Valley Metro Building Centralized Maintenance Facility

A Valley Metro bus maintenance garage is being built in Harlingen that is expected to improve public transportation services to residents here and surrounding areas.

By centralizing the maintenance facility, officials said they hope to better serve the growing public transportation needs of college and university students, veterans and the elderly, who use the bus to get to campus, the Veterans Affairs clinic in Harlingen and other medical facilities.

The garage will shelter and maintain Cameron and Willacy counties’ Valley Metro 10-bus fleet. Rio Grande Valley elected officials spoke about regionalizing Thursday at a ground-breaking ceremony for a new Valley Metro bus maintenance garage.
The nearly $1 million garage has been in the works since 2009, when funds from the American Recovery Act of 2009 became available, officials said.

“It will help us because logistically we will have all of our fleet here, versus right now we have fleets in Harlingen, in San Benito, in Weslaco, in Willacy,” Valley Metro Director Tom Logan said.

Officials said about $400,000 of recovery act funds were invested in the garage, as well as contributions from the city of Harlingen and from federal transportation administration funds.

“I can tell you the college and university students, they really are getting on our buses,” Logan said.

“We are picking up a lot of kids from Los Fresnos, from San Benito, from Harlingen and Brownsville, going in opposite directions just to go to college.”

Local elected officials who spoke at Thursday’s ceremony emphasized the importance of Valley cities working together as a region.
“I want to congratulate the city of Harlingen for stepping up because regional entities and regional functions and things that make our region better don’t happen unless cities step up,” La Feria Mayor Steve Brewer said.

“Harlingen partnering with the Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council and Valley Metro is awesome… To me this is just another building block, a step toward the future,” Brewer said.

Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council President Norma Garcia said that cities working together can draw more funds and services for local residents.

“I believe that this is definitely another step in regionalization,” Garcia said. “The population is growing so fast, that I believe transportation is one of the things that is especially important with the merger of the (University of Texas-Pan American and University of Texas at Brownsville) for the students, veterans and the elderly. I think because of the way the Valley is growing, we need to be able to provide services for our constituents.”

The garage, located at 4410 Glasscock Ave., is expected to be completed by early 2014, officials said.