Transportation and connectivity are vital for tourism in San Antonio. How our 37 million annual guests comfortably navigate the city’s more than 400 square miles of landscape, with its diversity of attractions, is a critical part of the overall visitor experience.
The mechanism for doing that, from improved infrastructure to exploring new technologies, will become even more important as we move forward, thanks to increased population – and visitation – numbers.
That symbiotic relationship was highlighted earlier this month when it was announced that Jeff Arndt, president and CEO of VIA Metropolitan Transit, has been named chairman of the board of Visit San Antonio, the sales and marketing arm of the community.
In succeeding hotelier Rusty Wallace in that role, Arndt brings a unique and necessary perspective to the focus on sustaining and strengthening the third-largest industry in the city, the $15.2 billion tourism and hospitality sector. There’s little doubt that a modern transportation system, with multiple trip options, equates to expanded tourism opportunities.
Arndt and VIA will be major players in that. In 2016, the transit service launched a new series of specially branded bus routes that support the hospitality industry. Three VIVA routes connect many of the city’s celebrated historic, cultural and entertainment destinations, including the Spanish colonial missions that make up Texas’ only World Heritage Site. To date, those routes have delivered more than 1 million passenger trips.
Of that number, VIA’s lines have also helped some of the visitor industry’s more than 140,000 workers get to where they need to be each day. Fittingly, that includes more than 8,800 who work in the transportation and travel sector. Overall, one of every seven employed San Antonians works in tourism and hospitality, earning $3.23 billion in annual payroll.
When accepting the chairman’s role with Visit San Antonio, Arndt reiterated his commitment to “connect our region.” That work, he added in a VIA news release, can “help position our city for continued economic development.”
He’s right, and that’s part of a larger vision that will play out in coming months under Mayor Ron Nirenberg and his platform for comprehensive transportation reform, “ConnectSA.” That group, created in 2018, has come forward with various transportation strategies for a community that has proven reluctant to adequately address or prioritize transit needs in the past.
ConnectSA’s initial recommendations include innovative modes of travel, an advanced rapid transit system, and smart transit options that use technology for a better customer experience. San Antonio, one of the nation’s fastest-growing cities, is in increasing need of the kinds of mobility systems that give consumers, whether local or visiting, various options and technologies to utilize.
If residents give the nod to support the system plan as it is laid out in coming months, it will doubtless include work done for VIA’s Vision 2040, an update to the Long Range Comprehensive Transportation Plan. Vision 2040 and the new VIA Reimagined plan target areas where growth and continued congestion will require rapid transit corridors, high-frequency VIA service and other development opportunities.
As San Antonio’s tourism landscape similarly expands, including added sites and events, that attention to seamless and easy transportation options intersecting the city, whether through VIA’s strategic routes, ride sharing, or other avenues pursued through ConnectSA, will be invaluable.
After all, San Antonio welcomed 7 million more visitors in 2018 than it did in 2014. All of them hope to get from Point A to Point B as quickly and conveniently as possible.
As chair of the Visit San Antonio board, comprised of hospitality industry influencers, politicians and business leaders, Arndt will be at the steering wheel of important discussions about the connection between transportation and tourism.
That connectivity is about “bringing together the people, places and events that make San Antonio a unique destination,” he said in his release. As we move forward, that commitment will be more vital than ever.
There is so much going on here. First, let’s looks at some other apples – Las Vegas has a smaller population than SA, is also very spread out, and has a large tourist draw. The transit system in Las Vegas has 190,000 daily boardings and 66 million annually. This compares to about 120k and 35 million for San Antonio. What value is VIA giving citizens for their dollars? Comparison to real heavyweights is sad. Chicago has 1.5 million riders each day. Even Dallas gets 400k riders every day.
Second, when was the last time someone came to SA for a business meeting and took a bus to their hotel? I would bet that 99.9% of professionals visiting this city NEVER set foot on a bus. I know there are statistics about how the visitors actually get around, but those are not shared with us, probably because they do not help make the case. The reality is that VIA is the second class transportation network designed to transport the workers of the hospitality industry and all the other low wages earners in San Antonio – not the tourists.
Third, 37 million annual visitors? Get real. That’s over 100,000 visitors every single day of the year. All that in a city with at most 50,000 (very generous) hotel and homeshare beds. It’s kind of like the 7th largest city thing. What is the point of all the numbers if they’re just coming from people trying to inflate their own importance? I know Bob has already called into question the validity of those figures but it merits mention again.
Free advice for all the aspiring public servants out there – don’t let all the back-patting get in the way of the actual work to be done.
CB
you make excellent points. the data is misleading. Our city leadership has lacked vision for decades. Unless the vision changes from our leadership, we will always be a “Metropolitan Mayberry”.
I read this whole article looking for proposals of the new transportation options that are needed. I couldn’t find any.
Public transportation is a black hole of wasted tax dollars. Always has been and always will be.
Wait until you hear about freeways, Bill.
A really simple idea would be to create a way to get from the Airport to Downtown easier. Right now you’ve got to wait on the 5, which comes every half hour, take it to another stop, get off, transfer to another bus, and continue downtown.
VIA already has express routes, why not create an Express route from the downtown area direct to the Airport, a straight shot up and down 281.
Turn a one hour journey from the Airport to the Convention Center into a 20 minute journey.
I’ve long wondered why the 5 is the only route to go to the Airport. I’ve taken public transit easily to and from Airports in other cities, but the thought to do so here in San Antonio has never crossed my mind (and I have plenty of experience riding VIA) because it seems like it would take so much longer to get anywhere.
But our transit system is for visitors!! I swear it is!! Just don’t look for evidence.
yeah good point about Airport connection and I think the last 5 bus to downtown is around 9 unless they added a later one. They are more focused on people getting rentals… but once you are downtown it costs a lot of money to store your car while you walk (or scoot) around…. OR they could just build that Broadway TRAM they were dreaming about for a hot minute. That would be a fun way to arrive and depart SA
Another important location, the intersection of highway 281 and Stone Oak Pkwy. 2 Large businesses that occupy that area are The JW Marriott Resort and Chase Bank operation center. Many international guest travel to the JW Marriott for conferences and prefer traveling public transit. Both the JW Marriott and Chase Bank I’m sure have employees that would utilize VIA. It appears that VIA Station sits empty. sad.