Sun Metro Mass Transit Department, simply known as Sun Metro, is the
public transportation
Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...
provider that serves
El Paso, Texas
El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...
. Consisting of buses and
paratransit
Paratransit is the term used in North America, also known by other names such as community transport ( UK) for transportation services that supplement fixed-route mass transit by providing individualized rides without fixed routes or timetables. ...
service, it is a department of the City of El Paso, and the agency also serves the rest of
El Paso County. The major hub is located at the Bert Williams Downtown Santa Fe Transfer Center in the surrounding block areas in Downtown El Paso. In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of .
History
Until 1987, Sun Metro was called Sun City Area Transit (SCAT).
The agency was headquartered at the historic
Union Depot in downtown El Paso until 2014, when it opened a new facility along Montana Avenue southeast of
El Paso International Airport.
Facilities
* Bert Williams Downtown Santa Fe Transfer Center, 601 Santa Fe St.
* Al Jefferson Westside Transfer Center, 7535 Remcon Cir.
* Arturo Tury Benavides Cielo Vista Transit Center, 1165 Sunmount Dr.
* Rorbert E. McKee Five Points Transit Center, 2830 Montana Ave.
* Transit Operations Center, 10151 Montana Ave.
* LIFT Facility, 5081 Fred Wilson Ave.
* Arves E. Jones Sr. Northgate Transit Center, 9348 Dyer St.
* Union Plaza Transit Terminal, 400 W. San Antonio Ave.
* Nestor A. Valencia Mission Valley Transit Center, 9065 Alameda Ave.
* Glory Road Transit Center, 100 E. Glory Road
Services
Brio
![Sun Metro Brio logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Sun_Metro_Brio_logo.svg)
Sun Metro began operating its
express bus service
Public transport bus services are generally based on regular operation of transit buses along a route calling at agreed bus stops according to a published public transport timetable.
History of buses Origins
While there are indications ...
, named Brio, on October 27, 2014, serving the Mesa Street corridor (part of
State Highway 20) between
Downtown El Paso
Downtown El Paso is the central business district of El Paso, Texas.
Historical downtown
James Day, an El Paso historian, said that downtown's main business area was originally centered between Second Street and San Francisco Street. At a later ...
and the Westside Transfer Center in
Northwest El Paso Northwest El Paso (better known as West El Paso or the West Side) is an area of El Paso, Texas that is located on the west side of the Franklin Mountains. It is home to some of the most affluent neighborhoods within the city of El Paso, Texas. It h ...
. The frequency of Brio buses range from 10 minutes during weekday
rush hours to 15 minutes mid-day from Monday to Friday, and 20 minutes on Saturdays; buses do not run on Sundays or holidays. The line uses 22 purpose-built curbside stations with shelters,
ticket vending machine
A ticket machine, also known as a ticket vending machine (TVM), is a vending machine that produces paper or electronic tickets, or recharges a stored-value card or smart card or the user's mobile wallet, typically on a smartphone. For instanc ...
s for pre-boarding payment, and real-time arrival information. The route runs in mixed traffic, but does use
transit signal priority
Bus priority or transit signal priority (TSP) is a name for various techniques to improve service and reduce delay for mass transit vehicles at intersections (or junctions) controlled by traffic signals. TSP techniques are most commonly associat ...
. The Brio fleet consists of branded
New Flyer
New Flyer is a Canadian multinational bus manufacturer, specializing in the production of transit buses. New Flyer is owned by the NFI Group, a holding company for several bus manufacturers. New Flyer has several manufacturing facilities in Can ...
Xcelsior articulated buses powered by
compressed natural gas
Compressed natural gas (CNG) is a fuel gas mainly composed of methane (CH4), compressed to less than 1% of the volume it occupies at standard atmospheric pressure. It is stored and distributed in hard containers at a pressure of , usually in cy ...
, able to carry 72 total passengers and feature on-board
WiFi
Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wa ...
, interior
bike racks, and
passenger information monitors. The project cost $27.1 million to implement, using local funds and a
Federal Transit Administration
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is an agency within the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) that provides financial and technical assistance to local public transportation systems. The FTA is one of ten modal administration ...
grant.
Sun Metro plans to open its second Brio route in 2018, extending the system to
Mission Valley
Mission Valley is a wide river valley trending east–west in San Diego, California, United States, through which the San Diego River flows to the Pacific Ocean. For planning purposes the city of San Diego divides it into two neighborhoods: Miss ...
via Alameda Avenue at a cost of $35.5 million. Further routes on Dyer Street and Montana Avenue are planned, with the former beginning construction as early as 2017.
El Paso Streetcar
The El Paso Streetcar is a
streetcar
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport a ...
system in
El Paso, Texas
El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...
, that opened for service on November 9, 2018, and uses a fleet of restored
PCC streetcars
that had served the city's previous system until its closure in 1974.
The system covers
(round trip) in two loops from
Downtown El Paso
Downtown El Paso is the central business district of El Paso, Texas.
Historical downtown
James Day, an El Paso historian, said that downtown's main business area was originally centered between Second Street and San Francisco Street. At a later ...
to
University of Texas at El Paso
The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stud ...
. The system was constructed under the authority of the Camino Real
Regional Mobility Authority, but when the major construction was completed, around spring 2018, it was transferred to Sun Metro, for operation and maintenance.
, construction of the system was projected to cost $97 million.
Fleet
Active
See also
*
Streetcars in North America
References
External links
* {{Official website, http://www.sunmetro.net, Sun Metro – official website
Bus transportation in Texas
Transportation in El Paso, Texas