Via Metropolitan Transit

The Good:
The drivers are almost always helpful and friendly. They’re usually punctual as well, or no more than 5 or so minutes late – never more than 5 minutes early. Most of the buses are clean and if not comfortable then not too uncomfortable.
The bad:
My beef with VIA is the worthless hours of operation and the crappy routes that are useless if they don’t go downtown. Buses come too infrequently outside 410, not to mention that the routes start too late and end way too early, and you’re routed through downtown 95% of the time for EVERYTHING.
This is the ONLY city this size that I know of that does not run 15 minute service to major colleges and universities, with express routes between sister colleges like UTSA Main/​Downtown, or the community colleges.
Shift workers, you’re just SOL if you want to use VIA instead of driving. If your job is at I-​35 & Wurzbach, and you get off work at 11:30 p.m. or need to start at 4 a.m., forget using VIA.
The setup is so bad that, to catch a particular bus at University Park and Ride, only 5 minutes from my house, I must leave 1 hour and 15 minutes BEFORE the bus gets there, if I want to take bus service all the way there. So I end up driving to the park and ride instead, which sort of defeats the purpose of public transit.
PS: I actually found the guy who designed this crappy system of routing everything downtown and starving the burbs. He was PROUD of the cruddy job he did to screw everybody but downtown over.
I promptly informed him that he was lower than used car salesmen, politicians, thieves, murderers, rapists and child molesters in my estimation, for making me need to be out my NW home’s front door 2 ½ hours before my start time at my NE side work, simply because he, the utter moron, routed everything through downtown, and only set up metro buses to run on the hour in the burbs, rather than at least every half hour, like normal cities manage it.
And what’s with having no buses on Bandera north of Mainland? All that growth out there, and you can’t get to it UNLESS you want to go into downtown and pick up a bus that will go to the Wind Tunnel park and ride under the 1604 and 10 freeways, where you’re blown to death, no matter where you stand, and THEN you can get a bus to 1604 and Bandera. If you want to go south, sucks to be you.
If I find the link to that hoser again, I’m giving it to 4chan, swear to the FSM.

San Antonio has the WORST public transportation. Buses are ALWAYS late. Bus drivers are RUDE. I can’t wait to get my car

Get a car.
By far the worst bus system of any city I have ever been to. Other than the 100, this is slow and worthless. For a city with the size and population of San Antonio, this is not anywhere near enough. If you arent on the bus by 830, you probably wont get home.
Lots of beggars, criminals, and thieves. Even murderers.
The app is worthless.

Don’t ever give via your number they will send better 2 and 10 texts everyday and you have to pay for them I’ve tried everything to get the to stop I’ve called via, I’ve texted back to stop, to end, to unsubscribe and nothing works I will never do business with via ever again I can’t thing of any 5 rude the getting text at 5:30 am about a bus I never even heard of and since they will not stop I guess it’s my job to let any one know not to let your number fall in the hands is the evil via

Whether because of my ‘scruffy’ appearance or the fact I load a bicycle on the front of a bus, I’ve been slighted or treated less than kindly by about no less than ¼ of the drivers I meet. I try to always smile and be friendly with a Texas greeting but far too many (even 2 are too many) have been nasty-​ass grouches. Still, clean busses, quick transportation, safe and on schedule unless a train slows things up!

I’ve been on better public transportation, but it’s the best (and only) public transit in San Antonio.
It’s frustrating when you need to get from one side of town to another, and you look it up on the bus schedule, and it’s going to take 6 hours round trip for transit, with 4 transfers. I wish San Antonio would approve a Light Rail like they have in Austin or Dallas or Houston. We tried to vote for a streetcar, and that got shot down too.
Some of the buses can be really nice. If you’re lucky enough to score a ride on the green buses, they have heat/​ac, wifi, and run on propane! Awesome!
They have a lost & found department, which I’ve found out firsthand really does return stuff to travelers.
The bus drivers run the gamut from people who hate you, hate the bus, hate the road, and hate everything, to those bus drivers who greet you with a big «Howdy!» when you board!
They let you ride with a bike, which you can put on the front of all regular buses, but they only allow 2 bikes on the front at a time. However, I’ve managed to talk the drivers into letting me bring the bike on board when this happens.

I was waiting at a bus stop on Bitters at Heimer. A VIA bus driver traveling in a different direction stopped his bus to tell me the 3 route didn’t service that stop until much later in the day. He then directed me to another stop so I could continue my trip. Wow, what amazing customer service!

VIA needs to get off the streetcar idea. We San Antonians don’t want to be railroaded!
I am glad VIA got rid of those pesky paper transfer slips.
Your ⁵⁵⁰⁄₅₅₁ routes need MORE SERVICE!!!
Why is the looper dangerously crowded from Marbach to Randolph?
How about 15 minute service, and you still didn’t put a bench back on your Austin Highway Lanark bus stop!!! I CALLED YOU THREE TIMES in the PAST YEAR, NO RESPONSE FROM VIA of course. Phony Scandal? What gives?
FARE BOXES:
I like the audio response but it needs to be turned down a little bit. Are you trying to give Helen Keller a headache or something?
I like the color readout of the fare.
ROUTE SUGGESTIONS:
How about a route that goes from Walzem Road to Rolling Oaks Mall running every 30 minutes?
Rackspace employees go down to Perrin Beitel, and an HEB is opening on 1604 and Nacodogches.
How about a 1604 Looper from La Cantera to Rolling Oaks?
CONCLUSION:
VIA needs to get with the program on it’s bus routes, not get in the rail road business.
Do all those things VIA and I raise you a star or two.

I don’t care what people say! If u don’t have a car you should be thankful for the via bus. Yeah you might have to wait for the bus, or you might be late and chasing it, but either way I would rather pay$ 1.20 to hop on and get where I want. If you are a tourist red and blue lines are an easy way to get from downtown hotels to other areas in downtown are, for example El Mercado.

I’ve got to say I was pretty excited when they started using electronic fare cards. Sounds so easy. You insert the card the first time and then it’s good for 31 days from that first insertion. You swipe thereafter. But the system isn’t working that good. It takes several swipes before it’s read. You have to listen to ‘card not valid’ for virtually every person getting. Most annoying. I kind of long for the old silent monthly pass.

Let me clarify my rating. For number of routes, reach of bus lines, and general driver effectiveness, I’d give four stars. However, when it comes to other things, VIA earns from 1 – 3 stars.
I love how our bus system can reach almost any area I need to visit. I also think most of the drivers are personable and very professional. I think VIA strives to improve the quality of bus line service in ways that I appreciate.
Unfortunately, VIA still struggles mightily with things it should have already fixed.
1) San Antonio is a fiesta town, and when fiesta parades are scheduled, the bus situation becomes something of a nightmare. Don’t misunderstand – I know that scheduling buses through the downtown area when a parade is going to block almost every street is likely a nightmare. Seriously, though, how many decades does VIA need to improve service at this time to the point where it causes only minimal disruption to riders? Examples: detours that are supposed to start getting imposed at one time actually starting 30 minutes to an hour BEFORE that time, leaving riders sitting at stops wondering where the heck their bus is as they check their watches to ensure that the detour time hasn’t actually arrived yet; buses running up to 45 minutes late during Fiesta when it’s known in advance that detours will be necessary.
2) marathons and other events cause nightmarish changes that riders don’t always know about. I’ve sat at a bus stop nowhere near a marathon route, waiting for a bus that never came, and I never saw a flyer or sign or anything at all that notified me that my bus route was going to change in any way during that timeframe. It’s not like the marathons spring up from one day to the next. VIA – just notify your riders!!!
3) Advertisements for things that aren’t really available. WiFi is a great example. The new Primo buses are supposed to have WiFi, but good luck getting that to work for you. I was on bus #952 today, and the WiFi went out on my at least 40 times.
4) failure of the so-​called real time text feature that is supposed to give riders accurate bus arrival times. What a flop! I am currently at bus stop 11 269. The number 30 bus was supposed to arrive around 622pm, according to the text I received. It is now 707pm, and the bus hasn’t come. I was here waiting at 610pm, having just gotten off the number 26. I called Via Info to see where my bus was and was on hold for 8 minutes before the call was disconnected, And guess what? The call disconnected just as the info line shut down for the evening. Isn’t that just special? So here I am. An hour of waiting thus far.
5) the very lovely habit via has of telling drivers whose runs are extremely late to just go out of service and head back in, leaving riders clueless and stranded, sometimes with no more buses coming that evening. That has happened to me at least five times that I can recall.
Overall, VIA seems very uncaring of its riders. Pitiful job, VIA!

I took the Bus number 5 from airport to downtown San Antonio the ticket price was $ 1.10 it took me to downtown in 15 minutes. Very comfortable. The people were all friendly and I got to see all the old mansions of San Antonio.

Was staying out on I10. Got tired of all the traffic and parking costs downtown. Decided to take advantage of one of the buses I was seeing everywhere. It was an easy trip downtown. Bus was really crowded but it was rush hour. Plus as a tourist this really helped me see the true city. Definitely recommend. Cheap easy clean and as fast as buses can be

Via Metropolitan Transit seems to be one of the better bus systems I’ve been on, outside of Europe. I’m in town for an extended business trip and I’ve been riding it to and from work. Plus they have these faux trolleys that’ll take you almost anywhere Downtown. So it’s really handy for getting around, although I’ll admit I’ve only been using it in the Downtown area. Not sure of how service is to the neighborhoods & the ‘burbs.

San Antonio we have one heck of a transit system.
The buses are clean and one time, you could set your click by them. The drivers are knowledgeable and more than willing to help you navigate to the next bus. Absolutely cannot beat the price.
So many routes make getting around a breeze. Great for locals to get around as well as for tourists to see the city with out the cost if cabs or rental cars or getting lost.
Viva Via!

Love the Via!
I was in San Antonio all last week for a conference, and I wanted to get some sightseeing done. I was going to shell out major bucks for either a rental car or a taxi, but got the idea to take public transportation from the San Antonio Airport website. It probably saved me a couple hundred bucks!
Airport to downtown: $ 1.10 versus $ 30
Downtown to McNay: $ 1.10 versus $ 20
The list goes on. I saved like 90%!
Super impressed with where the Via goes, which is almost everywhere. I like how most of the routes I took ran all 7 days of the week (which may not be true of all the routes). A little downside was that most of them only run twice an hour and there is really no overnight service. I get that though because the transit system really does cover a vast area.
Use Google Transit to plot out your course instead of the website itself, and then followup with the Via website for times of the bus. I found the website unwieldy and not very user-​friendly if you use the gimmicks found on the front page. Use instead the left column where it has a link to bus schedules. It links to a whole page of bus schedules in pdf. Most buses run about 3 – 5 minutes later than what the schedules say, but some of the buses were running on time.
Personnel is super nice and friendly. They answer all your questions, and people do ask a lot of questions. There ARE some characters on the bus, but they don’t bother you if you don’t bother them. I was a little hesitant to use the bus because I’m more used to a train system which runs a little faster, but with Via, I saw a lot more of the city and saved money doing so!

I rode the VIA while on vacation in San Antonio last week, and loved it! Yup, hang on to the poles because those wooden benches on the trolleys are like the highly waxed dance floors of yesteryear.
All funnies aside, my favorite seat on the bus is the yellow one dedicated to Rosa Parks. Yup!!! Right up there at the front of the bus. I darn near cried Texas-​sized tears. Like any good tourist, I took a picture of this respectful and unexpected tribute to a rockin’ lady.
The $ 4 day pass is great deal. I bought mine at the downtown tourist bureau, across from the Alamo. The pass is valid for both trolleys and buses, and you can get to a lot of attractions and just cool places by public transit. But — you must pay fifteen cents for a transfer — so buy a day pass!
The drivers were good-​natured and helpful, and some of them were darn good-​looking!
VIA is a fast, fun and affordable way to get around San Antonio!

how does the VIA bus only have 7 reviews, 8 including mine?
I will admit I don’t regularly ride the bus. Yes, I know our public transit is not highly efficient like in other metro areas. It needs a lot of work. A normal 20 min drive should never take up to two hours. But it does some times, for example a ride from central SA to the medical center.
But the air condition is always cold in the summer and the heater is always warm in the winter. The bus drivers are helpful and friendly and if you live off a major street such as San Pedro, Broadway, McCullough or Blanco, you can get anywhere north or south rather quickly.
I’ll ride the VIA to meet up for drinks with friends. I lived right off of McCullough and would ride it straight down to South town and ride it straight back up. I’ll let VIA be my DD anyday!

I love that I can get downtown (or to The Rim for drinks and a movie that matter!) for just over a buck and ride without a thought, reading a magazine or listening to a podcast.
I can get home just as easy and get dropped off right in front of my neighborhood, to walk back to my front door feeling smug that I used public transportation, lowered my carbon footprint and also was able to indulge just a bit more in HH than I would have had I been driving.
I have to admit that the route I take is pretty nice and the buses are decent as well. Once, a minor breakdown of the bus required us to get out at a different stop just outside of downtown and wait for another route to pick us up. That bus and crowd? Not so nice.
Hopefully we can all look forward to additional routes, more ‘express’ busses and extended hours. You see, I would not be able to take the bus home after a show at the Majestic as my last route leaves at 9:47. Could be 9:46, don’t remember for sure.
Be on time at your stop lest you miss the bus! Make sure to have exact change ready, makes everything easier on everyone. For sure utilize the website, there is great route information to be found.

For a bumpy ride and a good laugh, take one of the downtown streetcars. A reckless driver coupled with the slippery wooden bench seats will have you sliding around in no time. Refusing to hold on to a stationary object is just asking to slam into the floor. So, while you’re hanging onto that pole, use that time wisely and perfect your stripper moves.