Ride VIA Primo free this weekend

Sorry, "Jimkata", but the #91 & #92 will make their last runs on Sunday, December 16. Effective Monday, December 17 the #91 & #92 will no longer run. Already the #91 & #92 route numbers have been removed from the existing bus stop signs along Fredericksburg Rd.

To my knowledge, the old bus routes will still run, so these "needs" and "requirements" are really just an excuse to complain...

Thank you, "Texas4Now", for your service. VIA deliberately bypassed the Audie Murphy Hospital when designing PRIMO, which is designed to get the bus - not people - from area to area much faster. PRIMO, in fact, bypasses a large area of bus riders currently served by the 91 & 92 buses (Beacon Hill, Five Points and the area around SAC/San Predo & Cypress to downtown). As VIA admitted yesterday they are in the process of replacing the current fare boxes with new fare boxes that will eliminate transfers (and money, too) and replace all with a "stored value card" (a reloadable debit card, I think, for those like me unfamiliar with the term "stored value card"). With the elimination of the transfer (first attempter by VIA in August 2011) your ride, taking the MedLink Circulator and with the fare increase approved yesterday, will rise from your current $1.10 to $2.40 (and that's quite a difference from the "only a dime" premise they used to get the fare increase!).

I have always taken either the #91 or #92 bus lines to and from the VA hospital and paid the required bus fare of $1.10 each way. The new Primo bus line however does not stop at the Medical Center Transit Center and in order to get to or from the VA, I will now be required to purchase a transfer slip for an additional .15 cents, disembark on Medical Drive and then transfer to the # 100 Medlink bus route. For those in wheelchairs, this will require them to get on and off two separate buses just to arrive or depart at the VA whereas before on only had to take one bus without paying for a transfer.

Hope they use their top qualified via driver for this bus. This bus requires extra wide turns to maneuver and if pedestrians are not watchful can be deadly. Well at least get a driver that glances to make sure their passenger hasn't fallen into an open manhole.

If you've ever been on the 91 or 92 from Medical Center to Downtown around 7:00 am or 5:00 pm, you'd understand why they need bigger buses. Plus, Primo is express and has few stops. Primo can't hold a candle to the streetcar thing, boondoggle-wise!

Neat buses, but nothing really new. I rode similar ones in Amsterdam in the '60s. The real issue here is, why does Via need larger buses when the ones they currently run never have many people on them? This sounds like as big a boondoggle as the street cars. I change my earlier assessment. Via is San Antonio's bridge to nowhere.