The South Central Regional Transit District rural bus service has been back in operation since February, The Dona Ana County Commission recently got an update on the progress the rural bus service has been making.
According to David Armijo, Executive Director of the South Central Regional Transit District approximately 11,000 riders used the Dona Ana County Bus service between February and September of the first year. The service has also seen a ridership growth of 10 percent each of the last two months after service changes were implemented in July and new stops were added in September.
Armijo says the bus service provides multiple benefits to Dona Ana County.
“Many people do not have transportation, over 24%,” Armijo said. “So this gives you the opportunity for people to have their own personal ability. I think it offers independence for individuals, and it gives you a great opportunity to do something for the environment, obviously reducing the carbon footprint and having other opportunities. I think the economic benefits of providing transportation is one of the greater benefits we could offer to this service.”
Virgil Medina, Chief Operations Officer at La Clinica De Familia, says the service is important for public heath because during focus groups the found that one of the main reasons people were no shows for appointments is lack of access to transportation.
“A lot of things that we find in follow up appointments,” Medina said. “Or the no shows, and the reason for people not showing up is because they haven’t had those follow up labs, they haven’t gone to the cardiologist, whatever the case may be because they just didn’t have the means to get there. So, I think that by making sure this program is successful it really does focus on a lot of issues regarding population health.”
Some residents in Dona Ana County like Mark Best are concerned about the cost of running the service.
“But I have to say there is no doubt that transit is needed here in the county,” Best said. “But the model that is presented by Mr. Armijo and the SCRTD is clearly unsustainable. A one dollar fare is certainly not enough to cover even the smallest percentage of the cost per ride.”
Dona Ana County Commissioner Billy Garrett says while he understands concerns about the cost, it’s important to look at the long-term benefits of transportation systems.
“It takes time to build the results,” Garrett said. “You don’t just put a couple of bucks into it and then instantly you see returns. So, we need to remember that in some cases, and I think that public transit is one of those. We need to be taking both a short term view and a long term view.”
