Introduction

Albuquerque’s public transport system will soon be revamped under the ABQ Ride

Forward plan. The purpose of ABQ Ride Forward is to enhance the performance of

Albuquerque’s bus network and lay out a plan for further improvements. Currently there are two

different types of plans proposed, the ridership concept and the coverage concept. The ridership

concept focuses frequency of rides, providing more routes/bus lines that give 10-15 minute wait

times between each stop. The coverage concept focuses on providing more bus lines throughout

Albuquerque, but the wait times are often much longer, hovering usually around 20-30 minute

wait times between stops. Within the confines of their budget, only one plan will be funded to

not thin out the resources available. My proposal is to argue for the ridership concept, going into

detail about why it’s the better of the two decisions as well as its budget for implementing then

suggest a plan for that bus network’s future to expand it while keeping its frequency with the aid

of a new budget.

Background

Albuquerque’s public transport system has an array of issues. The largest and most

critically underdeveloped aspect is the frequency of rides. In comparison with cities of similar

sizes, for instance Tucson, AZ and Salt Lake City, UT, Albuquerque’s high frequency service

lines are lackluster and limited compared to the sprawl the other two examples have.
In order to make public transport worth using, it needs to be consistent. Arriving on time can

never be a guarantee, but the solution to that issue is with frequency. If the bus does come—or

come early or late than expected—it is made up for the fact that the next bus should come within

10-15 minutes. This issue needs to be addressed and thinking towards the future, it should be

structured in a way that avoids frequency dropping while serving the citizens of Albuquerque.

Project Plan

The first step in my proposal is the adoption of ABQ Ride Forward’s ridership concept

plan over the coverage concept plan. In ABQ Ride Forward’s Phase 1 Engagement plan, they

polled and surveyed over a thousand members of the community and gaged what they like to see

improve from the transit system. For the purposes of this proposal, we will focus on if

Albuquerque’s citizens prefer a ridership concept or a coverage concept. The data shows that a

ridership concept is preferred; “survey respondents were more likely to express a preference for

frequent routes requiring a longer walk than for than for less frequent service nearby. Fully half

(50%) of all respondents said they preferred ‘routes that are a farther walk away, but the buses

are always coming soon,’”.1 One source noted that frequency matters because it gives more

chances to get where one needs to go. Specifically, timed events like the theater or reservations.

The participant noted, “said that the higher chance she has of getting to that thing that doesn’t

wait for bus, she is all onboard”.2 Another current advantage to more frequent rides was pointed

out by another participant—"schedules are hard to interpret right now, so she would rather show

up at a bus stop and know that a bus will come soon rather than scrutinize a schedule and be

wrong”.3 Frequency is the most critical aspect of this plan as well as its success. Without it
1
https://abqrideforward.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/ABQ-RIDE-Forward-Phase-I-Engagement-
Summary.pdf pg 12
2
https://abqrideforward.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/ABQ-RIDE-Forward-Phase-I-Engagement-
Summary.pdf pg 31
3
https://abqrideforward.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/ABQ-RIDE-Forward-Phase-I-Engagement-
Summary.pdf pg29
working, the $57 million4 spent towards the public transportation system would be a waste. To

spend this budget wisely, we need to take a few steps to ensure that frequency is maintained.

Successful upkeep of this aspect ensures the success of transitioning the ridership concept into a

new form in the future. Expanding the transportation map with routes from the coverage concept

will require more money than the budget currently provides. An increased budget of $25 million

will cover the current costs and upkeep of the bus network, the costs and upkeep of the bus

network under the ridership coverage plan, and the costs and upkeep of the future network

expansion that I propose. An expanded budget will ensure the health of the bus network and

gives the Albuquerque public transport system a stronger standing to improve and provide for the

citizens of Albuquerque.

Cost/Benefits:

Most apparently, we require new buses for the updated system. There are currently 245

buses, 79 of which are SunVans.5 It’s $550,0006 per diesel bus or $1 million7 for each electric

bus, but considering electric buses have a lower maintenance cost and fuel cost, electric buses

would pay for themselves in the long term. It pays a lot of money to be cheap. Then, for an

additional 20 electric buses for the new network, it would cost $20 million. Currently 3 main

lines are frequent—777, 766, and 140/141. The ridership map would add 4 lines and revamp the

140/141. The proposal plan would add the following lines from the coverage map on top of the

built ridership map: 51 Broadway (blue), 18/19 trunk (green), and 3 Central Wyoming (yellow).

(Ridership, left; Coverage, right)

4
https://sourcenm.com/2022/11/07/councilors-albuquerques-hop-on-and-go-bus-program-made-it-too-easy-for-
the-wrong-kind-of-riders/
5
https://www.abqjournal.com/news/albuquerque-gets-funding-for-20-new-electric-buses/article_e14b0dd8-15ec-
11ee-be61-532f985640ea.html
6
https://www.liveabout.com/bus-cost-to-purchase-and-operate-2798845
7
https://www.abqjournal.com/news/albuquerque-gets-funding-for-20-new-electric-buses/article_e14b0dd8-15ec-
11ee-be61-532f985640ea.html
Besides obtaining the new buses, the more important aspect needs to be accounted for. Drivers.

The biggest issue facing this plan is the transit worker shortage and driver retention. ABQ RIDE

in 2021 wrote new contracts with their drivers for better wage-advancement and in the long term

this means experienced drivers however in the short term, the imitative to give potential drivers

paid training for those who don’t have a CDL (Commercial Drivers License) has done little to

retain drivers. In fact, “some ABQ RIDE drivers find that, once they have their CDL … they can

get better-paid jobs with more opportunities for advancement at private companies or even other

City departments”.8 The current annual salary of a transit worker is $38,001.60 - $46,841.60.9

Shifting the range by an about of $5,000 in addition gives an immediately more viable job. The

upward mobility isn’t drawing drivers in but ensures long term sustainability, however we need

to be more competitive than other jobs from the start. The other addition is to offer schedule

flexibility—once enough drivers are supported in the system as well as extra pay night hours and

weekends (+$3.50 per hour) if the there are other plans to include those aspects. Another

unspoken benefit is the flat increase of better air quality with the increase of public

transportation. Less cars on the road means less emissions and less cars in car parks, reducing the
8
https://abqrideforward.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/ABQ-Choices-Report-20220908.pdf p66
9
https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/cabq?department%5B0%5D=Transit&sort=PostingDate%7CDescending
demand for parking across the city. Naturally, this would lead to less cars getting broken into

across the city.

Conclusion:

For the future fusion concept, routes will be added over the span of two years, allowing

time for the construction and organization of bus stops. With the ridership concept as the

framework 3 routes will be added, taking from the coverage concept plan. The current budget for

the ridership concept on its own works within Albuquerque’s public transportation budget of $51

million.10 For the addition and expansion of the bus network and to ensure it maintains its health,

this budget needs to be expanded by $25 million for an Albuquerque transportation budget of

$76 million. Public transport is a critical cornerstone to the health of our community. It cuts

down on road congestion, continuing economic growth without the roads being a bottleneck and

it also reduce the impacts of cars—less air pollution, noise, death, injury and heat.11 Less cars

means that it lessens the burden of needing to park and create parking garages, removing the cost

of finding the land for and building a parking garage. The strongest benefit to the citizens of

Albuquerque is allowing more access to jobs. Providing travel to those who have no other

transport option and an easy option for those who do, our city’s buses help everyone in our

community.

10
https://www.cabq.gov/dfa/documents/fy24-proposed-web-version.pdf pg88
11
https://abqrideforward.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/ABQ-Choices-Report-20220908.pdf pg5