Converse Voters Decide Tuesday Whether VIA Service Ends in Their City
Converse is the one Bexar County city voting on transit itself on Nov. 3: the ballot asks, 'Shall the VIA San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority Service be discontinued in the City of Converse, Texas?' A vote against keeps VIA; a vote for starts a withdrawal that ends bus, VIAtrans and VIA Link service — while the half-cent sales tax keeps being collected until at least $12,884,652 is satisfied.
Most Bexar County ballots on Tuesday are about who holds office. In Converse, voters also decide whether their city keeps its bus service. The special election ballot language, published by VIA Metropolitan Transit in its official Converse election information and read in full this cycle, asks: 'Shall the VIA San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority Service be discontinued in the City of Converse, Texas?' A vote AGAINST means VIA continues in Converse and the city stays in the VIA system; a vote FOR means VIA is discontinued and Converse withdraws, with service ending after the vote is canvassed by the Converse City Council and the legally required withdrawal process runs, per VIA. The Converse City Council called the election to ask voters whether the city should continue to use VIA services, per VIA.
What is at stake is a working transit footprint, on VIA's own figures. Three regularly scheduled bus routes serve Converse at frequencies of roughly 20 to 30 minutes, with 37 stops inside the city limits, 23 of them sheltered, and approximately 76,000 bus boardings a year — about 208 a day. VIAtrans, the paratransit service for eligible riders with disabilities who cannot use regular buses, logged 14,384 trips in fiscal 2025 and counts 272 active clients in Converse, running 4 a.m. to midnight with trips bookable one to four days ahead. VIA Link, the on-demand service, operates to the Bexar County Precinct 4 Office in Converse and connects it to the wider network. If the discontinuation measure passes, all three — bus service, VIAtrans and Precinct 4 VIA Link — would be discontinued in Converse, per VIA.
Withdrawal would not end the tax on the same day it ends the buses. The State of Texas would continue collecting the half-cent sales tax that supports VIA until the City of Converse's financial obligation of at least $12,884,652 is satisfied, per VIA, with the final net obligation calculated from the effective date of withdrawal as Texas Transportation Code section 451.611 requires. Converse voters cast this ballot as part of the Nov. 3 general election; Bexar County vote centers are open Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and registered Converse voters may use any countywide center. VIA's official information page is viainfo.net/converse.
