{"id":1028944,"date":"2026-08-28T06:11:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T06:11:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1028944\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T06:11:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T06:11:19","slug":"via-plans-to-add-150-shelters-at-bus-stops-next-year-san-antonio-has-plans-for-additional-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1028944\/","title":{"rendered":"VIA plans to add 150 shelters at bus stops next year; San Antonio has plans for additional 16"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO<\/strong> \u2013 With temperatures over 100 degrees for the past week and a half, most people spending time outside are trying to do it in the shade.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not always possible when you\u2019re waiting for the bus. VIA Metropolitan Transit has 6,100 active bus stops, but less than 38% are sheltered. <\/p>\n

While most of the other 3,800 stops aren\u2019t poised to get a shelter anytime soon, VIA and the City of San Antonio are trying to chip away at the gap. <\/p>\n

VIA has plans for 150 shelters in its proposed FY 2027 budget, which its trustees still need to approve. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the city set aside $1 million a few years ago for a pilot program to develop shade options for space-constrained bus stops. It hopes to put that toward an additional 16 shelters in high heat areas.<\/p>\n

But will VIA riders ever get to a point where every stop is sheltered? <\/p>\n

\u201cProbably not,\u201d VIA Vice President of Engineering Razi Hosseini told KSAT.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is, rather than building shelter, improve our frequency<\/a>. People don\u2019t even have to stay there to wait for the bus,\u201d Hosseini said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the area has right-of-way restrictions we couldn\u2019t put,\u201d he said of VIA\u2019s thousands of unsheltered stops, \u201cbut if we had funding, we could do more than what we are planning to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

VIA prioritizes which stops gets shelters based on how busy they are, how many routes run through them, and if they\u2019re close to things like schools, medical facilities, community centers or grocery stores. <\/p>\n

Right now, Hosseini said, 345 locations meet the criteria to get a shelter, though many of them, 151, don\u2019t have the minimum nine feet worth of right-of-way space between the curb and property line to build one. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s not a deal breaker, but it means VIA would need to first find a way to get enough space, possibly by getting an easement from the property owner or working with the Public Works Department to reduce the street to make room without reducing traffic flow.<\/p>\n

Hosseini said VIA has not selected the exact locations where the 150 shelters would go, but the city has more detailed plans for its projects.<\/p>\n

Leslie Antunez, the sustainability officer for the Department of Resilience and Sustainability, presented a map at Thursday\u2019s council committee meeting, showing 13 locations that are moving ahead with the construction process and a handful of others for initial evaluation or backup. <\/p>\n

Map of possible new shelter locations under a city pilot project, presented at Aug. 27, 2026 Community Health Committee (City of San Antonio)<\/p>\n

The pilot project had been focused on improving the design of existing shelters to prioritize safety and comfort she said, and they paid attention to the orientation, design and materials to help riders beat the heat.<\/p>\n

A conceptual design of a shelter showed roof and side panels with holes in them to provide shade and protection from rain while also allowing air circulation.<\/p>\n

Conceptual design of a new shelter presented at Aug. 27, 2026 Community Health Committee meeting (City of San Antonio)<\/p>\n

Antunez said the city has been working to understand which neighborhoods need the most help or are most impacted by the blazing summer heat, and they used that to identify spots on the VIA network that were missing a bus shelter. <\/p>\n

At least one of the city\u2019s proposed sites on Guadalupe Street, which KSAT visited Thursday, was already sheltered by an overhang from a neighboring building, though another by Lanier High School and the San Antonio Natatorium had nowhere to hide from the sun.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaking sure that if, you know, those five, 10, 15 minutes they are waiting for the bus is a little more comfortable for them is a big \u2014 a benefit for us,\u201d she said. \u201cObviously there\u2019s health issues and concerns that we\u2019re trying to address. And then also, you know again promoting that alternative use of transportation.\u201d<\/p>\n

They\u2019re hoping to break ground in September or October, she told KSAT, with nine months to a year\u2019s worth of construction. <\/p>\n

While 16 spots is the goal, price changes could mean they\u2019re not able to do as much, or maybe even more.<\/p>\n

Read also:<\/b><\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 With temperatures over 100 degrees for the past week and a half, most people spending…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1028945,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5133],"tags":[5229,7202,7203,358,522,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,123708],"class_list":["post-1028944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-america","tag-san-antonio","tag-sanantonio","tag-texas","tag-transportation","tag-tx","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-via-metropolitan-transit"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117171656433643766","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1028944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1028945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1028944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1028944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1028944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}