Las Cruces, NM – On this edition of PUENTES a la comunidad, bridges to the community, host Emily Guerra spoke with South Central Regional Transit District (SCRTD) Executive Director, David Armijo, about receiving the “State of New Mexico’s Rural Transit Agency of the Year Award for 2022.” The award was presented at the New Mexico Transit Association Annual Leadership Conference and Expo on March 20, 2023, in Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico, honoring one rural transit operator among similar-sized transit agencies serving rural areas across the state for demonstrating excellence in system performance based upon ridership, customer service, service expansion and financial management. Armijo says the “award exemplifies the collective work and effort by our employees and our community who continue to support and ride SCRTD service.” Established in 2006, SCRTD began bus service in 2016, operating eight fixed-bus routes and traveling over 500,000 miles annually across a four-county service area. Information (575)323-1620; Website: https://scrtd.org/; Bus schedules: https://scrtd.org/all-lines/; and Facebook @ South Central Regional Transit District.
The following is the transcript of the interview:
Emily Guerra:
Welcome to Puentes a la Comunidad; Bridges to the Community. Hello, I'm your host, Emily Guerra. My guest on this edition is South Central Regional Transit District Executive Director, David Armijo to talk to us about a special designation they were given this year being named Transit Agency of the Year. Thank you for joining me on Puentes.
David Armijo:
Thank you. Happy to be here.
Emily Guerra:
You're welcome. What does it mean to SCRTD to be named Transit Agency of the Year?
David Armijo:
I think it's 2 parts. One, it's an award as the best of the best for all the transit operators in the state of New Mexico provided by or awarded from the New Mexico Transportation District of the state. So it's a great award to have. It's also great for us because and why we got the award, I guess. The second part is that we performed very well. We've had very extraordinary ridership gains, 6 of the last 7 years. The only year that we didn't do well was the pandemic. But for the three years since, our ridership has grown significantly. We also operate very effective and very cost-effective service. Number one in the state based on the state award that we got last June of 2022. So 2022 was a great year. We got the award, we received it this past month. At the New Mexico Transit Association Annual Meeting Leadership Conference, as they like to call it. And so it's a great award, but I think it also provides a reflection of the work that we're doing locally. The ridership that has continued to stay with us, especially during the pandemic, and then there since then.
Emily Guerra:
What else, besides the ridership does the transit district do?
David Armijo:
Well, you know, I'm glad you asked that because everyone sees the buses running around and thinks, well, we're just moving people. Actually, we do a lot more than that, and it was part of the award. We were acknowledged for stepping up and providing special services and more specifically during COVID. The seniors, the Senior Meal Program that was up in Sierra County, had no way to get the food from Doña Ana. So, we were actually transporting food and distributing it to people for almost 2 years during COVID. So we filled that vacancy, and we supported the emergency services from the county when asked to help mobilize and move some of the migrants. When that happened a year ago and two years before that. So, we've done those types of programs. We were also a regional planner looking at a commuter rail system between the cities of El Paso and Las Cruces. So, there are a number of services that we provide other than just moving people from A to B on the bus or van, so we really try to fill a void within our region.
Emily Guerra:
So SCRTD has successfully executed key projects. How have they helped?
David Armijo:
Well, I think one of the things that we do is we provide transportation for many people who don't have another way of getting to and from work, school, doctors, hospitals and you know, just major activities or even quite frankly to go visit a family member. We've really been able to help with that. I know anecdotally we've had people who got their first job at a McDonald's in Anthony, but they had no way to get from Chaparral when they got out of school in Anthony. So us being able to get people to and from, is helping young people go to work. We also have Wi-Fi on our buses and I venture to say during the summer, we actually have kids that ride the bus just to make phone calls and do things like that. But you know what, the buses have air conditioning and free Wi-Fi, so I mean whatever it takes for people to get on the bus and get from point A to point B, we're here to do that for them.
Emily Guerra:
And what area is your largest ridership?
David Armijo:
That’s a very good question. When we started, we were a poorly rural service operating in Chaparral up in Hatch, New Mexico, and outside of Las Cruces. Now we provide services in Sunland Park, Santa Teresa to downtown El Paso and now in the El Paso West side near Remcon Center where people can transfer to other bus routes all across El Paso County, El Paso City, and even make connections to the airport from there. So we do that as well and I think that's one of the things that we've grown into, so we're both somewhat urban and also very much rural. Our number one route is the yellow route operates from Santa Teresa and Sunland Park to downtown El Paso. That one route carries over 40,000 rides a year.
Emily Guerra:
And what about out of Las Cruces?
David Armijo:
Las Cruces, we have 3 routes so we operate service from Las Cruces connecting all the hospitals, and the mall downtown. And New Mexico University, with several stops, continues on up the Green Route North to Hatch making stops along various communities like Rincon and some of the other ones making connections to Doña Ana Village. And then from Doña Ana Village, we come in through that service area into the area connecting to Mayfield High School and coming into the move-it-center downtown Las Cruces. And that continues on into Mesilla Park. So we have those routes, and then the Red route connects again from where the green route is at the University of New Mexico to Anthony, NM, and the route on Hwy. 28.
Emily Guerra:
What challenges have you had other than COVID? Are there any challenges now in getting more ridership?
David Armijo:
You know, ridership has been the easy part. We just keep adding frequency and better service bus shelters, benches, and so on. The toughest part is actually having the staff to recruit and hire staff. Because we hire staff from Las Cruces, Chaparral, Anthony, Santa Teresa, and all the way down to Sunland Park and even El Paso. So a lot of people are working for us from all those areas, which is great. But then, of course, maintaining those, being cost-effective wages-wise. So, those are some of the major challenges we have, but most of our employees have stayed with us from the beginning, almost seven years ago, back in February 2016 until now, seven years.
Emily Guerra:
So you said the biggest challenge then is employment. A lot of companies, especially after COVID, had problems getting employees. How do you foresee getting more employees?
David Armijo:
Well, actually we're not having problems recruiting employees. We're having problems sometimes retaining them. The senior employees are not moving they're staying there. We have good full benefits, good salaries and we're very competitive. It's on the front end where employees will come in work for a period of time and then if they can find something else that pays a dollar or $2.00 more then they'll go. Unfortunately, a lot of those people leave us, but they give up all the benefits, so they actually take a pay cut. So it's a very challenging dynamic, but that's it's always been like that in the Mesilla Valley.
Emily Guerra:
Is there anything else you'd like for the community to know about South Central Regional Transit District?
David Armijo:
Well, the future is very bright. We received (five and a half million dollars) $1,500,000 in grant funds to start deploying electric buses. So we're in the process of doing that, spending on one of our facilities down in Sunland Park, we've got orders of buses already coming in next spring in the next few months, we'll be installing the new Chargers, so we'll have those buses. We picked up another five and a half million on top of that for next year and so we'll be adding more buses. We expect to get 10 electric buses over the next three years.
Emily Guerra:
And do you see that this is going to help climate change?
David Armijo:
Well, it's going to do that, but it's also going to allow us to do a lot of other things, both in being competitive in the future. So we'll be recruiting and hiring young mechanics, technicians, people who work on the buses, drive the buses, they'll be trained with electric power. So, we will be one of the few companies in the Southwest to do that, so again, it will be challenging to keep those people, but we hope to be able to do that. But it's going to be a lot of fun. I think people will be excited to see that we're not just providing service from point A to point B, but we're also providing considerations of the climate and trying to be a part of the solution.
Emily Guerra:
Do you give tours for, let's say, somebody who hasn't ridden on the bus and then maybe start using the bus system more?
David Armijo:
We are. We always let people know that you can board the bus at any of our locations, but if you're not sure where you want to go, so just go to Google Maps and click on your destination and your location and it will tell you when the next bus is coming or what you need to do to get on that bus and it'll tell you how frequently the bus is coming throughout the day so you can pre-trip and schedule your service in advance.
Emily Guerra:
Well, what about seniors who don't do Google Maps?
David Armijo:
You'd be surprised. They're pretty good at it. But you're right. If they don't, then they go to our website scrtd.org and they can download the schedule and print that out, or even save it if they have a smartphone. Save it on the screen and you have your schedule and there are phone numbers there. So if you need information, we have dispatchers that are answering the phones all during the day and so they can certainly help out. We do have a Facebook page. It's there if you go to the website you can click on Facebook to take you directly there.
Emily Guerra:
What about safety? Are riders concerned about getting on or getting off the bus, especially seniors? How safe is it?
David Armijo:
It's very safe. Our record has been almost completely flawless as far as access. No one has ever been injured on the bus. But you know one of the toughest parts of boarding buses are stairs. So, the newest buses that we're getting, we have 4 coming in this month, two that we got in two years ago have ramps and what we like about the ramps is that they're adjustable, and they're electric.
So, the driver can assist the person as they come up the ramp and come in, especially if they have a wheelchair or walker. But on the other side of it, if there's a problem with the ramp, let's say we lose power to that, it can be done manually so people can assist other people getting on and off the bus. It's a much safer way to go and so within a few years, all of our buses will have ramps.
Emily Guerra:
Well, I congratulate you again for being named Transit Agency of the Year. Executive Director of South Central Regional Transit District, David Armijo, thank you for joining me on Puentes.
David Armijo:
Thank you so much for having me today.
Emily Guerra:
You're welcome, for KRWG Public Media, I'm Emily Guerra.
