RGV's Metro Connect Bypasses the Brownsville/South Padre Island Airport for Heaven's Sakes

Congressman Filemon Vela came down for the unveiling at La Plaza Multimodal Terminal of the new Metro Connect Bus Line's three new routes; the red line taking passengers between Brownsville and McAllen for a $5 fare including connections to Valley Transit’s Harlingen terminal,  the green line connecting UTPA to McAllen and the blue line, a free service, running between South Padre Island and Brownsville, making stops at the Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport, La Plaza and the SPI terminal.

The blue line, between Brownsville and South Padre Island, sounded like such an obvious positive for Cameron County.  One could envision tourists flying into Brownsville, taking the free Metro Connect blue line to South Padre Island, or tourists, once their vacation is over, taking the blue line from SPI back to the airport.  

There is only one problem:  Metro Connect does not go directly to the Brownsville/South Padre Island "International" Airport.  The blue line that originates at SPI bypasses the airport, taking passengers to the multimodal bus terminal in downtown Brownsville. Once at the terminal desk in downtown Brownsville, SPI tourists must find the appropriate route to the airport.  It is the Billy Mitchell run, Route 7, which will take rider to the "Airport Industrial Park," hopefully close enough to the airport terminal to drag their bags inside.

So, a passenger boarding the Metro Connect blue line at South Padre Island with the intention of boarding a flight at the Brownsville/South Padre Island Airport, will have a difficult time gauging the travel time form SPI to the airport.  It may take an hour to travel on the blue line from SPI to the downtown Brownsville terminal, but how long of a wait for a Route 7/ Billy Mitchell bus? How close does the Billy Mitchell bus come to the airport?