This story was published in the Albuquerque Journal on June 19, 2008. However, I am unable to find a link to that story within the Albuquerque Journal website's search engine. I did find ten pages of Lloyd Jojola stories, many about ABQ RIDE, but not the story I have copied below.
Judy Sesma of Rio Rancho did the math. By using the bus for her commute to Sandia Labs, she’s saving about $5 a day in gasoline costs — and that was calculated when the fuel prices were about $3, $3.50 per gallon.
“It’s 25 miles one-way to work,” the secretary said while waiting to board ABQ Ride’s Route 96 Crosstown commuter service at 6:09 a.m. Tuesday. “This is cheap transportation.”
It’s transportation an ever-increasing number of people are using as area gas prices near $4 a gallon.
One commuter route has seen passenger loads more than double in the past couple months.
ABQ Ride boardings sur- passed 909,000 in May, an 8 percent increase compared with the same month last year. But more marked increases have occurred on bus routes that largely serve commuters, causing the transit agency to make changes to accommodate more ridership.
“Our bigger increases have been in the commuter routes, and they have been over the last couple of months vs. the first part of the fiscal year,” said Art Martinez, a Transit Department spokesman. “We were definitely seeing steady growth, but we’re seeing spikes in the last couple of months.”
A prime example: the Route 96 service that runs weekday mornings and evenings from the Cottonwood Mall park and ride site on the West Side to Kirtland Air Force Base. By observation alone, it’s a standing-room-only service at times.
“That’s happening a lot, especially coming home. Sometimes going in,” said Rio Rancho resident Elizabeth Jones, a Veterans Affairs Hospital nurse who’s gone from taking the Route 96 bus “once in a while” to “more than I used to.”
From July 2007 to March 2008, an average of about 2,650 people a month rode the Route 96 line. During April and May, the number was about 4,000 a month.
The growth has been substantial enough that another bus — a morning run and an evening run — will be added to the Route 96 service starting Monday, Martinez said.
And that’s not the only line with a sizable increase.
Ridership on ABQ Ride’s Route 222 line, which ties into the Rail Runner Express station by Rio Bravo Boulevard — bus service that feeds the airport and Air Force base area — has “exploded,” Martinez said.
An average of about 1,500 people per month boarded that route from July 2007 to March 2008. But in April and May, an average of 3,326 used it each month. Much of that passenger traffic is made up of Valencia County commuters coming into the Albuquerque area, according to transit officials.
Similar increases are being seen, and adjustments are being made, by other mass transit providers, such as the Rail Runner Express train.
A third car was added to the northbound train Tuesday that departs from the Belen station at 5:46 a.m.
“We added it because the busiest section is between Belen and Downtown Albuquerque,” said Jay Faught of the Mid-Region Council of Governments. “It was really to accommodate those passengers coming from Belen and Los Lunas.”
Train managers in April had already added a car to the train that departs Belen at 6:51 a.m.
“Just in the last month or so, we’ve seen a more than 20 percent jump in ridership on the Rail Runner, with some of our train cars overflowing with passengers,” Lawrence Rael, MRCOG executive director, said in a statement this week.
And the state Department of Transportation this week added another bus to its park-and-ride service from Albuquerque to Santa Fe to meet demand.
“Currently, passengers are at standing room only on this route and several people have been turned away in the past two days,” state Transportation Secretary Rhonda Faught said in a news release as the move was made.
On Wednesday, an additional bus began picking up commuters at 6:40 a.m. from the state Department of Transportation offices at 7500 Pan American Freeway NE in Albuquerque. It leaves from the state DOT offices at 1120 Cerrillos Road in Santa Fe at 5:20 p.m.
Bus benefits
Judy Sesma, a Rio Rancho resident, has been riding the bus for years. She catches ABQ Ride’s Route 96 Crosstown commuter about four days each week to get to her job at Sandia National Laboratories. She listed the following benefits to riding the bus: It reduces wear and tear on her car. She gets a discount on her automobile insurance. “You don’t have to do the driving yourself.” You can read, study, talk, sleep. And you can socialize. “I’ve met some really nice people on the bus.”
Ditch your car
Albuquerque’s buses are free today.
Mayor Martin Chávez announced Wednesday that the Transit Department would celebrate “Dump the Pump Day” with free bus service. And every city department director will take the bus or alternative transportation to work, the mayor said.
Also free today: the New Mexico Park and Ride bus service, on a space-available basis, and Rail Runner Express services.
Mass transit choices
For schedule and fare information, go to:
ABQ Ride: www.cabq.gov/abqride or call 243-RIDE.
Rail Runner Express: www.nmrailrunner.com or call 245-RAIL.
New Mexico Park and Ride: www.nmparkandride.com or call (866) 551-RIDE (7433) or (505) 424-1110.
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| MARLA BROSE/JOURNAL Daniel Jones, right, stands in front of D.J. Latham as they catch a ride on ABQ Ride’s Route 96 Tuesday morning. The popular route was full as it left the stop at Gibson and San Mateo, bound for Cottonwood Mall. |
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