VIA Metropolitan Transit’s board of trustees voted unanimously Tuesday to nominate San Antonio native Jon Gary Herrera as head of the mass transit company.
Herrera would be the first Latino to steer town’s 46-year-old main transit company.
“I’m honored to be chosen to steer VIA at a time of nice progress and alter for town I used to be born and raised in, and the place I’ve labored to help its continued progress and prosperity,” Herrera, who has served as VIA’s senior vp of public engagement since 2017, said in a information launch.
His first day shall be Jan. 4, when he’ll exchange longtime President and CEO Jeffrey Arndt, who introduced his retirement in August after 40 years of expertise within the transportation trade.
“Our Board and longtime CEO have charted a path towards a extra cellular future for our area,” Herrera said. “I’m proud to be a part of that mission and imaginative and prescient, and introduce new, progressive methods we will get there, collectively.”
Herrera grew to become the lone finalist after a nationwide search yielded three high candidates, all of whom work for VIA.
“The Board selected from amongst three spectacular and succesful inner candidates, who’ve every demonstrated a ardour for his or her work and a dedication to hold us ahead to the long run,” Chairman Fernando Reyes stated. “Each member of the workforce is a part of Jeff’s legacy right here. He’ll depart VIA stronger than he discovered it, and with the Board’s honest thanks for a job performed effectively, and at all times performed with coronary heart.”
Arndt got here to VIA from Houston in 2012 as deputy CEO and chief of Enterprise Help Providers. Arndt was appointed president and CEO the following 12 months.
“I applaud the Board’s choice and congratulate Jon Gary, who shall be a powerful and visionary chief for the company and the individuals at VIA who hold San Antonio shifting, on daily basis,” Arndt stated. “Selecting from inside the VIA household speaks to the power of our management and the complete workforce, who collectively will proceed to perform nice issues for the neighborhood we serve.”
Regardless of being the least-funded main transit company in Texas, VIA was acknowledged 3 times because the state’s “Most Excellent Metropolitan Transit Authority” by the Texas Transit Affiliation throughout Arndt’s tenure.
Beginning in 2026, VIA will obtain a further, voter-approved one-eighth-cent gross sales tax on high of its one-half cent gross sales tax it at the moment collects. For many years, different Texas cities have utilized the utmost 1-cent tax accepted by the Texas Legislature in 1977.
Subsequent 12 months, VIA will break floor on town’s first “Superior Fast Transit” north-south bus route, the Inexperienced Line, that connects the airport, job facilities, neighborhoods and the missions. The east-west Silver Line is about to start development in 2027.
“A fifth VIA Hyperlink zone opened Downtown this fall, providing new and reasonably priced on-demand choices within the metropolis middle,” the company said within the information launch. “And a Higher Bus Plan to enhance frequency and reliability on VIA’s core service routes will roll out subsequent 12 months.”
