Residents Discuss Rapid Ride Route Ideas ; Cottonwood-Area Stops Suggested

By CAROLYN CARLSON Journal Staff Writer

Designated bus lanes, shorter wait times and getting students to the city’s higher-ed schools were ideas North Valley residents shared with city transit officials.

About a dozen people attended an informational meeting Tuesday evening to give input about a possible new Rapid Ride route.

The only existing Rapid Ride route runs along Central from Unser to Wyoming, then goes north to the Uptown shopping district. Rapid Ride buses normally arrive every 11 minutes on the Central route.

The city is expanding its fleet of 12 Rapid Ride buses, which are 60-foot-long, accordionstyle buses that can hold up to 86 people, with six new buses. Each bus costs about $775,000, and a new route somewhere in the city is expected to begin at the end of April.

“I would like to see something connecting the main CNM campus with the Montoya campus,” said Bob Sabatini, a North Valley resident who uses the city’s transit system to get to school. “It is a horror story trying to get to school.”

Sabatini said shorter wait times between transfers would help as well.

CNM-Montoya campus is located north of Montgomery Boulevard just off Juan Tabo Boulevard. CNM’s main campus is near the University of New Mexico.

Among the new routes being considered are a West Side connection from Cottonwood Mall, south on Coors to Montao, east to Fourth and south to Downtown; a Coors route from Montao to Central and Lomas ending at University of New Mexico Hospital; Montgomery from Tramway to Carlisle and south to University of New Mexico; a San Mateo route from Gibson to the Jefferson Corridor; an extended Central Avenue route to Tramway.

David Ziegler, who lives near Tingley Beach, said he is a substitute teacher and would like to see a route added along Montgomery which would speed up getting to work.

“Right now it is slow-go,” Ziegler said.

Claude Morelli, a North Valley resident involved in transit and planning issues, said designated bus lanes would help get the buses through traffic jams.

Greg Payne, the city’s ABQRide director, agreed.

“High occupancy vehicles lanes are critical to keeping the buses moving,” Payne said.

For more information about Rapid Ride, visit www.cabq.gov/ transit or call 243-7433.

(c) 2007 Albuquerque Journal. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.