ABQ RIDE

ABQ RIDE, formerly known as the City of Albuquerque Transit Department, is the local transit agency serving Albuquerque, New Mexico. ABQ RIDE operates a variety of city bus routes including two Albuquerque Rapid Transit (ART) bus rapid transit lines. It is the largest public transportation system in the state, serving Template:American transit ridership passengers in Template:American transit ridership, or about Template:American transit ridership per weekday as of Template:American transit ridership.

The name "ABQ RIDE" and a new logo depicting the Alvarado Transportation Center clock tower were chosen in a contest, replacing the previous name SunTran in September 2004. The current ABQ RIDE color scheme is yellow-green, white, and turquoise, though most of the existing fleet wears the previous maroon, white, and gold livery.

History

What is now ABQ RIDE began in 1928 as the Albuquerque Bus Company. Before this, transit in the city was provided by an electric streetcar system, but it was forced out of business by declining ridership and expensive paving bills charged by the city government. City leader Clyde Tingley was a strong opponent of the streetcar system and led the effort to have it replaced with buses. The streetcar stopped running at midnight on December 31, 1927, and the bus company began operation the next morning. The company started with five White Motor Company buses and had four routes: Central Avenue, Fourth Street, Sawmill-Edith Street, and East Silver Avenue. ABQ RIDE still owns one of the original buses and uses it for special occasions.

File:ABQ RIDE 200 Series Bus 2004.jpg

ABQ RIDE TMC Rapid Transit Series bus, in service from 1989 to 2008

By 1944, the company had 32 buses, 65 employees, and Template:Convert of routes. Nine years later, in 1953, the route network had grown to Template:Convert and there were 51 buses and 120 employees. But the company was not able to maintain profitability as private car ownership increased in the 1950s and 1960s, and in 1963, the Albuquerque Bus Company notified the city it planned to cease operation within a few months. In order to maintain service for bus riders, the city ultimately bought out the assets of the bus company and turned it into the city Transit Department. The official handover took place on February 1, 1965, with the city retaining all existing routes and equipment and most of the personnel.

The bus system operated under the name Albuquerque Transit System, and then Sun Tran starting in the 1970s. It adopted the current name, ABQ RIDE, in 2004, the same year the first Rapid Ride route began operating. In 2019, two of the three Rapid Ride routes were replaced with the Albuquerque Rapid Transit (ART) bus rapid transit system. The remaining Rapid Ride route was rebranded as ARTx in 2020.

In January 2022, ABQ RIDE launched a pilot program, eliminating fares on all of the agency's transit services for the year. The program, supported by a federal grant, was later extended to June 2023, and later September 2023. On November 9, 2023, fares were permanently eliminated on all ABQ Ride services.

In August 2022, ABQ RIDE launched their ABQ Ride Forward [1], starting with the Phase 1, which included the Existing Conditions Report and later in February 2023, the release of the outreach summary for Phase 1. During the same month, Phase 2 launched, which included two draft plan concepts, one which prioritized frequency and one which prioritized coverage. In August 2023, the outreach summary for phase 2 had also released. In May 2024, Phase 3 launched, which had replaced both draft networks with a Recovery Network, which combined concepts of both the Ridership and Coverage draft networks.

Service

File:ABQ RIDE logo.svg

ABQ RIDE logo currently in use on older buses

The ABQ RIDE system includes regular service routes on most of the city's major streets as well as commuter routes that ferry workers between residential areas and the city center. Many routes terminate at the Alvarado Transportation Center downtown, where riders can connect to the New Mexico Rail Runner Express and other intercity modes of transportation. ABQ RIDE also operates the Rapid Ride and ART services.

ABQ RIDE fixed bus service operates four types of routes: Rapid Ride, regular, commuter, and BRT. Service times on each route may vary from every 15 minutes to every hour, but the system generally runs from 5:30 am until 6 pm, with some routes running later. A notable exception is route #66 which runs from 5:30 am until 12:30 am weekdays and Saturdays. Commuter routes only have a few run times during weekdays, usually towards Downtown Albuquerque or Kirtland AFB during the mornings and away from during the evenings. D-Ride service ended on May 12, 2018, and was replaced by various local routes, such as 12th Street/Rio Grande (routes #36 and #37) and Menaul (route #8). All inbound routes to the Alvarado Transportation Center, except route #66 and Rapid Ride routes, have a fare-free zone.

Routes 96, 155, 222, 250, 251, 551, and 790 are either partially or fully funded by the Mid-Region Council of Governments (MRCOG), and either service areas outside of Albuquerque's city limits, create connections to its Rail Runner Express stations, or supplement service on the expanding west side. Routes 10, 51, 53, and 54 are either partially or fully funded by Bernalillo County, since these routes largely serve the county's unincorporated areas.

In addition to its fixed route services, ABQ RIDE also operates a paratransit service called SunVan (known as Mini Ride from 2003 to 2006) that runs curb-to-curb service.

Routes

ABQ RIDE operates 20 regular fixed routes, 2 commuter routes, 2 Bus Rapid Transit routes.

Route Name	Terminal 1	Terminal 2	via	Length	Notes
1 Juan Tabo	Academy Hills Park Eubank @ Academy	Singing Arrow Wenonah @ Tramway	Juan Tabo Boulevard	Template:Convert
2 Eubank		Manzano Mesa Eubank @ Gibson	Eubank Boulevard	Template:Convert
5 Montgomery/Carlisle/Lomas	Downtown Alvarado Transportation Center	Glenwood Hills Spanish Bit @ Montgomery	Lomas Boulevard, Carlisle Boulevard, Montgomery Boulevard	Template:Convert
8 Menaul			Menaul Boulevard	Template:Convert	Weekend service bypasses Indian Pueblo Cultural Center
10 North Fourth Street		Los Alamos Montano @ 4th	North 4th Street	Template:Convert	Alternate trips, all evening trips and all Sunday trips
		North Valley Raymond G Sanchez Community Center P&R		Template:Convert
11 Lomas		Chelwood Vista Copper @ Chelwood Park	Lomas Boulevard	Template:Convert	No Sunday service east of Tramway Boulevard
16 Broadway/University/Gibson	San Jose San Jose @ Broadway	Elder Homestead Kentucky @ Gibson	Broadway Boulevard, University Avenue, Gibson Boulevard	Template:Convert
31 Wyoming	Arroyo Del Oso North Wyoming @ Academy	Trumbull Village Wyoming @ Susan	Wyoming Boulevard	Template:Convert	Sunday service
		Nor Este La Cueva High School		Template:Convert	Monday-Saturday service
36 12th Street/Rio Grande	Downtown Alvarado Transportation Center		12th Street, Rio Grande Boulevard	Template:Convert	Operates in a counterclockwise loop No Sunday service
50 Airport/Downtown	Downtown Alvarado Transportation Center	Sunport Albuquerque International Sunport	M.L. King Boulevard, Yale Boulevard	Template:Convert	Nonstop service via I-25 between the Airport and Downtown provided by Route 250
51 Atrisco/Rio Bravo	Atrisco Atrisco @ Central	South Valley Prosperity @ Williams	Atrisco Drive, Rio Bravo Boulevard	Template:Convert	No Sunday service
53 Isleta	Downtown Alvarado Transportation Center	South Valley Isleta @ Malpais	Isleta Boulevard	Template:Convert
54 Bridge/Westgate		Sundance Central & Unser Transit Center	Bridge Boulevard, 98th Street	Template:Convert
66 Central Avenue	Singing Arrow Wenonah @ Tramway		Central Avenue	Template:Convert	Limited-stop service provided by 766 Red Line and 777 Green Line
97 Zuni	Downtown Alvarado Transportation Center	Trumbull Village Zuni @ Wyoming	Lead Avenue (WB), Coal Avenue (EB), Zuni Road	Template:Convert	No weekend service
140 San Mateo/CNM Work Force	Siesta Hills VA Hospital Kirtland	Wildflower Area Eagle Rock @ CNM Workforce Training Center	San Mateo Boulevard, Jefferson Street	Template:Convert	No off-peak service
141 San Mateo		Alamedan Valley Jefferson @ Osuna	San Mateo Boulevard	Template:Convert
155 Coors	Seven Bar Ranch Northwest Transit Center P&R	Valley Gardens Gun Club @ Isleta Drain	Coors Boulevard	Template:Convert	Limited stop service north of I-40 provided by 790
157 Montano/Uptown/Kirtland		Siesta Hills San Pedro @ Gibson	Golf Course Road, Montano Road (Montgomery Boulevard), Louisiana Boulevard	Template:Convert	All Sunday and select Monday-Saturday service
		Kirtland AFB 5th @ G		Template:Convert	Other times
198 98th St/Dennis Chavez	Sundance Central & Unser Transit Center	Southwest Mesa Dennis Chavez @ 118th (Atrisco Heritage Academy High School)	98th Street	Template:Convert	Select school hour trips
		Southwest Albuquerque Lamonica @ Loris		Template:Convert
222 Rio Bravo/Sunport	Southwest Albuquerque Coors @ Rio Bravo	Kirtland AFB 11th @ V	Rio Bravo Boulevard, University Boulevard, Gibson Boulevard	Template:Convert	Weekday peak direction only Operated by Rio Metro
251 ABQ-Rio Rancho/Rail Runner Connection (limited service)	Rio Rancho Unser @ Southern	Group Nine Industrial Park Office @ Pan-American	Southern Boulevard, Rio Rancho Boulevard, Paseo Del Norte Boulevard, Jefferson Street	Template:Convert	Weekday peak direction only Operated by Rio Metro
766 ART Red Line	Sundance Central & Unser Transit Center	Uptown Uptown Transit Center	Central Avenue, Louisiana Boulevard	Template:Convert	Local service provided by Route 66 Concurrent with 777 Green Line west of Louisiana Boulevard
777 ART Green Line		Singing Arrow Tramway @ Wenonah	Central Avenue	Template:Convert	Local service provided by Route 66 Concurrent with 766 Red Line west of Louisiana Boulevard