San Antonio endorses streetcar route

City will help fund it

David Crossley, Oct 25, 11.

The San Antonio City Council has agreed to help fund VIA Metropolitan Transit’s five-year expansion plan, the heart of which is a streetcar line that would run east and north through downtown, according to a story in MySA:

Mayor Julián Castro and eight council members endorsed the plan, while District 10 Councilman Carlton Soules opposed it.

District 5 Councilman David Medina — whose district lost out on a connection to the streetcar after the city proposed an alternative to VIA’s original route — wasn’t present.

The vote all but guarantees construction of the city’s first urban rail project since San Antonio ended its electric streetcar operation in 1933.

“I do believe what this plan does is it looks forward,” Castro said. MORE