After 13 years at VIA Metropolitan Transit and 40 years in the transportation industry, the transit agency’s CEO Jeffrey Arndt officially retired on Jan. 3.
While he has plenty of hobbies to keep him busy, Arndt imagines he’ll find an occupation outside the realm of transit, perhaps teaching math or selling jewelry.
“I want to have this next chapter be something unlike anything I’ve done before,” Arndt told host Robert Rivard on the latest episode of the bigcitysmalltown podcast. “So my husband and I will be moving to Mexico next year.”
But Arndt will be watching San Antonio and will visit to celebrate the fruits of his and his team’s labor.
VIA anticipates breaking ground on the $480 million Green Line in March and opening the north-south bus rapid transit route sometime in late 2027.
“I’ve already put them on my calendar so I can come back,” Arndt said.
The agency also has plans to build the east-west Silver Line in 2027, which could run from North Gen. McMullen Drive on the West Side along West Commerce Street and East Houston Street to the Frost Bank Center on the East Side.
The rapid transit routes, which VIA calls “advanced rapid transit” or ART, are aimed at providing faster, more frequent service similar to light rail.
None of it would be possible without the voter-approved one-eighth-cent sales tax that VIA will start to receive in 2026 and the support of the City of San Antonio and Bexar County, Arndt said. This gets VIA’s funding closer to what other major Texas transit agencies receive and gives the agency the ability to leverage huge federal grants.
“VIA brings in about 75% less money than Houston Metro does to serve the same size area,” he said.
In addition to leading the sales tax campaign, Arndt has focused on increasing bus frequency and bus accessibility.
“Frequency is the key to service,” he said. “All the national research says that if a bus runs every 10 minutes, about 85% of people would be willing to consider it. … When it gets beyond 30 minutes, [that] drops to 5%. … Unfortunately, the average route in VIA right now is 60 minutes [frequency].”
That means that most of the people riding buses don’t have other options to consider — they can’t afford a personal vehicle, he said.
“For some reason, [the] transit [industry] is almost embarrassed by that on a national basis,” he said. A lot of agencies want to attract the so-called “choice” riders who ride out of choice, not of necessity.
“But I think what we do is noble and necessary and important,” he added. “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about the fact that you’re helping people — who are struggling to put food on the table sometimes — to get to a job.”
Jon Gary Herrera, previously VIA’s senior vice president of public engagement, took over the helm of VIA on Jan. 4.
Arndt said he felt like a foster parent, saying goodbye to a child.
He recalled VIA board Chair-elect Laura Cabanilla telling him he’s more like a grandfather.
“At first I thought, ‘Oh, you think I’m old,’” said Arndt, who is 69.
What Cabanilla meant, he said, was that he had “an emotional connection … She says, ‘You clearly have an emotional connection to VIA and, as a grandparent, you’re going to care very much about what happens.’”
Listen to episode 87 of the bigcitysmalltown podcast below.
Disclosure: Robert Rivard is the co-founder of the San Antonio Report.
