Albuquerque to Santa Fe: $6 (NM-Richardson's Railroad Soaks Taxpayers)

The Albuquerque Journal ^ | August 10, 2008 | Lloyd Jojola

[CedarDave]

A ride between Downtown Albuquerque and the heart of Santa Fe would cost Rail Runner Express riders $6 one way or $8 round trip and would take about an hour and 20 minutes each way, under draft fare and schedule information released by the Mid-Region Council of Governments.

The Santa Fe to Bernalillo leg of the commuter train service is expected to be in place by year's end. It will tie into the leg that now operates from Bernalillo to Belen with stops in Albuquerque.

Under the proposed service schedule, eight northbound trains would pull into the capital city each weekday, the earliest one arriving at the Guadalupe Street rail yard station, north of Paseo de Peralta, at 5:52 a.m. Seven trains would depart south from Santa Fe each weekday, the last one leaving the rail yard at 9:30 p.m.

Operators also have drafted a "robust" schedule of service for Saturdays, which would have seven trains going to Santa Fe and seven leaving the city.

~~snip~~

Essentially, during peak commuter periods, trains will run in or out of Santa Fe about every hour.

~~snip~~

Fare-wise, Rail Runner riders are charged using a zone-based structure. That means the ticket price is determined by the distance traveled, or the number of geographical "zones" a rider enters. Daily, monthly and annual passes are available, as well as discounted fares for students, seniors and people with disabilities.

There are three zones under the existing Belen to Bernalillo leg. Three new zones would be created with the service extension to Santa Fe.

The bottom line: A day pass would allow riders to travel round trip between Santa Fe and the Downtown Albuquerque/Los Ranchos/South Valley "zone" for $8. It would be $9 round trip between Santa Fe and Belen using a day pass.

[CedarDave]

You can only guess how may years it will take to break even with maximum fares of only $9. But of course it never will. The estimated farebox recovery is 7 to 9 percent of operating costs once this one-half billion dollar boondoggle starts operation.

BTW, the existing, privately operated shuttle between Santa Fe and the ABQ airport charges $25 one-way and $45 round trip. With the train, once you reach ABQ you can get a cab to the airport or take a bus.

[Rogle]

Cedar Dave I have been told that ridership will only cover 1% of the operating and maintenance cost. I figure up once that the real cost is several hundred dollars for each passenger for a round trip. It was actually cheaper to fly round trip to Denver and back.

[ken21]

gov richardson would not allow williams oil co

to drill gas in se new mexico.

[Tijeras_Slim]

It was actually cheaper to fly round trip to Denver and back.

And that probably includes losing your luggage at that horrible airport. ;)

[CedarDave]

ridership will only cover 1% of the operating and maintenance cost

Wow. And I thought that 7-9% was low. I would hope that the true costs of the service will be exposed before the November election so that the proposed tax increase to fund this can be throughly vetted and maybe defeated. Has there been any polling done on this issue??

[neodad]

The Ghost of Willie Green lives.

[CedarDave]

A friend of mine says they’re rushing this to completion so the first trains will operate before Christmas (December 15). What a present for NM taxpayers.

[Rogle]

Dave the answers to your questions are:

There is no polling that I know about

No I don't think the local media will vett all of the information as it is a pet project of King Bill

[unixfox]

Yep, New Mexico is such a hotbed of traffic. It NEEDS to have as much transportation options available and at any cost.

[CedarDave]

No I don't think the local media will vett all of the information as it is a pet project of King Bill

I watched Jake Tapper (in for Georgie-boy) on ABC News This Week yesterday morning. They had King Bill on talking about diplomacy is what is needed with Georgia and bashing Bush (and by extension McCain) for the problems with Russia. Jake Tapper asked hard questions (and corrected Richardson on the amount of money McCain received from the oil lobby [$2 million when Richardson said $200 million!]).

Then, during the Roundtable session, ABC News correspondent Torie Clarke called Richardson's talking points (which said McCain was "negative") "ludicrous"; the entire roundtable said this (the Georgia invasion) was a really big issue. Later they openly mocked Richardson. When Jake asked if this means Obama should pick an experienced foreign policy advisor, Torie said "Like Bill Richardson?", they all laughed out loud. I just loved Richardson being a buffoon and how the panel recognizes it!

[conservativeharleyguy]

Hey now, we New Mexicans don’t take kindly to sass from Texans, even if you guys do own half the state (;{).

Just wait till we find out how much Bill’s gonna charge to fly from White Sands to the moon.

[BlazingArizona]

Yep, New Mexico is such a hotbed of traffic. It NEEDS to have as much transportation options available and at any cost.

"New Mexico: So far from heaven, so close to Texas!"

[Rogle]

Kind of says something pathetic about our local media doesn’t it.

[CedarDave]

Kind of says something pathetic about our local media doesn’t it.True. I remember when he was running for reelection, a couple of the local TV newscasters showed up at one of his rallies. The only one who has taken him on is Larry Barker of KRQE who exposed his appointment of political cronies and financial supporters not just to the usual non-civil service positions, but to lower positions with ill defined duties but high salaries.