
[2:25:14] with. So for our area employers, any business that wants
[2:25:19] to provide, um, passes or service to their
[2:25:23] employees, they have to have at least 25 employees. And if
[2:25:27] they do and they purchase passes for all of their employees, they pay $82
[2:25:32] annually to have their employee have access to service.
[2:25:36] um, if they're a government agency in both bexar county and, uh, the city of san
[2:25:40] antonio, our part of the program, they pay $60 per annual,
[2:25:44] uh, per year per employee. What we also do with the
[2:25:48] businesses, because they are making that investment into their employee, if an employee leaves
[2:25:53] the company, we will work with them. And when they, uh, when they backfill
[2:25:58] that position, then that, that pass will then be transitioned over
[2:26:02] to the new employee. So they don't really ever lose out on any funding.
[2:26:06] and, um, our staff is very dedicated to working with these companies. Once they're
[2:26:10] a partner with us, we want them to stay. And so we make certain that we, um,
[2:26:15] work with them any way we can to make it convenient for them with the investment they're
[2:26:19] making. So we're pleased to report that on the upas side,
[2:26:23] we have just over a hundred thousand student faculty and staff
[2:26:27] that can access the program. And that changes depending on, uh, what the
[2:26:31] attendance is looking like and the employment looks like at the start of the semester. But,
[2:26:35] uh, we've got over a hundred thousand people that have access to the program.
[2:26:39] and then on our, on our employer site, we have 156
[2:26:44] employers who are working with us on the vo works program. And we
[2:26:48] do have a team that is out every day working with companies,
[2:26:52] uh, to get them engaged with us in some way. And we will also,
[2:26:57] we don't just sign 'em up and walk away, we're there for the long haul. So if they need flyers,
[2:27:01] if they need passes, if they're having an event on their,
[2:27:05] at their, uh, facility and they want us there, we will be there. And sometimes we
[2:27:10] also, uh, make the effort to come up with things that we can do
[2:27:14] to be there with them and be a good partner. Next slide.
[2:27:18] so we also have reduced, uh, reduced and discounted fare
[2:27:22] for our seniors. Uh, that has been in place for quite some time,
[2:27:27] but we in the last, uh, few years have made it even better for
[2:27:31] the senior because we used to, they, you would have a half fair pass that they
[2:27:35] could use to ride. But what we did in recent years is
[2:27:39] we've opted to allow them to ride free on the weekends, and
[2:27:43] they pay 25 cents from, uh, 9:00 am to, to 3:00 pm
[2:27:48] so it's very affordable for them to be able to use the service.
[2:27:53] and, uh, we too, we visit a lot of senior facilities.
[2:27:57] we go to a lot of senior fairs with the intent of,
[2:28:02] uh, promoting the service so they can take advantage of that. And then for underprivileged
[2:28:06] community, we started a few years back what we call a fair assistance program.
[2:28:11] any 5 0 1 c3 nonprofit social service organization or governmental
[2:28:15] agency that's working with people who are underserved or have
[2:28:20] live in low income can purchase, uh, passes from us
[2:28:24] at a discount of 25%. And they can determine what
[2:28:28] type of fares they wanna be, if they wanna wanna sell, if they want have available
[2:28:32] to their seniors, if they want it to be a day pass, um, monthly pass,
[2:28:37] we will, uh, sell them to them in bulk. And then they provide them to their,
[2:28:41] um, their, they provide them to the people that they serve.
[2:28:45] and we've got 126 agencies who have purchased,
[2:28:49] uh, these who have participated in the program. And we're pleased to report that when we
[2:28:53] launched this program in 2019, we've sold over $3 million in
[2:28:58] fair to date, just with that program alone. And there again, we,
[2:29:02] we, uh, make sure that we are engaged with these organizations. We're
[2:29:06] there for them. If they need us, they need flyers, we'll give that to them. If they're having
[2:29:10] an event, they need us there, uh, with them, we will do that. Uh, but
[2:29:14] we spend a lot of time making certain that all of these
[2:29:19] agencies that we serve are being served by us in the best way possible so
[2:29:23] that they can have their, uh, clients and customers and employees
[2:29:28] get where they need to go. And so this list
[2:29:32] here, um, and I know it's a little kind of distorted,
[2:29:36] but, uh, this is a list of the 126, uh,
[2:29:40] agencies that we work with. And we do call them strong partnerships.
[2:29:45] uh, we wanna help them as much as we can. Uh, but this is the a hundred twenty, a hundred twenty six
[2:29:50] that we have to today. We get calls every week from an agency
[2:29:54] saying, can you help us? We need passes. Uh, we started this program.
[2:29:59] we started it, we started it with the brook hill baptist church. They,
[2:30:04] uh, came to us. They needed just a small number of passes 'cause they were
[2:30:08] trying to get the homeless off the street into their churches to get fed. And,
[2:30:12] uh, from that one person that came to us, and she was very persistent about
[2:30:16] getting us to work with her, it's grown into what we have today. But every week
[2:30:20] we're getting calls from nonprofits. We make it very quick and easy for them to,
[2:30:25] um, participate in our programs. They just have to give us their 5 0 1 c3,
[2:30:29] fill out a quick form, and then, uh, we consider them our partner
[2:30:33] and we start working with them, um, in whatever capacity we can to make it
[2:30:38] a success for them as well. And
[2:30:42] what we can also tell you is that 40% of our rider are,
[2:30:46] are, are riding on reduced fare. And that's, uh,
[2:30:50] quite a number. When you look at, um, how many people that we're serving, that
[2:30:54] 40% of them are riding on a reduced fare. And that number could grow because,
[2:30:58] you know, we've got a community that we know needs assistance, but we're here to help them.
[2:31:02] we've always been, uh, if somebody comes to us with a concept
[2:31:07] for a new idea on how to, uh, process fair or distribute fair,
[2:31:11] uh, we listen and we talk to people. Um, I will give
[2:31:15] you a quick story. Toyota had a fair grant to, they had
[2:31:19] a grant to purchase fares from us, from us, which they did. After
[2:31:23] they went through the program with us, they found that the end of, of the term of
[2:31:28] u of using that grant, that they had $15,000 left, that
[2:31:32] they weren't going to be putting towards fair. So they asked our
[2:31:36] team, do you think you would want that money and use it?
[2:31:40] and so he said, yeah, we'll take the $15,000 and we use that money
[2:31:45] for random people that call us or a small agency in need, and we will give
[2:31:49] them the passes they need through that $15,000 that's made available to
[2:31:53] us. In fact, when the new, um, when we, uh, launched
[2:31:57] with, uh, councilman gto in the city of san antonio, the semester pass
[2:32:01] program, we had a parent call us. They have, they had three students,
[2:32:05] but they were outside of the age range. The ages
[2:32:10] are 12 to 18 for the semester pass. These children were like
[2:32:14] nine, 10, and 11, and they didn't have fair, and they were asked, called
[2:32:18] us and asked us can we somehow get passes for our three
[2:32:22] children. And so we just dipped into that fund. We said, we will give you the semester
[2:32:26] passes through a grant that we have available to us. And the parent came up,
[2:32:31] got their passes, and their kids are now going to school, and they didn't
[2:32:35] have to, um, do anything else to try to get that fair available
[2:32:39] to them. So, uh, we're always looking for opportunities. We always make
[2:32:43] ourselves available to talk to anybody who may need services from us to see how
[2:32:47] we can work together. And I think that's my
[2:32:52] madam chair. We're glad to pause on for any questions on this section. Trustees, trustee,
[2:32:56] dealer. One question. Yes, thank you. One question, please. How old does a child have to be to
[2:33:00] be able to ride by themselves? Uh, they have to be, uh, over,
[2:33:05] they have to be, uh, 10 or 12, 12 and above.
[2:33:09] yeah. They have to be with a parent if they're any younger or
[2:33:13] our guardian or an adult has to be with them. Mm-hmm . Trustee
[2:33:18] cooper. Thanks, priscilla. That was great. Um, I
[2:33:22] think one of the other big things we've done, um, is
[2:33:27] we got rid of transfer fees.
[2:33:31] yes. And that that's another I yes. You know, of all the things we do that. Right. That
[2:33:35] was a big one I felt mm-hmm . You know, in addition to not raising the fares
[2:33:39] since. Right. Could you just give the room just a little bit of
[2:33:43] what impact that had? Well, because the customers were having to
[2:33:48] pay for any transfer that they got, they'd have to pay fair, I think it was 15 cents at the
[2:33:52] time. And so that was a burden on some people to be able to have to pay that fair
[2:33:56] when they, um, boarded the bus when they were just making a transfer. So
[2:34:00] we eliminated that and they no longer have to do that. One thing I, I will
[2:34:04] bring up, it's, it's premature, but I think it al also falls into
[2:34:08] the category affairs and, um, it's, we'll bring it
[2:34:12] back to the board later, but we will be introducing a concept called
[2:34:17] fair capping that will happen, uh, down the road as we
[2:34:21] get, uh, finalize what we're doing with our, uh, fair, our fair boxes.
[2:34:25] and what that'll do is it'll cap a customer's fair. So if somebody
[2:34:29] boards the bus and they pay a dollar 30 and they're making an, uh, they're
[2:34:33] transitioning to another bus, they're paying another another dollar 30,
[2:34:38] and they make another trip that day, they're already ma they already
[2:34:42] have hit the co the price of a day pass. So then their,
[2:34:46] their, um, their fare will turn into a day pass and they can continue riding the fares
[2:34:51] cap for that day. And it'll do the same thing if somebody rides multiple
[2:34:55] times on a monthly or a weekly pass. Uh, we're still,
[2:34:59] uh, getting all of that together, but we'll bring that back in the future to let you know how
[2:35:03] that works. But that's going to be another incentive to get people to ride and not
[2:35:07] to feel the stress of having to pay per trip.
[2:35:12] vice chair gomez. Thank you, madam chair.
[2:35:16] just for a matter of emphasis, actually, um,
[2:35:20] we've not had fair increases in over 10 years. Yes,
[2:35:25] that is true. Right. Uh, and secondly, we have over 126
[2:35:30] nonprofit partners mm-hmm . For discount programs and in some
[2:35:34] cases fair fee programs. Right. For targeted populations. Right. Because those
[2:35:38] fair, the while the agency buys the fair, the the person they're
[2:35:42] helping is getting the fair for free. Right. They're giving it to them. So via is getting
[2:35:46] compensated for the service yes. But the nonprofit is facilitating
[2:35:51] the free service for their client. Exactly. Okay. Thank you.
[2:35:58] trust. Uh, one last question. Of the 120
[2:36:03] plus partners, can we get a list of your, your top five, type
[2:36:07] 10? Yes, we can do that. Agencies just curious to see where they are. Is it the housing,
[2:36:12] is it the, uh, supportive services and categorize that against, um, critical
[2:36:16] issues, um, that the city faces? Exactly. We can do that for you. Definitely.
[2:36:20] very good, thank you. Okay. Madam chair, one thing we did also wanna
[2:36:24] point out on this slide, uh, down at the bottom of the screen for the board,
[2:36:28] while priscilla did mentioned that 40% of our customers are paying that already reduced
[2:36:32] fair price, that equates to 61 cents to
[2:36:36] ride the bus off of our normal dollar 30 fare.
[2:36:41] so just wanted to put that in perspective as well.
[2:36:45] thank you leroy. Uh, any other questions?
[2:36:50] okay, thank you.
[2:37:00] okay. Um, so now we're gonna bring this back around as we are indicating
[2:37:04] from the very beginning that, you know, this type of policy consideration
[2:37:09] had a great deal of complexities and impacts throughout
[2:37:14] our organization. And to that, we have a summary here that we'd like
[2:37:18] to show the board that brings us all back together.
[2:37:22] so any organization you can break into three major categories,
[2:37:27] um, you, you're always gonna be, you're always gonna have the culture, you're always gonna have
[2:37:31] strategy, and you're always gonna have the financial health of in any organization.
[2:37:35] so what we are seeing is a high risk on our culture. We've heard that today. We
[2:37:39] keep hearing that, uh, over and over again for our employees,
[2:37:43] um, and our safety foundations that we have. We're assigning that as a high risk,
[2:37:48] uh, to our culture. We have worked very hard over the last 12
[2:37:52] months to establish a culture that believes in the building of what
[2:37:56] we're doing and the transformative efforts of what we're doing here, uh, for our
[2:38:00] agency and for our community that matters. And we don't
[2:38:04] take it lightly as management. I want to personally thank the
[2:38:08] operators that are still here and the operators that are in this room for showing up today
[2:38:13] and letting us know their thoughts on this matter. Secondly,
[2:38:18] strategy. Strategy is indeed something that's driving any organization and
[2:38:22] identifying those priorities and the system priorities we have. We have set that
[2:38:26] as to deliver fast, safer, more reliable system. We
[2:38:31] see this policy as a high risk a against that, against
[2:38:35] our strategy. And then of course, we saw a financial
[2:38:39] health moment, uh, check in, uh, our short term and long term
[2:38:43] stability. We also are assigning that as a high risk, uh, for this
[2:38:47] policy. We'll go to the next slide here and we'll, we'll emphasize
[2:38:52] that those three areas, those three foundations do not operate
[2:38:56] by themselves. It is indeed an interdepartmental system.
[2:39:01] and weakening any of those would weaken the other two.
[2:39:05] and in this case, we feel that all three would be weakened and
[2:39:09] the acceleration of that decline for organization, uh, would be real.
[2:39:14] and that's what we've heard here today. So as a result, our
[2:39:18] last slide that we have on this is we're asking the board to protect
[2:39:22] the foundations that we're building. We're asking the board to consider to protect
[2:39:26] the culture, continue to execute our strategy, and secure
[2:39:30] our long-term stability. After reviewing fair free concept to our
[2:39:34] legal, financial, regulatory, safety and operational and customer lenses staff does
[2:39:39] not recommend pursuing a fair free pilot or system-wide fair free program.
[2:39:44] staff recommends maintaining focus on vias adoptive strategy to build
[2:39:48] a transit system people choose to use by continuing to invest frequency,
[2:39:53] reliability, safety, and long-term stability.
[2:39:57] a moment of comment here also is it's not so much about what we're saying no to. Instead,
[2:40:01] it's about what we're saying yes to by saying yes,
[2:40:06] to invest in service, quality, safety, and financial stability. We are creating
[2:40:10] a reinforcing cycle in the opposite direction where we will
[2:40:14] have and continue to build a strong culture, we will have a strong
[2:40:19] strategy delivery, which we are already experiencing, and
[2:40:23] we are gonna maintain our strong financial health. This is how we build
[2:40:27] a system that people choose. Thank you.
[2:40:38] thank you john. Gary and staff appreciate that. Um, thorough presentation,
[2:40:43] uh, led with a lot of, uh, data for us to consider. Uh, I'm gonna turn this
[2:40:47] over to trustee cooper who was asked for the floor. Okay.
[2:40:51] thank you madam chair. I also want to thank the management team
[2:40:55] for the thorough fact-based analysis that they brought forward
[2:40:59] today. Um, I also wanna acknowledge the thoughtful discussion among my fellow
[2:41:04] trustees as well. We all share the same goal, improving
[2:41:08] our transit system by making our service faster, more reliable and
[2:41:12] safer. That said, the board has a fiduciary
[2:41:16] responsibility to govern this agency in a way that protects the
[2:41:20] long-term health of the transit system, not just for today,
[2:41:24] but for the next generation of writers. After careful
[2:41:29] consideration, I believe it's clear that pursuing a fair
[2:41:33] free model under v's current legal financials, regulatory
[2:41:37] and safety framework would introduce risk that we should not
[2:41:42] assume we have heard about the legal constraints tied to our revenue
[2:41:46] structure. We have heard about the financial risk and the pressure this would place
[2:41:51] on our operating and capital plans. We have heard about the
[2:41:55] regulatory and federal funding implications at a moment when our community
[2:41:59] is counting on us to deliver transformative projects.
[2:42:04] and we have heard from our frontline employees, particularly, particularly
[2:42:08] our operators, about the safety concerns that, uh, fair free
[2:42:12] environments can create for them and for our riders
[2:42:18] taken together, these risk outweigh the potential benefits of
[2:42:22] a fair free under our current conditions. For those reasons,
[2:42:27] I believe this board should provide clear direction to our staff.
[2:42:31] we should direct via management to not further pursue or analyze
[2:42:36] a free fair proposal. I'm sorry, fair free proposal at this time.
[2:42:41] um, instead we should remain focused on what our community has asked
[2:42:45] us to deliver a transit system that is faster, more reliable,
[2:42:49] safer and more useful in connecting people to opportunity.
[2:42:54] that's how we honor the trust of our rider. The commitments
[2:42:58] made to our votes, made to our voters and the responsibility we
[2:43:02] have given as stewards of this public system.
[2:43:06] we can and should continue to support targeted affordability programs
[2:43:11] and partnerships that help the most in need, but should
[2:43:15] not compromise the long-term stability of the system that their entire
[2:43:19] community depends on. Therefore, I move that via
[2:43:23] metropolitan transit board of trustees, having reviewed the analyst
[2:43:27] presented by management and having considered the legal financial,
[2:43:32] regulatory, safety and operational implications of fair free
[2:43:36] transit model, hereby determines that pursuing a fair free
[2:43:40] pilot or system-wide fair free program is not in the best
[2:43:44] interest of via metropolitan transit. Further, I move the board
[2:43:48] direct via staff to discontinue any further analysis,
[2:43:52] development, or pursuit of fair free proposals under
[2:43:56] vias operating authority. And instead to continue focus on
[2:44:01] organizational resources on delivering the voter approved and board
[2:44:05] adopted system improvements including enhanced frequency, reliability,
[2:44:10] safety, and implementation of transformative capital
[2:44:14] investments that benefit the entire community.
[2:44:23] do we have a second? I will second this as
[2:44:27] a writer of via I ride
[2:44:32] via I do not believe in fear free. So I second this motion
[2:44:36] a, uh, vice chair gomez.
[2:44:41] thank you madam chair. I, um, as I reflect on all
[2:44:46] the information that's been presented here for us today, I can't help but think of a phrase
[2:44:50] that we all probably are somewhat familiar with or have heard before. And
[2:44:54] that is the phrase, a solution looking for a problem.
[2:44:58] and that is what has been proposed by our mayor and a couple
[2:45:02] of our council members. And I say with all due respect to them that
[2:45:06] that's what their proposal is. It's a solution looking for a problem,
[2:45:11] a problem that we do not have. Madam chair and trustees affordability
[2:45:16] is not an issue regarding our fares at
[2:45:20] via. Terry made it abundantly clear with her data
[2:45:24] as to what our writers think, and that is nowhere near the top
[2:45:28] of their consider their concerns for our organization, uh, on
[2:45:32] that alone. What our writers want, uh, is all
[2:45:36] I need to know to support the motion that is on the table. And I look
[2:45:40] forward to doing so. Thank you, trustee. Trustee, uh, fernandez.
[2:45:47] thank you, madam chair. Um, I agree.
[2:45:51] um, I think thank you staff for bringing a lot of great information and for,
[2:45:55] uh, continue on with the momentum that via has been, uh,
[2:45:59] executing in the last year or years and keeping, uh,
[2:46:04] reaching and exceeding, uh, the goals set. Um, it's definitely
[2:46:08] an exciting time for via, for san antonio residents.
[2:46:12] um, I do, I think having this conversation is
[2:46:16] a great conversation to look at. What are some of the barriers that san antonio
[2:46:21] residents and via writers face on a day to day basis? Um, understanding
[2:46:25] the quality of life and reaching a quality of life is increasing
[2:46:29] access to opportunities to, um, connection
[2:46:34] to jobs, health, and to thrive. Um, understanding
[2:46:38] that for some, a fair might be a, uh, a barrier, but
[2:46:42] I think after hearing our conversation today, it is clear to
[2:46:46] me that the priority for via now is to continue that momentum of
[2:46:51] providing a better service, of providing, uh, access to a
[2:46:55] transit system that is closer and better to our san antonio
[2:46:59] residents so that we can invite more non riders. Um,
[2:47:03] I, I look forward to continue learning how we can get more,
[2:47:07] um, san antonio residents to, to ride via and
[2:47:11] to better offer an opportunity for them. Um, but I do think that,
[2:47:15] uh, in addition to all of the information and data that staff presented, the goal
[2:47:20] is clear. That is to provide a better service to, to writers and to
[2:47:24] invite more san antonio residents, uh, to use it because it is a better
[2:47:28] service, because it feels free and because they have more access, uh,
[2:47:32] to increase their connectivity. Thank you trustee.
[2:47:36] trustee grina. Thank you. Uh, madam
[2:47:41] chair. Um, thank you staff, uh, all of the hard work you put in
[2:47:45] to help, uh, not just us, but the public understand, uh, kind
[2:47:49] of the behind the scenes part of, of the impact of a decision like this.
[2:47:53] and, uh, I will say, I think it is a worthy conversation to discuss how we
[2:47:58] can more equitably, uh, provide transportation and remove
[2:48:02] those barriers to increase access to transportation. I think everybody in this room would support
[2:48:07] measures to remove barriers to transportation. Um, however, I don't know
[2:48:11] if a consumer facing tax is, is the answer to provide it. And,
[2:48:15] um, the other thing I will say is that I firmly believe that everyone in
[2:48:19] this room has come with good faith. Uh, but I do want us to be careful how
[2:48:24] we talk about our neighbors, specifically our most vulnerable
[2:48:28] neighbors. Um, everyone deserves dignity. And so, um, I do think everybody
[2:48:32] comes with that. But as I hear this conversation, and to your point, uh, vice
[2:48:36] chair, it seems like our city isn't necessarily dealing
[2:48:40] with an issue of access to transportation. It is dealing with
[2:48:45] an investment, a robust enough investment in mental health supports and
[2:48:49] access to housing in access and support for our houseless population. And so
[2:48:53] I'm looking forward to the conversation of the city council and of the mayor
[2:48:57] and how they are going to direct more of their budget to supporting those things, because that
[2:49:02] is what seems to be causing the safety issues for our drivers, for our,
[2:49:06] for our system. And I will say, um, as somebody who frequently goes to
[2:49:10] school boards and says, our working conditions, our students' learning conditions,
[2:49:14] I firmly agree that the working conditions of our operators are the
[2:49:18] conditions of our other riders. And so, again, I look forward to a more robust
[2:49:23] investment in some of those other things like mental health, those foundational pieces
[2:49:27] that will then make a free fair system, uh, I think more palatable,
[2:49:31] uh, and, and sustainable to, to folks that operate, but also folks
[2:49:35] that ride. Um, I would also be interested in looking at ways that we can
[2:49:40] expand some of these partnerships. Uh, again, working in a school district, uh,
[2:49:44] and my partner, she is a social worker for our school district. She is frequently asking
[2:49:48] for those passes for students. And so making sure every mckinney-vento person,
[2:49:53] uh, student in our school system has access to this, making sure that,
[2:49:57] uh, ready to work, right. If you apply for ready to work and you are now enrolled and ready
[2:50:01] to work, why do you not have access to this? I think it's also easy if we wanted
[2:50:05] to pilot free fare to just look at medicaid, look at who's
[2:50:09] receiving snap benefits, we can target this support in a much more meaningful
[2:50:13] way to, to address the issue that I think the city and the mayor is looking to
[2:50:17] address. But it seems like, again, from operators, from management, from the folks
[2:50:21] who are experts in this field, that this is not the, the, the best
[2:50:26] approach. And it seems somewhat rushed in that sense, but again, I, I'm more interested in,
[2:50:30] in looking forward to the robust conversation from the city about how to invest in our houseless
[2:50:34] population and our mental health supports for our community. Thank you.
[2:50:39] thank you. Trustee reina. Trustee howard? Yes, trustee. Thank,
[2:50:43] thank you, madam chair. You did hit on something that I, that I think is absolute absolutely correct
[2:50:47] and want to be sensitive to those, to the issues of the individuals in our community
[2:50:51] that have challenges is that to some degree, maybe not, they're not have, they don't have as much control
[2:50:56] over it. But one of the things that, from my perspective as a board member is
[2:51:00] one of the most important roles that we have is for the employees that work for
[2:51:04] via, we want them to arrive and to return to their families the same
[2:51:08] way that they got here with no dispar, no disparaging of, of
[2:51:12] anyone else. Uh, but with that, I think, you know, getting back to your, your three
[2:51:17] circular points, john, that is a high key to me and I, but I also agree
[2:51:21] with you that there is plenty of other opportunities to try to find ways to
[2:51:25] specifically get down to other areas of need and access
[2:51:29] to via, at a reduced rate that actually
[2:51:34] benefits both via and the right client.
[2:51:38] thank you. Thank you. Thank you, trustee howard? Uh,
[2:51:42] trustee . Yeah. This is my first meeting, but boy did
[2:51:47] I learn a lot. . You're welcome. It was a good one. First of all, I need
[2:51:51] to applaud the audience and all of those who stayed late. And what
[2:51:55] it reflects to me is it's a team effort from your
[2:51:59] transit employees that are here, uh, the team that presented
[2:52:04] so eloquently and so completely, I learned a lot.
[2:52:08] so I need tolo, uh, applaud all of you because it's truly
[2:52:12] a team effort. And I think going forward, it's nothing. We're going
[2:52:16] up and we learned a lot of what we can do and what we can't do, but
[2:52:21] we're in unison in doing that, and it's a team effort. Thank you.
[2:52:30] no other comments, trustees? Okay. Uh, this has been
[2:52:34] a, a great conversation. And again, I wanna thank staff and management for,
[2:52:39] uh, you know, over the course of the last couple of weeks, prioritize,
[2:52:44] quite frankly, the response that, um, has been asked of us.
[2:52:48] uh, and it's, it's something that doesn't go, um, without saying
[2:52:53] that this is the partnerships that we have, the key stakeholders,
[2:52:57] um, in this region are important to us. Without those key stakeholders,
[2:53:02] we cannot move forward, right? And so, uh, I appreciate, uh,
[2:53:06] your robust, um, and swiftly, uh, swift action
[2:53:10] in bringing this to the board and scrubbing some of the other, uh, priorities
[2:53:14] that we were gonna consider today. Uh, because this is an important subject, right, that we
[2:53:19] wanna take and consider. And so for that moment, I, I just kind of re wanna reframe
[2:53:23] this moment again, right? This is, this is something that, that I share with, um,
[2:53:27] our city council and the mayor and the city a couple of weeks ago at b session.
[2:53:32] um, and it's not just in response to the policy request, uh, that
[2:53:36] is before us, but it's in response to a once in a generation moment for
[2:53:40] public transit in our region. What we have built over the last several years
[2:53:44] and what we are continuing to build is not an upgrade, it's a transformation.
[2:53:49] and this board's responsibility is to protect it. And the last year alone,
[2:53:54] via has delivered more than 31.6 million passenger trips.
[2:53:58] that's the equivalent of moving the entire population of texas. We
[2:54:03] launched the largest set, single set of service improvements in agency history on
[2:54:07] a single day, right? Sandeep, we hired 107 new bus
[2:54:11] operators, right? Tramell, we achieved the top customer
[2:54:15] satisfaction rating among us transit agencies via trans grew
[2:54:20] ridership by 28% via link grew 35% park, and
[2:54:24] right. Grew more than 50%. The better bus plan, a full network
[2:54:28] design is running two to three years ahead of schedule. The green line is under construction.
[2:54:32] and these are not promises. It is proof we are delivering and
[2:54:37] we are not slowing down. Later on this year, via will launch an integrated
[2:54:41] app, a single platform for every via service, every route,
[2:54:46] every trip. Equally, putting together the customer experience
[2:54:50] as a top priority. That is what a modern competitive
[2:54:54] transit system looks like. That is what our riders ask for a better customer experience
[2:54:59] built on a reliable, safe, and effective service. And that is what we are delivering
[2:55:04] all this progress is possible because we have been disciplined and that discipline
[2:55:09] is exactly what is now being tested. Every dollar of the voter
[2:55:13] approved one 8 cent sales taxes committed to the san antonio keep san antonio moving plan.
[2:55:18] our fair revenue is leveraged against bonds and federal partnerships and
[2:55:22] make the green and silver lines possible. These are not line items,
[2:55:26] these are promises to the people of our service area, to san antonio
[2:55:31] and to bear county. There is no surplus capacity for new unfunded
[2:55:35] programs without impacting the delivery of services are rider depend on today,
[2:55:40] the board's duty is to protect the long-term financial health, safety,
[2:55:44] and performance of this agency. We share the mayor's goal for equity
[2:55:48] and access. I agree. And we are open to partnership models where the city funds
[2:55:53] and distributes fair programs for those who meet, uh, who need it the most.
[2:55:58] it already does this with city employees. That is a path we can walk together
[2:56:02] without putting the system at risk. We've gone through over the last year
[2:56:07] a culture change. Thanks in part to all of y'all in this room today. Thanks.
[2:56:11] in part to our operators, again, it was said earlier today
[2:56:15] by our etu transit union. This is a one time that
[2:56:20] they're in agreement with management, right? When was the last time that's actually been
[2:56:24] brought up? Uh, and so I appreciate that that has taken
[2:56:28] a long time to, uh, bridge some of the gaps that we had in the past. And
[2:56:32] I, again, itest this to the leadership, uh, both, uh, the union
[2:56:37] and of management. So with that being said, um, thank you for
[2:56:41] your deliberate, um, expertise in bringing this, um,
[2:56:45] uh, presentation to us today. Thank you for the research and calling us
[2:56:49] as trustees, asking us questions, um, ensuring that all
[2:56:53] our questions are, are answered in a timely manner. And thank you for always, uh,
[2:56:58] considering what our ridership needs, uh, with the eye towards the future.
[2:57:02] um, so with that being said, I'm gonna call the question,
[2:57:08] all right. Um, all in favor, please say aye.
[2:57:12] a aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries.
[2:57:16] thank you. Amen.
[2:57:23] all right. We still have, uh, agenda items to that are remaining
[2:57:27] . Uh, let's go ahead and move back to consent. Agenda item number
[2:57:32] five, uh, which is an action item. Trustees, are there any questions regarding
[2:57:36] any of these items? And do we need a presentation for this? No presentation, no
[2:57:40] move. We have a motion sign unless y'all want second. And we have a second. All in favor, please
[2:57:44] say aye. Aye. Opposed? All right. Consent agenda is
[2:57:49] approved financial update. I know, uh, jermaine, we, we went through a, a robust
[2:57:53] presentation there, but, uh, I'm gonna give you the floor again to provide
[2:57:57] us a little bit more in depth on where we are here to date.
[2:58:04] even leroy leaves me now. All righty. So
[2:58:09] yeah, just use the, uh, keyboard. Okay.
[2:58:14] yeah.
[2:58:19] wonderful. I'll be presenting the, uh, monthly financial highlights here.
[2:58:24] excuse me. Moving forward to our, uh, balance sheet here.
[2:58:28] uh, we ended the, uh, month of january with 1.226
[2:58:33] and, um, total assets and deferred, um, outflow of resources
[2:58:37] here. I note here that we do have charts in the back of the, uh, deck
[2:58:41] here. I won't flip to them this particular time, but I'll give some explanation of the variances
[2:58:45] here. And so, um, we're down 86.1 million versus
[2:58:49] a year ago. Current assets, they're actually down by 14.4 million. This
[2:58:53] is, um, associated with an, actually an increase in cash of
[2:58:57] 14.5 and other receivables of 15.2.
[2:59:01] but these are offset by, uh, decreases in sales tax receivables of 1.7 million,
[2:59:06] federal grants receivable of 7.7, restricted cash and debt
[2:59:10] service of 4.8 and inventory of 1.1. Uh, we have a large,
[2:59:15] uh, decline in non-current assets at down 77.3 million.
[2:59:19] and this is associated with a debt that was paid off in august of fiscal year 25,
[2:59:24] uh, and in, um, january of fiscal year 26 as well. 6.4 million.
[2:59:29] and then use of text grant funds of 10.4, decrease in,
[2:59:33] uh, restricted cash for construction of, uh, 63.3 million,
[2:59:38] and, um, decrease in our bond reserve of 2.9 million. And these were
[2:59:43] all partially offset by increased, um,
[2:59:47] um, I'm sorry, interest earned on contributions from bexar county,
[2:59:51] a td of, uh, 5.7 million. Capital assets are up 9.3,
[2:59:56] uh, million. This is due to assets, place and service and, um, construction
[3:00:00] and progress of, um, increase here of 76 million.
[3:00:04] and these were partially offset by normal depreciation and amortization of 66.7 million.
[3:00:10] and then our deferred outflows, they're actually down 32.5 million.
[3:00:15] and this is just normal amortization of, uh, pension and oa. Looking
[3:00:19] at our total liabilities and deferred inflow of, uh, resources
[3:00:23] here. We ended the month with, uh, 530 million.
[3:00:27] these are down 33.3 million. The, uh, decline here
[3:00:31] is, uh, largely associated with, uh, decline in non-current assets
[3:00:35] of 77.3 million due to debt paid in august,
[3:00:40] uh, fiscal year 25. I'm sorry, I'm actually gonna flip here because I
[3:00:44] think I have an issue with my notes for transparency here.
[3:00:49] and so this, uh, decline here that we are speaking to here. It's, uh, long-term
[3:00:54] liabilities are actually down 57.1 million due to decreases
[3:00:58] in bonds payable and bonds premium 16 million, uh, pension
[3:01:02] and ope liabilities are down 44.7 million. Lease
[3:01:07] liabilities in vehicles down 19.6. These are partially offset by
[3:01:11] the addition of compensated absences, uh, liability,
[3:01:15] uh, which was, uh, implemented, which was related to the implementation
[3:01:20] of ga sb 1 0 1, which required us to, um, to
[3:01:24] actually record the liability associated with absences that we expect
[3:01:28] our team members to take. And, uh, that resulted in another 22.2 million
[3:01:33] in liability. And then we have a arbitrage liability of $1 million
[3:01:38] deferred inflows actually up 15.8 million due to monthly amortization
[3:01:42] of inflows and pension of, uh, 14.2
[3:01:46] opep 1.5, and then leases 0.1 million there.
[3:01:51] so, flipping back here, moving over to our treasury
[3:01:56] overview here, you can see that we ended the month with 631.2 million
[3:02:00] in total cash reserves. These were down 13 million month over month.
[3:02:04] if we look at the actual days, cash on hand, we're still strong. We're down 12 days,
[3:02:08] but actual days cash on hand, 496 days, well above the
[3:02:13] 120 requirement, uh, that the board requires. We can see
[3:02:17] here this number looks very strong, but we see what happens once we start spinning down on
[3:02:21] our capital program. And certainly, uh, that number won't be, um,
[3:02:25] won't help us in the event that we have, uh, issues with our fair
[3:02:29] box revenues. We don't have to recap that, but people look at that number
[3:02:34] today. But that number is gonna be spent down as we spend on our green line civil line,
[3:02:38] um, capital programs. When you look at the, uh, interest earned in the bottom right
[3:02:42] corner here, we, um, ended january year to date, we had 8.5 million
[3:02:47] in interest earned. And so 3.3 million higher than the
[3:02:51] budget year to date of 5.2 million. We expect to end the year with $23.8 million.
[3:02:57] and this is, uh, the year to date performance is due to higher cash reserves
[3:03:01] than we budgeted for. And then higher interest earnings on those reserves as well.
[3:03:06] looking here at our income statement here, you could see that we ended january
[3:03:11] with 123.6 million in revenues. Uh, this is
[3:03:15] fairly aligned with our budget. It's a 1 million variance. I won't, I won't explain that
[3:03:20] variance since it's aligned with the budget. And also from an expenses perspective,
[3:03:24] we could see that, uh, we ended the month with 114.6 million.
[3:03:29] that's, uh, just 0.1 difference from the, uh, budget there. I will mention
[3:03:33] here, um, madam chair, that you questioned the variance
[3:03:38] on fairbox revenues last month. I think we had a 0.8 million
[3:03:42] variance to the budget. You see it's about $1 million now there.
[3:03:46] and then we noticed that we had an unfavorable sales mix, meaning that we sold more
[3:03:50] discounted fares than we had intended to, uh, within our budget. And so it
[3:03:54] resulted in less, uh, fair box revenues.
[3:04:03] this particular slide looks at our, um, sales tax trend on
[3:04:07] a rolling 12 month basis. When you look at that trend on a 12 month basis, we're
[3:04:11] actually up 3.3, I'm sorry, 3.2% year over year.
[3:04:16] if we look at the state of texas here, uh, just looking at the month of january,
[3:04:21] uh, state of texas saw a 7.1% increase january 26
[3:04:25] over 25. Um, all sectors seem to be performing, uh, pretty
[3:04:29] well there and their reporting as well. And then if we look at the three
[3:04:33] months ending january, 2026, uh, the state of
[3:04:37] texas was up 6.1 million compared to the same period for the, um,
[3:04:42] prior year. And going to the, uh, performance
[3:04:46] dashboard here, performance for bus here are weekday ridership complaints, mechanical
[3:04:50] reliability and customer satisfaction. They're all better than target collisions.
[3:04:55] they're better than target through, uh, january, 2026. We had two non-preventable
[3:05:00] and two preventable bus collisions reported through january. However,
[3:05:04] those occurred prior to december because for the last two months there were no collisions.
[3:05:09] the, um, on time performance and cost effectiveness that within the
[3:05:13] target range through, uh, january, 2026 for bus.
[3:05:17] if we move on to, uh, via trends here, our weekday ridership collisions, mechanical
[3:05:21] reliability, customer satisfaction, and cost effectiveness, there are better than, uh,
[3:05:25] target. Our on time performance is within the target range. Um,
[3:05:29] however, we've seen some improvement over the, uh, prior period
[3:05:34] of, uh, 0.8%. And so, which is a positive, uh, complaints are worse
[3:05:38] than target, but showing continued improvement with a 12.4%
[3:05:42] decrease from the prior period. And finally, moving on to, uh,
[3:05:46] via link here, our average monthly, uh, ridership and on time performance
[3:05:50] rather than target cost effectiveness is within target range through january.
[3:05:55] and customer satisfaction rating for ve services through january is 4.84.
[3:06:01] and so madam chair, I'll turn it back over to you and the board of trustees for any questions
[3:06:05] or comments. Thank you very much for presentation trustees. Any questions?
[3:06:10] uh, trustee flotis, uh, any economic headwinds or any issues
[3:06:14] that you're tracking or concerned about with respect to sales tax or
[3:06:19] anything else? Yeah, yeah. And so of course, uh, we would say tariffs,
[3:06:23] right? Of course, when you look at the capital program is major 1.1 billion in
[3:06:27] spend. And so this is where we would have the largest concern. And so we talked a little bit
[3:06:31] earlier about the fact that we have this, uh, contingency fund that we set aside
[3:06:35] of $100 million. We do recognize that that can go away rather quickly,
[3:06:39] right? And so that's something that we're definitely concerned about. We talk about it all the time,
[3:06:43] taking a look at our, um, project management practices and our ability
[3:06:48] to, um, ensure that we have the sufficient level of contingency
[3:06:52] within our, um, budgets for each and every project. And so that's a major concern
[3:06:56] for us. I would say right now we see that our fuel costs are, uh, rather high.
[3:07:01] uh, we, we need to reach back out to cps energy and see why these, um,
[3:07:05] surtax, I would say that we're being charged. They can't explain it very well to us why it's,
[3:07:09] why it's, um, been so volatile. And so that's something that we wanna, um,
[3:07:13] pay attention to in the future as our cng costs, of course, with increasing our operation
[3:07:17] as well. And so I think there, there are quite a few concerns there. I will reiterate
[3:07:22] here as it relates to sales taxes, we, we continue to talk about sales
[3:07:26] taxes every single month because obviously that's a huge revenue source force. And so this
[3:07:30] year we actually budgeted for a 0% increase if you exclude the a
[3:07:34] ed two, uh, revenues that began in january. And so to see the
[3:07:38] positive numbers that we're seeing here now is a really good thing for us. And so it's gonna help us in terms of
[3:07:42] just the plan for 26. Great.
[3:07:47] thank you. I I did have a question. Um, 'cause I chuckled when you asked that, 'cause that's similar
[3:07:51] to where I was gonna go. Just going into the sales tax and looking, um, month over month
[3:07:55] and the trend that you have there, um, we see a decrease from last month. And
[3:07:59] I'm just, um, are we tracking, uh, the forecast, uh, ahead
[3:08:03] of what you just said? Um, based on the economic, uh, impact of
[3:08:07] tariffs, uh, of fuel increase, um, we're
[3:08:11] the number one, we're in the top, uh, providers or, uh, customers
[3:08:15] for cps mm-hmm . Right? And so largest, largest gas user for cps,
[3:08:20] largest gas user for cps. So just, you know, those considerations also, um,
[3:08:24] go into, uh, how much it costs to provide the service, right?
[3:08:29] um, as opposed to how much we receive, um, from a revenue perspective.
[3:08:33] so that's always gonna be a concern of mine. Um, and so I'm just, you know, curious, uh,
[3:08:37] your thoughts, I think you already answered trustee flores, but I'm, I'm, uh,
[3:08:41] I'm, I'm assuming that you're still monitoring that for the next couple of quarters as we close
[3:08:45] out our fiscal year? Yeah, certainly. Yeah. And like I said, sales tax, every single, we
[3:08:50] started to show this every single month, right? And so it's something that we want to continue to monitor.
[3:08:54] but yeah, every single cost element, you talk about the cost of our, uh, fuel, that's a
[3:08:58] huge cost for us. And then we have those ser uh, surtax that I mentioned of
[3:09:02] as well that are, um, that are, we're paying. So it's something that we're gonna continue to
[3:09:06] monitor and look for ways to decrease that cost. We talked about fuel hedging and things
[3:09:10] like that. And so we need to explore it fully to see if it's a possibility. But we also wanna
[3:09:14] have some discussion with cps energy to see if there are other ways that we can minimize our costs.
[3:09:19] great. Thank you. Uh, dra, just for clarity,
[3:09:23] um, we haven't seen the news one eighth
[3:09:27] flush through yet on a report, right? Not yet. Yet. So what we saw in january still doesn't include
[3:09:31] the cash is gonna come in in march. Okay. It'll be march. Okay. Thanks for the clarification.
[3:09:35] yes. Very good. All right. Thank you for the presentation. Mm-hmm .
[3:09:39] thank you. All right. We're gonna move on to agenda.
[3:09:44] uh, item number eight. This is a proposed may, 2026
[3:09:48] service changes as announced yesterday via, has postponed to vote
[3:09:52] on proposed may service change improvements. The delay follows
[3:09:56] customer feedback regarding, um, via reconsideration
[3:10:01] to plan to retire. Route two, community input is an essential
[3:10:05] part of our service planning process, and we appreciate the customers who share
[3:10:09] their concerns earlier and throughout the weekend. Uh, this item is
[3:10:13] now scheduled to be considered at the march meeting. Um, so now we'll
[3:10:17] move, uh, into the via recruitment update, which is agenda item
[3:10:21] number nine,
[3:10:44] madam chair, members of the board. Satori samita, vice president of human
[3:10:49] resources. And I'm with angelica martin, director of human resources.
[3:10:53] and together we'll provide the february update, uh, for our bus operator, our recruitment and
[3:10:57] strategy. So reliable frequent service attracts riders,
[3:11:02] it builds trust with community, it positions via to implement service
[3:11:06] changes, increase frequency, and respond to growth. And none of that
[3:11:10] is possible without a robust full-time bus operator pool.
[3:11:14] so with that context, I'll turn it over to angelica, who's gonna give you an update
[3:11:19] on where we are. Good evening.
[3:11:23] so as of january 31st, we've reached a total of 953
[3:11:27] full-time operators, a net increase of 47
[3:11:31] over the prior month. Um, the last time that via employed 953
[3:11:36] full-time operators was in june of 2020.
[3:11:41] in january, 2020,
[3:11:47] um, in january of 2025, we ended
[3:11:51] the month with 815 operators. This represents a year
[3:11:55] over year growth of 138 operators. Operator
[3:12:00] retention has also increased by 3% over the last year.
[3:12:05] we have 71 operators remaining to achieve our goal of 1024
[3:12:10] operators by december of 2026. Overall, we're 93%
[3:12:14] towards the goal of 1024 operators. At our most recent
[3:12:19] job fair, 88 out of 178 attendees interviewed
[3:12:23] for a bus operator position. Of those 88 attendees,
[3:12:28] 43 were extended job offers on site. Fast track fridays
[3:12:32] have also officially launched and are gaining more traction. Um, in
[3:12:36] our office. We, we are heavily trafficked every friday.
[3:12:40] ,
[3:12:45] are there any questions? Any questions? Uh,
[3:12:49] trustee reno, not so much, much a question, but the, there
[3:12:53] has been an increase in the conversion rate from folks that enter
[3:12:57] training that then complete training and become full-time
[3:13:01] operators. 'cause I know there's a difference between folks that come in versus folks that end up behind a wheel.
[3:13:05] but that number has increased as well, correct? That is, yes. Thank you.
[3:13:10] and, and retainage of those, once they start is also increasing.
[3:13:14] so we have, we have a bit of a perfect storm here. Um,
[3:13:19] jermaine was nice to us 'cause he did not really show that
[3:13:23] our expenses are a little ahead of where we were expecting them. And it's
[3:13:27] because of these two ladies here, uh, because they've accelerated
[3:13:31] the rate of our hiring further beyond than what we were anticipating at
[3:13:36] this stage in our budget. It's a good problem to have and we like that, but
[3:13:40] that's also where it's flushing out into our budget as well. So we're gonna come give you all a midyear
[3:13:44] look at that. Uh, but the great work that we have here,
[3:13:48] uh, with, uh, with the recruiting, just to connect us
[3:13:52] one more idea, 'cause it, um, or moment on recruiting.
[3:13:57] how should we put the message out that the board just took about,
[3:14:01] uh, free fares in front of those potential,
[3:14:05] uh, recruitings or recruit tense? So something to talk, something
[3:14:09] to think about. But let's, that's a really good question. Let's be very intentional about that, since we've already heard
[3:14:13] messaging, um, from them already that they were worried,
[3:14:18] um, about this idea. All
[3:14:22] right. Thank you. All right. Ell, we're good to go right
[3:14:26] on, on the number. Okay. I, I just keep on looking at him because
[3:14:30] he was the one that increased and upped the any to one 50. Yes.
[3:14:35] . Very good. All right. Thank you very much for the briefing. Um,
[3:14:39] item 10. Did we have a legal briefing? No, ma'am. We do not. All
[3:14:44] right. You tonight? No legal briefing. Shucks. Right.
[3:14:48] okay. President's report. No. President's report
[3:14:53] . But we are trying to figure if, if this
[3:14:57] is, uh, the longest board meeting, uh, in recent memory.
[3:15:01] so, chris, welcome. Yes. We didn't have word for sure. That's
[3:15:06] right. And, and, uh, that's right. Uh, maybe the scoby item was maybe on
[3:15:11] s that's right. All right. Well,
[3:15:15] I'm gonna not drag my feet to go to item number 12,
[3:15:20] which is your favorite. Um, may I have a motion to adjourn please? Motion to
[3:15:24] adjourn. Motion is heard. Second. Second. Second. All in favor, please say aye. Aye.
[3:15:28] any opposed? You see a one opposed? Is that what you did, trustee howard? No. Okay.
[3:15:33] a motion carries. Thank you very much for being here today.
[3:15:37] a td a td. That's right. We got a-t-d-a-t-d. Yeah.
[3:15:41] thank you very much. We're gonna have to five minutes, five more minutes. We're moving on to a td, meaning
[3:15:45] a td. We probably should have done that first. Yeah. Um,
[3:15:50] not quite yet. It is now 8:17 pm and I'd like
[3:15:54] to call it, or the february 24th. A td board meeting. Uh, we've already
[3:15:58] done our momentary of reflection and pledge of allegiance. Uh, any
[3:16:02] citizens to be heard. No citizens to be heard. No citizens to be heard. Okay.
[3:16:06] and we do have a consent agenda item that is for action. Uh,
[3:16:11] trustees. So moves. We have a motion. Second. Second. All in favor, please say aye.
[3:16:15] aye. Any opposed? Please say nay. Nay. Consent agenda is approved.
[3:16:20] ms. Elder, any briefing? No, ma'am. All right.
[3:16:24] no legal briefing. And then our action item. Next one to adjourn. So
[3:16:28] moved. And motion second. All right. All favor, please say aye.
[3:16:32] aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you very much. Everyone stayed here.
[3:16:37] that was, that may be the fastest agency.