His backpack slung over his shoulder, Marco Garcia took another step toward setting his life right.
Using his U-Pass ticket, he boarded the No. 76 VIA Metropolitan Transit bus on Old Highway 90, bound for downtown, where he transferred to the No. 26 bus. It took him from the West Side bus stop near Wolff Stadium to Martin Luther King Drive, across from St. Philip’s College, where he’s studying business management and technology.
The 48-year-old San Antonio native hopes the knowledge proves beneficial in helping open a restaurant with his daughter, Jasmine. Garcia said she’s his “pride and joy.”
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As he does three times a week, Garcia settled in among neighbors, day laborers and others shuttling back and forth on daily routes in the 85-degree muggy morning heat. He offered his seat to a standing older man with a limp — the man politely declined.
The bus rolled by taquerias, auto shops and a repair service sign that declared, “We’ll Fix It.”
A stop in front of St. Jude Catholic Church prompted a gesture of faith from a woman who sat between two bags stuffed with groceries. With head bowed, she made the sign of the cross with a clasped hand and pressed her thumb to her lips.
Garcia’s belief is just as strong that he’s on the road to better days. In January, he finished serving a five-year sentence at the James V. Allred Unit in Wichita Falls for drug possession.
“I’ve made my mistakes,” he said. “Now, it’s like bouncing back and learning to live with responsibilities.”
Garcia is a grant recipient of Ready to Work, the city’s workplace development program. The taxpayer-funded program has provided services that include case management, education and training programs. According to the city website, 4,184 participants have enrolled in the program since its creation in 2020.
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“I have access to whatever I need to do,” Garcia said. “All I have to do is get there and ask, ‘What else do you want?’”
Tashina Piña, director of Alamo Colleges Ready to Work, said emergency assistance is one of the support services that helps students. The aid includes clothing referrals, transportation passes and gift cards.
Case management is another pillar of the program. Garcia’s case manager, Alexis Lopez, checks in every week. She’s provided VIA passes and food vouchers he’s used to help his mother. She also helped him navigate the college system.
“It’s great to have that support that sometimes our students don’t have,” Piña said. “It also includes accountability. Sometimes students need to know that someone will be checking on their progress, grades and attendance. That structure can help them be successful.”
Garcia held a striped towel, damp from dabbing sweat from his face. Overhead, an ad relayed information about Ready to Work in Spanish. A stretch of orange-and-white-striped construction barriers gave way to streets downtown, where Garcia joined other bus riders waiting for transfers at the VIA Centro Plaza at 909 W. Houston St.
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He sipped coffee from a tall, metallic cup as he waited in the shade of the cylindrical canopy for the second leg of his 11-mile trip. Within sight of the transit’s courtyard was the Doubletree Hotel, where Garcia said he once worked as a cook. It’s one of the kitchens where he sharpened the skills he intends to use in an eatery of his own.
His culinary career began in the mid-1990s at a Greek restaurant near Lackland AFB when he was 17. He mused that his computer science class would come in handy when ordering produce.
Garcia owns a 1999 Chevrolet Suburban, but it’s not road-ready yet. The bus is his primary mode of transportation.
VIA President Jeffrey C. Arndt said that every single day, people from across the region rely on VIA to get them to the places they need to go as they pursue academic and economic opportunities.
“Marco’s story is the embodiment of why we do what we do,” Arndt said. “The hard work he’s putting in each day is going to open doors for him, and we’re proud and humbled to be able to play a small role in that.”
Tattoos, including a rabbit’s head and eagle’s wings, snake down from Garcia’s neck, torso and forearms. The emblems of art reflected a map of his life in San Antonio. Garcia said he may look mean because of his inked iconography, but that’s not true.
“If I see a movie with a sad ending, believe it or not, I cry,” Garcia said.
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As the No. 26 bus rumbled on to the East Side, Garcia reflected on the starts and stops of his journey. Minutes along Iowa Street, Garcia lamented the loss of several friends to the coronavirus.
At St. Philip’s, he arrived early for class at the Saint Artemisia Bowden Building. After buying bottled water in the campus bookstore, he chugged the cool liquid as he walked to Room 111 for class.
In the back row, he opened his laptop as instructor Michael Gershman began his talk about analyzing and charting financial data.
Garcia typed in his notes, focused on learning the language of graphs, calculations and profit ratios. In time, he said, slowly, everything will come together.
“When I leave this Earth, I want to leave something,” Garcia said. “I don’t want to leave and not leave nothing.”
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