The City of Brownsville will host a celebration at La Plaza Terminal from 8 to 10 a.m. to celebrate the kick off of the pilot program where there will be giveaways and music for attendees.
The Sunday service will offer Route 1 Westend, Route 2 Jefferson and Central, Route 4 Los Ebanos, Route 5 Paredes and Alton Gloor, Route 8 Hortencia, Route 9 Austin and Route 11 Old Port Isabel; reaching major points of interest such as Walmart, H-E-B, Sunrise Mall and the 77 Flea Market.
As cities grow, the need for affordable public transportation grows,” Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez said.
“Prior city funded studies showed that the biggest needs were better routes, Sunday service and extended hours. I also heard that from residents all the time. We have fine tuned our routes and now, added Sunday services. We will be looking at extending hours in the future.”
The pilot program will last six to 12 months and will be revised by the Brownsville City Commission in six months. Mendez said Sunday service was one of his top priorities as mayor and something that is much needed in the community.
“It is exciting to see this kick off after a couple of years pushing for it,” he said.
“… This is a very important initiative for our community and I hope that residents take advantage of our Sunday services and consider public transportation in the future. We have a lot of hard working staff and employees at B Metro that take pride in serving our community.”
During a city commission meeting last month, there was a presentation by the Brownsville Metro Division where the updates and cost on this project were discussed.
According to the presentation, the estimated cost annually for the Sunday service will be $430,342.30. This total includes the $258,011.98 for the operating cost, $132,441.45 for the total first vehicle service cost and $39,888.87 for fuel.
