San Antonio downtown shuttle service expands

Catch up quick: Centro San Antonio, UTSA, the City of San Antonio and VIA collaborated with eCab, a Texas-based micro-transit company, to provide last-mile rides — which fill the gaps between public transportation stops and a person's final destination — throughout the downtown area.

• The shuttles launched in March but were originally student-focused, serving the downtown UTSA campus.
• As of Monday, anyone downtown can hail a ride using the Electric Cab Passenger app.

How it works: The Little Runner is available throughout the Public Improvement District, a 0.8-square-mile area downtown. The area is bounded by Interstates 35 and 37 and stretches north to East Quincy Street and Brooklyn Avenue and down to East César E. Chávez Boulevard.

• Summertime hours of operation will be revised, but the current schedule is 7:30am to 10:30pm Monday through Thursday and 7:30am to 7pm on Friday.
• The Electric Cab Passenger app — not to be confused with the eCabs app — is available for Apple and Android.
• Current wait times are typically about five minutes.

What's next: The pilot program will assess the downtown community's needs. The data collected during this time may be used to provide additional routes in the future.