LIVE! Inside the City Bus

For six days out of the week Eddie Lopez starts his 12-hour shift at 6:30 in the morning. With each hour he makes the sign of the cross as he passes the Catholic Church on Avenue N. Lopez has done this for the past eleven years and is able to greet passengers by name as he opens the bus doors at each stop.

“Sometimes I go into stores and the passengers recognize me. They all say ‘Hi’ and I feel like a celebrity,” Lopez said of his job.

Lopez is one of ten bus drivers for the Concho Valley Transit District. The drivers work for six days straight followed by seven days off.

“We are able to get real familiar with the passengers because of the schedule,” Lopez said.

As a driver for Route 1, Lopez sees about 65 passengers a day. Route 1 runs from the depot through Beauregard and Chadbourne, reaches Knickerbocker and Sunset, and goes up Bryant back to the depot.

Brenda Bonder rides Route 1 about twice a week. She uses it as transportation to DCI Biologicals where she donates plasma on alternating days. 

“I see a quite a few people use the buses,” Bonder said.

As her primary source of transportation within the city, Bonder said her overall experience of the buses “has been good.” 

Larry Bishop also rides the bus every week. He rides his bicycle short distances and racks it on to the bus when he isneeding to travel further within the city.

Bishop said, “I do think it is possible to go without a car in San Angelo. I do it.”

Throughout this past year-and-a-half Bishop has used this mode of transportation to get around San Angelo.

For Kevin Lemons the Concho Valley Transit District has been pivotal to his well being.

“I use it everyday. I use it to go to the doctor, I use it to get to the groceries, I use it whenever I need to get somewhere,” Lemons said.

After developing cataracts in his eyes, Lemons’ vision no longer allows him to drive. He has become dependent on this service to meet his transportation needs.

The transit system is available from Monday through Saturday. Starting at 6:30 a.m. and ending at 5:30 p.m., each route departs from the station 30 minutes passed the hour.

“Sometimes it is difficult to have to wait around for an hour to get back to your destination,” Lemons said.

Brandon Thorton, a ticket agent at Concho Valley Transit, said, “Only having six routes that depart each hour makes it kind of difficult to travel within the city in a timely manner.”

The six routes available throughout the week do not overlap each other. Passengers have to ride back to the bus station to get onto another route.

Major Hofheins, the Operations Manager at Concho Valley Transit District, said that they have been working to improve this situation.

“We are working with the Metropolitan Planning Office on redesigning the routes. Not redesigning where they go, but maybe how they run so that people don’t have to get on a bus and come all the way downtown to get on a different bus to get to another part of town,” Hofheins said.

He said the passengers vary: some are on their way to work and some are students.

“The number of routes we have is suitable for the number of passengers being served. The waiting time is something we need to work on in the future,” Hofheins added. 

He said, “When you can decrease the waiting time you can increase the value of the system and make it usable. That is something we are looking at.”

However, he noted, “When you start to increase the frequency of the buses stopping at any individual stop, you also have to think, well that means we also need more buses and more drivers. So first, you need to find where that money is going to come from.”

Concho Valley Transit District currently charges $2 for a day pass on the fixed routes. They do not plan on increasing the fare in order to make changes to the transit system. Hofheins said all other avenues of funding will be looked at prior to a change in fare.

He said the job of the Concho Valley Transit District is very rewarding and important.

Hofheins said for most of the passengers, “The bus is their only choice and only mode of transportation. So every time we can give them a ride we are giving them part of their life back.”