SPARTAN public transportation is a rural transit service provided by the South Plains Community Action Association, Inc. (SPCAA). It serves rural areas of Hockley County, along with 16 other surrounding counties in the South Plains.
SPARTAN acts as an affordable and reliable means of transportation to residents of the South Plains and is open to the public with no qualifying factors.
In an interview, Samantha Mendoza, the Communications Director at SPCAA, explains that most SPARTAN riders are “people living in rural communities trying to get between rural counties or get to larger metro areas.”
“We have a lot of student riders, as well as people who need lots of non-emergency medical transportation. We have a dialysis route that several people use,” she adds. “It's mainly folks who don’t have transportation access but need reliable transportation to hospitals or schools.”
SPARTAN offers three distinct services with unique routes, service times and purposes, while remaining incredibly affordable.
“All of our rides are affordable, but especially our demand response routes. A trip in town is only a dollar if you schedule ahead,” says Mendoza. “Same-day service just launched and is about 3 dollars each way. That’s much cheaper than an Uber or Lyft. We try to keep all our fairs affordable.”
The first of SPARTAN’s services is the Plains Trails Transit, which covers key areas across the South Plains, making stops at shopping centers, medical facilities and residential neighborhoods.
The service requires passengers to book at least 24 hours in advance, with reservations on a first-come, first-served basis. Rides are shared, with pick-up times aimed at arriving within a 30minute window of the scheduled time.
These rides offer business transportation, nonemergency medical transportation, transportation to schools in Brownfield, Littlefield and Levelland, as well as a Saturday ride program from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. within the city limits of Levelland and Plainview.
Mendoza describes the Plains Trails Transit as their “general service”. “We have quite a few people using the service to commute to work, as well as a school tripper route for rural counties or towns where students don’t have access to a bus stop. That’s mainly used by elementary-age students.”
“We launched the Saturday Program in Levelland and Plainview because those two towns had a need for an additional day, mostly those needing rides to work on the weekends.”
Another feature of the Plains Trails Transit is the Cargill program, which is a commuter route from Plainview to the Cargill meat packing plant in Friona.
SPARTAN also provides Spartan Same Day, which is a flexible, on-demand transportation option offered within the city limits of Levelland and Plainview during the weekdays. The program is designed for when individuals need spontaneous rides for errands, appointments, meetings or trips, with scheduling done on the Qryde App, allowing them to book shared rides for that day.
The service is dependent on driver and vehicle availability at the time of request, but the response time is usually within 15 minutes.
“It’s mostly used by people commuting to work or people who might want to get familiar with the service,” says Mendoza. “Riders familiar with our Plains Trails Transit want to see what the same-day service is like.”
“It’s also used by people who just want to get around town to go to United or to shop at Walmart,” she adds. “You can use that, and it’s really a very convenient way to get around town.”
Additionally, SPARTAN has SPC Express, which provides South Plains College students with a fast and efficient commute between the Levelland, Lubbock and Reese campuses. The service runs four days a week, with several pick-up and drop-off locations in Lubbock and Levelland.
“We have a really good number of SPC students using that service, particularly during the fall and spring semesters,” claims Mendoza. “We have students who use it even if they do have a vehicle in order to save gas. Some just use it to catch up on sleep or homework. It’s very popular among SPC students.”
When asked if there were any plans for additional SPARTAN services, Mendoza said that although they had no projects planned, they are working on a promotional partnership with SPC, which would offer free same-day rides to SPC students for a limited time during the upcoming Fall 2026 semester.
Ultimately, Mendoza believes that SPARTAN public transportation has a very important impact on the local communities it serves and is a great tool for rural communities.
“People take for granted the ability to get around, especially in a region like the South Plains, which is beautiful but also vast, and there are people trying to get from rural areas to metro areas who can have difficulty doing so,” she says. “If you don’t have access to a vehicle or are disabled or elderly, our services are great for those individuals. Our services are a staple beyond just transportation. The value of transit is more than just getting from point A to point B. It provides people with an opportunity to access better education, better jobs and health care.”