BUS RIDERS STAND ENDURING RAIN NEXT TO $ MILLION TRAIL

By Juan Montoya

In what has become an embarrassing scene to city residents, this middle-aged woman waits for a Brownsville Urban System (BUS) bus as she gets pelted by a cold, steady rain on Elizabeth Street, the city's main drag.

We stopped and talked to her and got an earful.

Apparently, she is waiting for a bus to go to Valley Regional Hospital. We asked her why she was waiting on the bus that would take her to the bus terminal (excuse us, La Plaza at Brownsville Multimodal Terminal) downtown on International Blvd., instead of waiting on the other side of the street for a bus to take her in the hospital's direction.

"The bus coming from the other direction toward the hospital doesn't stop here," she said. "We have to go to the terminal and then get on the bus to go there. That bus passes right through here, but we can't get on it here because it doesn't stop. We pass right by here when we get on that bus."

In fact, Metro routes maps show that that bus stops on Washington and Palm Blvd. and then on Central Blvd,. and Elizabeth. The next stop where riders can board it is at Boca Chica and Elizabeth near Military Highway.                                                                                         
Riders from West Brownsville have to walk from their homes to these two stops to get aboard the bus. In the past, BUS administrator Norma Zamora has said the limited stops heading out of the downtown area were made to improve "efficiency."

Ironically, the woman was standing a distance from the bus sign (barely visible if you follow the tip of her umbrella) next to a building because it was the only shelter (aside from her umbrella) where bus riders could take shelter from the rain. When she spots the return bus coming, she said she walks at a fast clip to the bus stop down the sidewalk to board it.

"The only stop that has a shelter on my route is the one that is at the corner of Central Blvd. and Boca Chica," she said from under her umbrella. "I used to live in McAllen and they have shelters there. But not here."

The priorities of this city were further made clear by the fact that not far from where the woman stood is the almost always empty hike and bike trail behind the demolished Model Laundry that runs behind Sams Stadium. The city has spent – and continues to spend – millions of dollars to construct them as part of commissioner Rose Gowen's "active tourism" plan. To add insult to injury, the woman under the umbrella complained of the prices bus riders have to pay.

"Here they charge you $1 to ride the bus and have to stand in the rain to wait for the bus," he said. "In McAllen, the bus costs only 50 cents."