Life, food, events, and community in Albuquerque, NM

Consolidating bus stops?

Starting today there were signs up at about every third Route 5 bus stop along Montgomery announcing that service at that location was being discontinued and moved to the next stop. Many of the discontinued stops are located in situations where there are two stops in close proximity on either side of a major intersection (east and west of Juan Tabo, for instance), but others will leave a large gap between stops when they go.

Anyone know why they're doing this? (There was nothing on the city website when I checked today). Is it happening on other routes as well? I can't say it seems like a positive development to me...

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Dan M on May 18, 2009 at 4:16pm: Instead of consolidating bus stops, why doesn't the City create a Rapid Ride line for this route? I have observed a high amount of ridership on this route, and there are probably enough major activity centers along this route to support a Rapid Ride line. Who knows, a Rapid Ride line might even stimulate "sustainable development" along this highly trafficked route!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Phil_0 on May 21, 2009 at 5:11pm: I like this idea a lot...there's certainly enough traffic to sustain it. Of course, a Rapid Ride would probably result in stop-consolidation anyway: the other two routes only have stops about a mile apart.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dan M on June 21, 2009 at 12:43pm: the way i see it, it could prevent the stop-consolidation. there could be a regular bus line AND a rapid ride on this route; Central basically has this system, so it could potentially work on Montgomery. the people who use the route for long-distance commuting would use the Rapid Ride line, and the people heading towards more localized destinations would use the regular bus line. though there may not be enough ridership on this route right now to support this, improvements in light coordination and more frequent service would probably lead to an increase in ridership. thousands of people live along this route, including many people in lower and medium income brackets. better transit IS in demand; all the city needs to do is provide it with some of that stimulus money.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Phil_0 on June 22, 2009 at 10:27am: Good point - although I'm sad to report that as of this morning the stop consolidation (including my stop!) has already taken place. Still, let's hope that someone realizes the value of a rapid ride line down Montgomery sooner rather than later.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dave on June 24, 2009 at 8:47am: When input was being taken about where the 3rd Rapid Ride route would go, I think the 2 most popular suggestions (after the Central Ave extension) were either San Mateo or Montgomery. So, in the future, I would guess both of these will be strong contenders for a fourth route.; ▶ Reply to This