Transportation Infrastructure Committee Meeting - March 3, 2026
The chair also expressed support for increasing insurance but later acknowledged concerns about barriers. On horse carriages, she favored option 2 (level set at 30 permits) and emphasized the need for a pilot program for electric carriages, aiming for fall 2026 to gather data. She also noted the importance of addressing the lost holiday season revenue for horse carriage operators.
- Councilmember Mungia: Agreed that the two-stretch requirement is antiquated and supported changing to a luxury vehicle service model. He favored grandfathering existing operators and increasing insurance to $1M. For horse carriages, he requested more information and a separate briefing to understand the transition options.
- Councilmember Corr: Advocated for a comprehensive review of Chapter 33, including pedicabs and electric vehicles. She opposed the insurance increase to $1M, citing it as a barrier for small businesses. She supported a luxury vehicle standard with a defined list of acceptable vehicles. For horse carriages, she suggested opening EV permits to the community in addition to providing one-for-one exchanges for current operators, and proposed a pilot program with temporary permits.
- Councilmember Spears: Opposed any changes to limousine requirements, deferring to the TAB vote and concerns of current owners. She raised concerns about the cost of increased insurance and the impact on drivers. On horse carriages, she highlighted the ongoing care costs for animals after the phase-out, requested financial analysis of EV carriage business models, and asked for a way to revert if the pilot fails. She also urged the city to make whole the lost income from the holiday season.
- Councilmember Alderete Gavito: Noted that few complaints have been received about the current limousine code. She opposed changing requirements, citing the TAB's recommendation. For horse carriages, she supported the existing phase-out timeline and asked about the impact if all owners transition at once.
Key Outcomes
- No formal votes were taken. The committee provided direction to staff to:
- Develop a pilot program for electric carriages, with temporary permits to operate from fall 2026 through spring 2027 (covering peak holiday seasons) to gather metrics on ridership, revenue, and operator satisfaction.
- Explore options for limousine permit requirements, including a potential luxury vehicle service category, and consider comprehensive review of Chapter 33 (including pedicabs and electric vehicles).
- Address the horse carriage owners' concerns about lost holiday season revenue and ensure signage for loading zones is in place for future peak seasons.
- Research the cost and availability of electric carriages and share information with current horse carriage operators.
- Staff will return to the committee with a proposed ordinance for the electric carriage pilot program.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning, everyone. The time is now 2.03 p.m. on when on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2026. And we'll call this meeting of the Transportation Infrastructure Committee to order. Madam Clerk, can you please read the role? Councilmember Corr. Councilmember Mungia. President. Councilmember Alderete Gavito? Here. Councilmember Spears. Chair McKee Rodriguez. Present. Chair, we have quorum. Wonderful. We'll start off with approval of the meeting minutes of the February 3rd, 2026 committee meeting. I'll understand a motion for approval. Second. We have a motion and a second. All in favor. Aye. Wonderful. Up next, we have briefing and discussion on the vehicle for hire industry. We do have several members of the public signed up to speak. Each speaker will be given two minutes to speak. And if you yield your time to uh to folk the max, you'll be able to speak as six. So I understand the first speaker will be George Garcia. You'll have six minutes, followed by George Mary. Okay. I serve on the transportation. I serve on the transportation advisory board. Uh we this issue was brought up before. We all voted on it. It passed unanimously, not to make any changes. It was then brought up. Um they had two meetings having to do with stakeholders. The stakeholders didn't have seem to have any problems with it the way the system is set right now. The issue that I see is if it's not broken, why why are we fixing it? Who says it's broken? Uh my wife, who owns her own company, which is called Crystal, that I have nothing to do with, started with the same regulations in chapter 33, 16, 18 years ago. She followed the same rules that all the everybody else who's in the industry, and I don't understand why are we trying to change or make an exception. Y'all just passed the deal with the Marvel project. Four billion dollars, supposed to be income for the city for the benefit of the city of San Antonio. You have an industry that is doing fine, okay, but you want to change it. Why? Where's that eagerness? If the car's not broken, that's like you're going to get a set of windshield wipers. Instead of buying the windshield wipers for your car, oh, I'm just gonna throw away the car because the wipers ain't working right. Does that make sense? Y'all are very intelligent people.
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