Monday Musings #51: Riding the VIA Bus: There is no Free Lunch

Mayor Gina Jones should sense gathering storm clouds on the near horizon when the San Antonio Express-News publishes an editorial, as it did Saturday, that calls her a “jerk” and renews the conversation about her lack of fitness to hold public office.

Examples of her intemperate behavior toward City Council members have piled up in the short seven months she has served as San Antonio’s mayor. It’s become her self-defeating modus operandi.

Jones seems ill-suited to elected office for two increasingly evident reasons: One is how she behaves toward colleagues and others who come before City Council. Two, Jones continues to show only a superficial knowledge of local governance, an unfortunate pattern for someone with more than enough smarts to master the details.

Jones’ antisocial tone and behavior seem to stem from a defensive personality that makes it all but impossible for Jones to “win friends and influence people,” to cite Dale Carnegie’s famous advice to “treat people with respect, rely on persuasion rather than coercion, and lead with empathy rather than authority.”

Jones now faces a possible vote of censure by council members after recently blowing up in a back-room confrontation with District One Councilwoman Sukh Kaur. The issue? Jones undercut Kaur’s work with the Bonham Exchange nightclub owner to install a long-overdue sprinkler system to avoid a tragic incident in a nightclub that can hold 600 partying people. I happen to think Jones was right to oppose a compromise pushed by Kaur, who opposed the fire chief’s recommendation to limit admission to 300 people until a fire suppression system is operational. 

Jones went behind Kaur’s back to cut a deal with the club owner. Jones promised to help raise the $550,000 needed to install a sprinkler system in return for acceptance of reduced patron admissions. By doing so, Jones proved she can’t be trusted by her council colleagues. I also wonder, given her questionable leadership style, where Jones thinks she is going to find that money. 

Jones’ professional background is military service followed by a relatively short stint as a civilian political appointee overseeing the U.S. Air Force and living in Washington, D.C. Her lack of experience in local government often leads to her overstepping her authority as mayor. When she does not get her way, Jones plays the bull in a china shop.

It happened again last week when Jones pressed VIA Metropolitan Transit President & CEO Jon Gary Herrera to implement a pilot program that would make riding the bus free instead of the current fare of $1.30. It's a really bad idea for reasons I’ll cite below. First, I don’t understand why the topic was even being debated at Thursday’s City Council meeting. It takes five council members to sign a Council Consideration Request (CCR) that is required for City Manager Erik Walsh to place an item on the official agenda for consideration and a vote. Since late last year, three council members have been seeking two more allies willing to join them in their push for free bus service. So far, there have been no takers. The mayor does not need allies to get an item on the agenda, but in this instance, she clearly was once again circumventing the CCR process to try to force an issue. 

Jones directed Herrera to return to the council with a memo by March 11 outlining the pros and cons of a six-month pilot program that would eliminate fares on VIA’s five most popular routes as an important first step toward making all bus rides “free.” She also told Herrera to come back with recommendations to reduce his annual budget by 5%.

Mayor, you do not have the authority to direct the VIA CEO to write memos or to provide you with budget cuts, or to act on any of your other ill-conceived ideas. The Texas legislature gave cities the authority in the 1970s to create transportation agencies that are governed by independent, appointed boards of trustees. Herrera reports to his 11-member board, not to the mayor or City Council.

The city does get to appoint five of the 11 members, while the county appoints three, the suburban cities appoint two, and the chair is traditionally elected from a pool of candidates outside the board by the trustees. Current Chair Laura Cabanilla was a trustee elected to the position in a break from tradition. In theory, Jones could fire the city’s five appointees and select five who will do the mayor’s bidding, but Jones would still be unable to seize control of the VIA board. The custom is for the mayor and county judge to appoint capable, trusted individuals as trustees and allow them to operate in the public’s best interests without political interference.

Kudos to Herrera for not bowing to Jones and compliantly following orders.

"We don't need a memo for that, mayor," Herrera said, noting that such a move likely would result in a loss of federal funding to build VIA’s proposed bus rapid transit lines.

VIA also has to consider its good standing with rating agencies in order to preserve its credit rating and its ability to sell bonds to finance capital projects. Its 20-year, rolling financial plan calls for bus fare collections to serve as collateral for those interest payments. Eliminating fares would be seen as a bad-faith break by the rating agencies.

All good reasons why I suspect there won’t ever be a memo or list of budget cuts delivered to the mayor by her deadline.

VIA is just one month away from receiving its first payment from a ⅛-cent sales tax that it began to receive in January. Voters who approved the ⅛-cent sales tax were told that the estimated $52-54 million it would generate each year would be invested in advanced rapid transit lines, rather than offsetting eliminated bus fares.

I appreciate efforts on the council to assist the city’s most economically vulnerable residents, but those who believe that free fares will suddenly convince people to leave their cars, SUVs and trucks at home are naive, in my view. People who routinely pay $2.50 for a gallon of gasoline are not going to ride the bus because they no longer have to pay $1.30. 

I am pro-mass transit. I used it daily for years while living and working in the Northeast, and I go right back to using it on visits to New York and other East Coast cities. I could count on route frequency that meant a wait of 10 minutes for a bus or subway. VIA can only dream of offering that kind of route frequency. Most of the 31 million rides VIA clocked last year were people who had to ride the bus.

Many of us already qualify for discounts, yet many of us are not persuaded to ride VIA buses with any regularity. If you are 62 or older, the fare is a token 25 cents during weekday business hours and free on weekends. Students 18 and younger can apply for free passes. Children 4 and under ride free, and children 5-13 are charged reduced fares. Members of the military, veterans, and people with disabilities all qualify for discounted fares.

That’s why 31 million (rides) x $1.30 does not equal $18 million. Do the math: If everyone paid full fare, VIA would be pulling in $40.3 million. It’s already discounting fares by more than 50%. 

There is no such thing as free. Someone else has to pay for whatever we provide at no cost to someone else. I am all for the Alamo Promise, for example, building free bus fare or even gas allowances into its plan, presuming such benefits are fully funded. I am not in favor of everyone else in our economy, particularly gainfully employed people of any age, getting something for nothing.

I do look forward to riding the 10.35-mile Green Line when it is completed in 2028. I hope it proves to be a game-changer, but I don’t expect to ride for free. You shouldn’t, either.