Regional Transit Tax Inititave

On the ballot this election in Bernalillo, Sandoval, and Valencia Counties is the following question:

Shall ______ County, New Mexico impose a one-eighth of one-percent gross receipts tax which shall be dedicated to the Rio Metro Regional Transit District in equal portions for the purpose of management, operations, capital planning, construction or maintenance of the New Mexico Rail Runner Express, and for the management, operations, capital, planning construction or maintenance of the Rio Metro Regional Transit District system, pursuant to the Regional Transit District Act?

Should it pass, half of the funds generated by the regional transit gross-receipts tax will fund the New Mexico Rail Runner, while the other half would go to expanding and maintaining regional bus service in the three-county area. You can see the entire transit plan by clicking here. You can also find the website for the campaign supporting passage of the tax by clicking here. A similar tax proposal is on the ballot for the North Central Regional Transit District, composed of Santa Fe, Los Alamos, Rio Arriba, and Taos Counties.

What are your thoughts on this tax? Let's hear from you down in the comments section!

New Bus Fare System Proposed

There was a fair amount of discussion about the new transfer policy, so this should interest you guys. From today's ABQ Journal:

Bus Fare Changes Proposed

By Lloyd Jojola
Journal Staff Writer
A monthly bus pass for adults would increase by $2, but longer-term passes would decrease in price, the existing 25-cent fee to use a bus transfer would be eliminated and one- and two-day bus passes would be introduced under a proposed ABQ Ride fare structure.
The changes are part of a fare restructuring bill now working its way through the City Council.
"We're really looking forward to moving away from transfers and tokens — basically the way we got people on board the bus in the past — and moving toward a pass system," city Transit Director Greg Payne said during a Thursday news conference with Mayor Martin Chávez. "Currently, we don't have a one-day pass in place. This fare ordinance will allow that to happen."
The existing $1 adult and 35-cent student and senior costs for riding the bus would remain the same.
But there would be changes to the pass system. While an adult monthly pass would increase from $28 to $30, an adult pass for three months would drop by $5, a six-month pass would drop by $35, and a 12-month pass would drop by $95. Also, new one- and two-day passes, for $2 and 4, respectively, would be created.
"We're eliminating the transfer all together," Payne said.
City Councilor Debbie O'Malley, sponsor of the legislation to revamp the fare structure, brought a number of interested parties together to craft the new structure, he said.
Problems with abuse of bus transfers led ABQ Ride to recently introduce a 25-cent fee to use a transfer — and ultimately it led to the proposed fare restructuring.
"In the month of September, we had a 12.7 percent decrease in security-related incidents on the bus," Payne said. "That's the first month that we had the new 25-cent transfer policy in place."
According to the agency, there were no incidents of transfer book thefts last month, "transfer swapping" appeared to stop, as did panhandling for transfer slips.
Although transfer use was down by 43 percent after the fee went into effect, adult pass use increased by 16 percent.
Under the proposed fare structure, the agency anticipates increasing its revenue by 10 percent, Payne said.
"Especially when you look at what other communities are charging to ride the bus, we are still one of the most inexpensive transit departments in the country," the director said.

The OATS Blog

Welcome to the OATS@UNM blog, a venue for discussing transit issues in the Albuquerque region and acting as a web presence for the Organization for Alternative Transportation Systems (OATS).