Sun Metro bus leadership changing amid slumping ridership, revenues in virus era

EL PASO, Texas -- Jay Banasiak, the longtime head of El Paso's Sun Metro is out, as the city announced Monday it will seek to run the mass transit system itself and end its agreement with an outside management firm.

The move comes amid slumping bus ridership and revenues, which have been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.

Sun Metro has been faced with challenges in recent months posed by route changes and the need to keep buses disinfected as it offers free rides to allow people to get to work at essential businesses and run needed errands.

City officials said Ellen Smyth will take over as managing director of Sun Metro in addition to her current duties as the head of the city's Environmental Services Department, which handles garbage collection and recycling.

"The City is changing its approach to managing transit services," a city spokeswoman said in a statement announcing the move.

"While Sun Metro has reduced expenses, the financial stresses are even more challenging now due to the global health and economic crisis plaguing the El Paso region," the statement said.

Banasiak will assist Smyth in the transition as the city winds down the contract with First Transit, which has handled Sun Metro operations for the city since 2007.

City officials did not provide a cost-savings estimate for the move, but the city has been making efforts at cost containment in the wake of what Mayor Dee Margo told ABC-7 on Monday could be a hit of up to $100 million for the 2021 budget year due to the economic fallout from the coronavirus.

Last week, the city announced it would shutter the lauded Butterfield Trail Golf Club to save roughly a million dollars a year in operating costs for the El Paso International Airport, which was responsible for overseeing the golf course.

City Manger Tommy Gonzalez has also outlined plans to impose wage cuts on city employees ranging from 1% to 5% that would take place for a 12-week period beginning in late May. He's also instituted a city hiring freeze.

And City Council earlier this month voted to divert $6.6 million that had been set aside for street repairs into the budget stabilization fund, also known as the rainy day fund, due to an anticipated shortfall.