Would you ride a free bus downtown? That's what VIA and the city traffic engineers want to know.
It's one of several ideas aimed at alleviating traffic, gridlock, and frustration on roadways. Mayor Ron Nirenberg said on Wednesday that he's expecting new census figures to show San Antonio is still growing dramatically.
They're projecting an extra 500,000 cars on the road by 2040, and one way to stop that growing headache is a free bus to move people in congested areas.
At a transportation meeting on Wednesday, Mayor Nirenberg detailed a discussion he had in Denver about ways to alleviate traffic issues here in San Antonio.
"We talked about that, and the different options that we could see here in San Antonio include improved bus service and circulation in the downtown,” Mayor Nirenberg said.
It's not a plan or a proposal right now, but it is an idea, one the mayor and VIA are discussing.
"In certain areas of town, particularly high-density areas like the central business district, that encourage people to get on to transit vehicles rather than get stuck on the highway,” the mayor explained.
One way to convince people to ride is to make it free. Denver's Regional Transport district offers a free bus service through their downtown. It runs every day starting as early as 5 a.m. and stops around 1:30 a.m.
Projections of San Antonio's growth show that drivers’ commutes could be increased by 75 percent by 2040. That's why transit leaders are having this discussion now.
Mayor Nirenberg admits that getting everyone on board might not be easy. But if the service is good enough, he believes people will use it.
"We've got to make it efficient and reliable,” he said. “We've got to improve frequency of service in those areas of town where people would make the choice if they would get to where they're going on time.”