SAN ANTONIO – The man the Bexar County judge and San Antonio mayor have recommended to lead VIA Metropolitan Transit indicated he would plan to push ahead with plans to expand mobility options and improve service. With current chairwoman Hope Andrade reaching a collective eight years on the VIA board of trustees and leaving her role on Nov. 30, the board is expected to elect a new chairman in December. Though the decision is up to the board, Judge Nelson Wolff and Mayor Ron Nirenberg have recommended local businessman Fernando Reyes to get the job. “I think that’s what the citizens of San Antonio passed. Thank you.”A VIA spokeswoman said Andrade is expected to be asked to holdover and preside over the meeting in December when the trustees elect their new chairman.

San Antonio voters approve all three propositionsSan Antonio voters have approved all three propositions, according to voting numbers released from the Bexar County Elections Department. Proposition B - the 1/8 cent tax for workforce development - will fund a workforce training and education program. And, the 1/8 cent tax for SA: Ready to Work will be diverted to transportation after its funding expires at the end of 2025. “I’m grateful to the San Antonio voting public that they support one another, especially during a time of crisis," Nirenberg said. Voters would essentially renew the sales tax for the same purpose, as the sales tax that voters approved in November 2012 will expire in 2021.

SAN ANTONIO Leaders with the VIA Metropolitan Transit met with San Antonio Mobility Coalition, Mayor Ron Nirenberg and Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff Friday to discuss to the 2020 State of Transit. The virtual event focused on VIAs COVID-19 response and the plan to keep San Antonio moving, safely and affordably, a media advisory stated. VIA President and CEO Jeffrey C. Arndt and VIA Board Chair Hope Andrade presented efforts to support workforce recovery amid the coronavirus pandemic and long-term funding. The State of Transit is part of a transportation leadership series by San Antonio Mobility Coalition, a nonprofit that focuses on highway, transit, and freight rail funding. In July, Nirenberg and officials with VIA announced they agreed on a plan to use a one-eighth cent sales tax or a workforce development/economic opportunity program before permanently shifting it to transportation funding.

SAN ANTONIO Although San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg has already stated his opposition to redirecting a 1/8 cent sales tax to the citys mass transit system, the VIA Metropolitan Transit board voted to move ahead with the initiative on Thursday. Nirenberg had once championed the ballot proposal, but after the economic fallout caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the mayor said the sales tax could be used for more immediate needs. San Antonio mayor claims VIA wants to ask voters for 1/8th cent tax, says he will not support ballot proposalIn a lengthy statement issued by VIA Board Chair Hope Andrade on behalf of the entire board, the trustees say the transit system has long been neglected. This is not about filling a budget hole created by COVID-19, the statement read. Both sides expressed a willingness to come to an agreement on the issue before Aug. 17, the deadline for the board to call for the election.

SAN ANTONIO The chairwoman of the VIA Metropolitan Transit board remains hopeful the mayor will reconsider his decision to refrain from sending more sales tax funds to the transit agency, which she says it desperately needs. The sales tax, which VIA says could bring in $152 million between fiscal 2022 and fiscal 2025, could serve as a lifeline. Whereas other transit agencies in the state receive a full cent of sales tax revenue, VIA receives just 1/2 cent. Andrade said in this state of emergency, the agency must pursue the 1/8 cent sales tax. You cant have economic mobility without mobility.Whatever it might be tapped for, the 1/8 cent sales tax would not be able to pump money into any budgets until at least next year.