new bus hub set for construction in el paso school district

Designed to house more than 100 buses, a new bus hub may soon be built by the El Paso Independent School District in a project that will also include administrative offices and a maintenance operations facility.

The hub, which will additionally serve as a refueling station, will go up around 3 miles to the east of downtown El Paso at 801 S. San Marcial Street near the district’s Bowie High School.

The project will be paid for out of a $230 million bond passed by district voters in 2007 and will require EPISD to do away with a baseball field in order to make way for the hub.

EPISD has two other such hubs that house and service its bus fleet. The two other facilities handle around 90 buses each.

The plan has met with opposition from a community organization called Familias Unidas del Chamizal, which say the new hub will increase pollution in the surrounding Chamizal neighborhood.

That group is filing a civil rights complaint against the district as a result of the project.

EPISD officials say the project has been already vetted during public input meetings, while also noting that the district is committed to purchasing cleaner propane-fueled buses.

By Garry Boulard