San Antonio’s VIA Metro to roll out 8 all-electric buses in second half of 2023

SAN ANTONIO (KTSA News) — VIA Metropolitan Transit has unveiled 8 new buses that are being added to their fleet.

The newest additions will run quieter and cleaner than the others as they are all-electric.

The 40 foot long Gillig buses with 38 passenger capacity were procured through a federal grant and were delivered in December.

They feature many new amenities including dimmable LED lighting and USB charging ports at every seat.

The transit company recently constructed a new charging station for the buses at their maintenance facility.

VIA President and CEO Jeffrey C. Arndt released the following statement when introducing the new electric buses:

“The addition of new all-electric buses keeps VIA moving in the right direction with green technologies that are advancing to a point that makes them practical as well as sustainable. VIA’s CNG fleet conversion delivered up to a 97% reduction of harmful emissions from the vehicles they replaced and put us on the road to a cleaner, greener future.”

VIA currently has about 500 buses in service that are fueled by compressed natural gas.

The all-electric buses will take about 4 hours to fully charge and have a range of about 150 miles.

At this point, VIA staff and operators are being trained on the new buses, which will be put into service sometime this summer.