Ridership on new commuter bus service tops 3,000
Increased demand has prompted the New Mexico Transportation Department to add two trips from Santa Fe's south side to Los Alamos as part of a new commuter bus service the agency began this spring.
The first bus leaving Santa Fe departs at 4:45 a.m. from a lot at the department's district five office on South Cerrillos Road near Jaguar Drive, said Beverly Friedman, a spokesperson for the Transportation Department.
This bus travels directly to Los Alamos and doesn't stop at other locations in Santa Fe or in Pojoaque, she said. It arrives at the pickup/drop-off area at East Jemez Road and Diamond Drive at 5:40 a.m. and five minutes later on the east side of the Otowi Building at Technical Area 3. This bus doesn't make a stop at 20th Street and Central Avenue downtown as do the other buses from Santa Fe and Española, she said.
A second bus leaves from the Transportation Department's district five office at 7:50 a.m., arriving at the pickup/drop-off area at East Jemez Road and Diamond Drive at 8:45 a.m., the Otowi Building at 8:50 a.m. and at Central Avenue and 20th Street at 9 a.m.
In the afternoon, two buses will leave the Otowi Building at 3:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. respectively, and after making a brief stop at the pickup/drop-off area at East Jemez Road and Diamond Drive, return to the Transportation Department's district five lot in Santa Fe at 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. respectively.
Passenger buses from KSL Services provide transportation from TA-3 to outlying technical areas.
The commute costs $1 per ride and monthly parking passes also are available for $40.
All Aboard America, the private company operating the commuter bus service for the Transportation Department, also adjusted one of the afternoon Santa Fe-to-Española routes. The new schedule has the bus leaving the Cordova Road/Cerrillos Road drop-off/pickup location at 5:15 p.m., stopping in Pojoaque at 6:05 p.m. and arriving in Española at 6:35 p.m.
Other Santa Fe to Española routes are unchanged.
All Aboard America's fleet includes six, 57-passenger buses and six, 33-passenger buses. Two of the buses in the fleet are used as replacement or stand-by buses.
Last month, the state agency held a public meeting in the Otowi Building to hear from Laboratory employees and others about the service, which was started partly to reduce the number of vehicles on heavily traveled U.S. 84-285 now under construction between Pojoaque and Santa Fe. The state road agency is rebuilding about 12 miles of U.S. 84-285 and work is scheduled to continue through the summer of 2004.
Friedman said that nearly 3,300 commuters used the bus service the week of June 23 and average ridership topped 3,000 a week in June.
To view and print the revised schedule of routes, click here. (Adobe Acrobat Reader required)
Commuters who have questions or comments about the new service can write to S. U. Mahesh of the state Transportation Department at S.U.Mahesh@nmshtd.state.nm.us by electronic mail, or call 827-5134.
For information about the U.S. 84-285 reconstruction project, go to http://www.us84-285.com/index.shtml online.
