One of the fastest-growing cities in America needed transit, fast. A year ago, New Braunfels, TX launched Rio, an on-demand microtransit service operated by Via. The goal for year one: 10,000 rides. Rio hit that on day 61.
We sat down with Julie Sitton (Transit Manager) and Garry Ford (Transportation & Construction Services Director) from the City of New Braunfels, plus Sarish Kasat (VP, Partnerships) and Aaron Guilbeau (Director, Market Operations, Via), to hear how it came together. Watch the recording above, or read on for the four key takeaways from New Braunfels' launch:
Building a brand-new transit system doesn't happen overnight. Long before New Braunfels officially became an Urbanized Area (UZA), the city team noticed a recurring theme in community surveys: residents loved living in New Braunfels, but public transportation consistently received low marks.
Rather than waiting for federal dollars to hit the bank before starting to plan, the city partnered with the Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (AAMPO) and consultants to conduct a comprehensive Transit Development Plan (TDP). By taking a data-driven approach early on, New Braunfels knew exactly what model fit their geography and budget: a turnkey microtransit service.
Why turnkey worked: With a lean municipal staff and no existing fleet or maintenance facilities, purchasing buses and hiring drivers from scratch would have added years of capital lead time. Partnering with Via allowed the city to launch quickly with vehicles, drivers, technology, and FTA compliance management bundled into a single operation.
Launching Rio in November 2025 meant moving riders off a legacy rural provider (Alamo Regional Transit) without stranding anyone who relied on transit for medical care. To prevent disruption, the city executed a thoughtful transition strategy:
Three months of overlapping service: New Braunfels ran Rio alongside ART for three months so riders could test the new app, learn the service, and transition at their own pace without a hard cutoff.
Transit 101 & community outreach: Julie Sitton personally rode the legacy buses to gather rider feedback, hosted "Transit 101" training sessions at senior centers, and distributed printed brochures and schedules to hotels, libraries, and doctors' offices.
Preserving advance booking for critical trips: While Rio operates primarily as an on-demand service, Julie created a streamlined paper and digital intake form so dialysis patients and riders with recurring medical needs could easily schedule recurring trips.
Multi-channel booking and payment: To keep the system accessible to everyone, riders can book via the smartphone app, online, or by calling dispatch — and pay with credit/debit cards or cash.
Rio launched with a $4 flat fare ($2 for seniors, veterans, students, and riders with disabilities) following an introductory free-fare period — and ridership never slowed down. Within its first year, the service achieved:
79,000+ completed rides (nearly 8x Julie’s initial 10,000-ride projection)
4,600+ unique riders and a 4.9/5 average ride rating
#1 Best Shuttling/Transportation and #1 Best Senior/Wheelchair Transportation in the Herald-Zeitung Readers' Choice Awards
The service has become part of daily life across all 45 square miles — connecting service workers to jobs, young adults to affordable commutes, and previously homebound seniors to weekly library classes. One of those 500-plus riders, Joyce, has written a Rio jingle and made her own custom “Ride the Rio” shirt to recruit neighbors at the senior center.
Microtransit gave New Braunfels real-time origin-destination data across every neighborhood — and the flexibility to act on it. When early data revealed strong pre-7:00 AM commuter demand, the city expanded service hours to 6:00 AM – 8:00 PM. When vehicle utilization surged, they grew the fleet from 8 minivans to 10 (including 4 wheelchair-accessible vehicles).
Next, the city will use Rio’s trip data in its upcoming TDP update to identify high-density corridors ready for fixed-route buses — proving that microtransit is both an immediate mobility win and a smart foundation for long-term network growth.
New Braunfels’ story proves that you don’t need decades of infrastructure or a massive agency to transform how a community moves — just a willingness to listen to residents, start smart, and grow alongside them. As more fast-growing cities look for ways to connect neighbors to opportunity, what could a transit network built from scratch unlock in your community? Reach out to us here.