SPI Seeking To Boost Shuttles From Harlingen Airport By R. Daniel Cavazos |
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Shuttle service between Harlingen's Valley International Airport is currently limited to that offered by private sector companies. |
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The first impression a visitor may have of South Padre Island comes before arriving at the coastal destination.
A tourist coming in via air travel will often land at the Valley International Airport in Harlingen after taking a Southwest Airlines flight. Once arriving, and depending on time of day and when in the week a visitor reaches the Harlingen airport, an unpleasant surprise may await. There may be no ground transportation from the airport to the Island. It's an issue that the new executive director of the South Padre Island Convention & Visitors Bureau is well aware of and knows the availability of such services is currently lacking. |
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"It is limited and needs improvement," said Blake Henry, the CVB director. "To be competitive with other destinations, arriving passengers are not only hoping but expecting to find schedules on-demand shuttle service right at the terminal." The real-life implications of these shortcomings were recently pointed out in a letter-to-the-editor to Island Matters in which Laurie Howell, a Padre Elite Realtor, wrote of what one of her clients went through after his recent arrival at the VIA in Harlingen. |
| South Padre Island by all accounts needs to see improvement in daily shuttles to SPI from Harlingen's airport.
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"I had a client arrive after 5:30 (p.m.) on Sunday and all the rental agencies were closed," Howell wrote. "He had to spend the night in Harlingen. He was not happy. How can airports not have public transportation available until all flights are in? He couldn't get a cab either."
The transportation issue Howell's client found is the present reality regarding ground shuttle services linking Harlingen's VIA and South Padre. Two private sector shuttle services require reservations to be made prior to a visitor reaching the Harlingen airport for transport to SPI. In addition, taxi service can be scarce in the evening hours, and there's still a rental car shortage nationwide coming out of 2020's COVID-19 economic upheavals.
The best pledge, for now, is to make a general effort between SPI and VIA leaders to remedy the situation. "We would say that SPI/CVB and Valley International are collaborating in finding the best option to offer our increasing incoming visitors the most convenient option for scheduling on-demand shuttle service to the Island," Henry said. |
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The majority of air travelers heading to South Padre Island arrive at Harlingen's Valley International Airport.
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| Lack Of A Network By all accounts, the majority of RGV tourism-related air travel with an Island destination lands in Harlingen over similar travelers arriving at the Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport.
The latter airport, with its new expansive terminal, has an extensive business travel clientele, especially with the emergence of SpaceX at nearby Boca Chica. Harlingen's airport, with its regional exclusivity to Southwest Airlines, brings in more tourists heading to the Island from Dallas, Houston, and airports nationally whose flights make connections via Southwest to VIA. |
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Brownsville's airport does have daily shuttles heading to Port Isabel via Valley Metro, a public transportation system operated by the Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council. From Port Isabel, a visitor would need to take a connecting shuttle to SPI on Island Metro, a free public transportation service that also serves PI and Laguna Heights.
A similar public transportation network from Harlingen's VIA to South Padre does not currently exist. However, a private sector company, South Padre Island Surf Shuttle, is working to fill the void via its multi-van services that, on a busy day, can make up to eight trips to-and-from the Harlingen airport. It also offers transportation from the Brownsville airport to the Island. |
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Surf Shuttle is owned and operated by Maria and Jason Norwood, and over 90 percent of its business involves transportation between Harlingen's VIA and the Island. Their vans can carry up to 25 passengers, and Surf Shuttle's rates are based on the number of travelers it transports per trip. It operates on a reservation-only system and offers shuttles daily from 4 a.m. to 11 p.m. The Norwoods say the feedback they get from visitors is that there appears to be little awareness among SPI hotels on the ground transportation options from Harlingen's airport to the Island.
"They (visitors) call the hotels and ask about transportation, and they're not being given very much information," Maria Norwood said. "There's a lack of knowledge about it (ground transportation)." Jason Norwood spoke of first-time travelers heading to the Island arriving at the Harlingen airport and expecting to find the usual array of transportation services in larger cities. "They come into the (Harlingen) airport and assume they'll be lots of Ubers and taxis waiting like in a big city," he said. "That's just not the case here." Looking For Answers
SPI's convention and visitor's bureau is working with Harlingen's airport on a request-for-proposal agreement. It could lead to some sort of public transportation option or paying private sector companies to augment their current services and add more shuttles. The desired outcome is having a set and widely known schedule of shuttles connecting Harlingen's VIA and the Island. An improvement over the current situation appears to be a must in the view of Henry.
"Shuttle service is pivotal for keeping SPI competitive," said the CVB executive director. |
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R. Daniel Cavazos is a Rio Grande Valley native and longtime journalist who has worked as a publisher, editor, and reporter at several South Texas newspapers, including The Monitor, the Valley Morning Star, The Brownsville Herald, and San Antonio Light. |
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