The South Central Regional Transit District re-started operations this week with bus routes connecting Las Cruces, Sunland Park, Anthony, and Alamogordo.
Mario Rodriguez is from Sunland Park and works at Mesilla Valley Elementary, before the South Central Regional Transit District started operating he had to travel to El Paso to catch a bus to Las Cruces.
“It’s right there in my community in Sunland so,” Rodriguez said. “So, instead of going to El Paso to get it, I can just get it in Sunland.”
Rodriguez used to have to start traveling to work around 7am just to get work at 2pm.
“Before I used to get up early in the morning to get the other bus,” Rodriguez said. “But now this one I can wake up a little bit later, and this one leaves me right there in Mesilla so, it’s a perfect fir for me.”
County Commissioner Wayne Hancock is the Chair of the Board of Directors for the South Central Regional Transit District. He says the bus service will help families in rural areas that have limited access to transportation do simple things like get to work on time.
“And that’s hard to do when a whole family with different kinds of needs,” Hancock said. “Are trying to make medical appointments, and grocery shop, and kids to school, and all these different things. So, this will be an extra boost that will help the economy as a whole.”
Bus stops are located in strategic locations that will be useful to riders like community centers, NMSU, and La Clinica De Familia. SCRTD Executive Director David Armijo says the bus service is being funded through many public and private partners.
“We’re getting some advertising, corporate sponsorship,” Armijo said. “There will be the fare box recovery that the riders will be paying fares on. And then we have the membership fees from the member agencies throughout the South Central District, and then of course some special funding for the county. We were able to get a grant to pay for the cost of the buses from the state of New Mexico, so working with our partners we’ve been able to come up with a sustainable process that will certainly keep us going for the first couple of years.”
Voters in the county voted down a GRT tax increase to fund the bus service in 2014, the Commission then voted to fund it as part of the Hold Harmless GRT Tax increase. Commissioner Hancock says it’s important the bus get funded because transportation is an essential service.
“The Public also voted down money to fund, from GRT, to fund the 911 center,” Hancock said. “They also voted down the money to fund ambulance service those two things along cost the county, and cost out of general revenues $2.5 million a year. Do you not want 911 services, do you not want ambulance service. It’s just what pocket are you going to take it out of.”
Executive Director Armijo says they are hoping to get back the ridership they had in 2014, and increase it.
“We were at the point of carrying a little over 400 trips a day,” Armijo said. “Which is pretty good, especially after only about 4 months, so we anticipate bringing that ridership up pretty quickly. We’re also working hard at broadening our marketplace a little bit more than we did last time, and by that I mean making connections with Sun Metro in El Paso, Roadrunner Transit in Las Cruces, and Gold Routes that New Mexico Transit does that provide service to White Sands Missile Range in Alamogordo and so on.”
I rode red line and the blue line on the first day of operations for the South Central Regional Transit District, I met three other passengers on the bus and Armijo says they hope to increase ridership by offering free rides for the first 60 days.
“First 60 days we’ve got some corporate sponsorships lines up,” Armijo said. “It gives us an opportunity to do a little bit of a break in. Allow the riders in the Mesilla Valley area to give this bus service a try.”
After the first 60 days, rides will be $1 per trip with free transfers. Mario Rodriguez, one of the few riders the first day says there needs to be more promotion of the service.
“I don’t know if a lot of people know,” Rodriguez said. “Because I read it online, and I don’t know if that many people get online and read the newspaper but I guess if they promote it there would be quite a few people who use it.”
For a complete lists of schedules and stops visit SCRTD.org.
