BY TY JOHNSON | THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD
The bus was right on time Wednesday morning, pulling up on the Adams Street side of La Plaza Multimodal Terminal at 10 a.m.
Despite its punctuality, though, those gathered had already been waiting for its arrival for quite some time when the bright-orange bus rounded the corner — since May, actually.
That is when the Texas Transportation Commis-sion informed the city of Brownsville that it had received a $1.3 million grant to create an inter-city bus route connecting the city to McAllen, the University of Texas — Pan American, South Padre Island and Harlingen.
Dignitaries from across the Rio Grande Valley, including U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela, D- Brownsville, turned out for the unveiling of the new Metro Connect bus, which will transport people across South Texas along three new routes.
Vela, who spoke during the unveiling and ribbon-cutting event, championed the efforts of Brownsville and McAllen’s transit directors: Norma Zamora and Elizabeth Suarez, respectively.
Following the ribbon cutting, Brownsville City Manager Charlie Cabler and city commissioners boarded the Metro Connect bus to travel to McAllen, where officials planned a similar unveiling
After the event, Vela applauded the collaboration between cities involved with the project.
“It’s a good thing to have a regional approach to transportation,” Vela said. “This will have a significant impact on the lives of people.”
Vela was especially vocal about what the new routes will mean for students as they and veterans will enjoy discounted fares.
“This is going to benefit (students) greatly,” Vela said, adding that the veterans discount will allow veterans in Brownsville to travel inexpensively to the Veterans Affairs Clinic in Harlingen.
Zamora said she expects buses to begin rolling along the new routes in late September or early October. The grant requires a local match of $313,222, which the three cities will split.The Brownsville City Commission approved Tuesday the acceptance of the grant, which provides the officials with four Wi-Fi-enabled Metro Connect buses and pays for one year of operations of three new routes.
The blue line, a free service, will run between South Padre Island and Brownsville, making stops at the Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport, La Plaza and the SPI terminal. The green line connecting UTPA to McAllen will cost 50 cents for students and $1 for other riders, while the red line will take passengers between Brownsville and McAllen for a $5 fare and include connections to Valley Transit’s Harlingen terminal.
Officials said in June, when the state announced the grant recipients, that project funding is available for two additional years, but that the pursuit of that funding would be dependent on passenger volume for the new routes.
Officials Unveil Metro Connect
