Socorro is rejoining the El Paso Transit Authority a little over a year after splitting from the regional system, and residents will keep riding the city's free ¡Ávanzando! microtransit service without interruption. The Socorro City Council voted on August 6 to accept the agreement and rejoin the authority, according to the seed reporting, formally ending a rift that began when El Paso County commissioners voted to pull transit service from the city in 2025.
The move restores Socorro's ties to a regional system that oversees public transportation across much of eastern El Paso County. As reported by KVIA, the ETA Board of Directors authorized the proposal to operate and maintain ¡Ávanzando! services on July 29, clearing the way for the city council's vote days later. Under the arrangement, Socorro will contribute $253,000 toward operating and maintaining the microtransit service, plus another $5,165 for regional transit access, per the same account.
How the Service Will Run
Passengers will continue to ride ¡Ávanzando! for free, per El Paso County, with the service operating from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends. ETA will operate the service through subcontractor Transdev, which will run vehicles seven days a week. Socorro will assign two vehicles to ETA for operation and maintenance, and the service includes bike racks, Wi-Fi, and access through the ETA app.
Transdev's role isn't new to the region — the company, operating as First Transit, Inc., won the county's primary transit operations contract in June 2025 to manage fixed-route, ADA paratransit, and microtransit services, according to Citizen Portal. That contract followed a competitive bidding process and now extends to Socorro's local service as part of the reunification.
A Split That Started With a County Vote
The current agreement resolves a rift that began when El Paso County commissioners voted, on ETA's recommendation, to end transit service within Socorro in 2025. The city responded by launching its own standalone, city-funded ¡Avanzando! microtransit service on July 1, 2025, completing its replacement plan that same month to avoid a gap in service for residents, according to 915 Noticias.
Even during the separation, administrative ties between the two governments never fully broke. The ETA Board of Directors voted in July 2025 to create an ex officio board seat for Socorro for fiscal year 2026, appointing Socorro Development Director Alejandra Valadez to represent the city's interests, according to the El Paso Transportation Authority. That kept communication channels open in the year leading up to the rejoining agreement.
Regional Roots and Expansion Plans
ETA traces back to December 2020, when the El Paso County Commissioners Court authorized the creation of the El Paso Area Transportation Services Local Government Corporation to consolidate public transit operations across rural and suburban El Paso County. The authority operates under Chapter 458 of the Texas Transportation Code, which lets rural transit districts execute interlocal agreements with municipalities, accept state funding, and contract with private operators, according to FindLaw. The City of El Paso's own Sun Metro system operates only within city limits, leaving ETA as the primary regional provider for outlying communities like Socorro, Horizon City, San Elizario, Anthony, and Clint.
¡Ávanzando! is set to expand beyond Socorro to connect with San Elizario and Clint, per El Paso County. ETA will also provide administrative support and assist with planning future bus shelters and anchor stations as the network grows. Ridership already shows demand for the service: Socorro's ¡Ávanzando! carried 6,896 passenger trips over the past year.
Building on Recent Route Changes
The rejoining follows earlier groundwork laid in October 2025, when ETA adjusted Paseo Routes 30, 40 and 50 to add designated pick-up and drop-off locations in Socorro, as Hoodline previously reported, improving fixed-route links to the Mission Valley Transit Center. Those changes helped set the stage for the broader transit re-integration now underway.
Socorro is El Paso County's second-largest municipality, with a population estimated at 37,123 in 2024 and a median household income of $54,744, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That growth has heightened regional demand for reliable microtransit connections. Separately, the Texas Transportation Commission approved $2,813,000 in Transportation Alternatives funding in November 2025 for Socorro to study pedestrian, bicyclist, and ADA infrastructure improvements along Rio Vista Road, according to the City of Socorro, complementing the microtransit expansion with longer-term infrastructure investment.
El Paso County received a National Association of Counties Achievement Award in the Transportation category in 2025 for establishing the ETA framework, an outside recognition of the regional structure Socorro is now rejoining. Questions remain about how ETA will handle funding-split adjustments as ridership grows, whether the free-fare model holds up across the expanded tri-city area, and how new microtransit stops will mesh with planned bus shelters and anchor stations — details that have not yet been resolved publicly.
