CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Students will now have transportation to and from school free of charge, with the new Flex bus courtesy of a partnership between Corpus Christi Regional Transportation Authority and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
This new Flex route 93 ride program started on Monday, and it is off to a smooth start.
You can almost say it is the RTA’s Uber, or Lyft, for the university community.
“It provides the students, which we have quite a few that use us to get to school from the apartments in the Flour Bluff area and the Ennis Joslin area, it allows them to be able to access the system quicker and allows them to get to the university in a shorter period of time,” said RTA Chief Executive Officer Jorge Cruz-Aedo.
The Flex bus allows university students, faculty, and employees with a valid TAMU-CC “SandDollar” I.D. card a new and easy way to hop on a bus, scan their pass and keep rolling.
“People call, and they let us know what stop, what Flex stop they will be at, and we will deviate from our route, go pick you up, put you back on the route and get you to the destination in a shorter period of time,” said Cruz-Aedo.
Students will get an opportunity to benefit from unlimited access to cheap, reliable mobility. Ultimately, the Flex bus can make the possibility of life without a car feasible.
“The university was looking for a way to improve the system," said Cruz-Aedo. "They work with the RTA, and we have an agreement with them, that their university students ride for free with the ID. The public can use the same system for $0.75. It flexes, so it gets you to where you need to be, faster. And it is a new way of providing service and, in fact, we are looking at several other routes to use the same form of Flex in the system."
Right now, the RTA has only one Flex bus, but it is planning on expanding its fleet to continue to provide this service for the public, along with college and university students.
Service hours fluctuate during summer semester.
Monday through Friday: 7:35 a.m.-11:00 pm.
Please call before 10:30 p.m. for a pick-up.
Saturday: service starts at 9:35 a.m. and ends at 9:00 p.m. Please call before 8:30 p.m. for a pick-up.
Sunday: No service on Sunday.
For information visit: https://www.ccrta.org/flex/
