Passengers Can Get a Free Ride on the Railway (NM

Conrad Jaramillo said he can't wait for the state's new RailRunner Express commuter train service to start.

"I think it's a wonderful idea, ...Everybody else in the world has got street trains and subways. We don't have anything. The rest of the world, like Boston, New York, ... they're 100 years ahead. Here we are in the horse and buggy days."

The first train is scheduled to roll into commuter use Friday morning, starting service that backers say will change the face of local travel and boost the quality of life and economy.

A benchmark initiative during Gov. Bill Richardson's administration, the Rail Runner on the surface could provide commuters with a less harried commute and a way to wean themselves from high gasoline prices.

..."One of the big questions has been, from many people who have been interested in using the Rail Runner, is what happens when you get to the station," Rael said. He points out that shuttle bus systems have been established with connections to each station.

Initially, usage on the U.S. 550/Bernalillo-to-Downtown leg of the system could be thin. Rael said... "The corridor from Belen and Los Lunas will be much stronger, and obviously the real corridor that will provide the biggest benefit for the state and region will be the connection between Belen and Santa Fe."

One of the biggest criticisms of the project has been the cost. "Why are we investing millions of dollars in a train system that not everyone is going to use?" Rael asks.

"If we don't invest in an alternative system ... the commute times between Santa Fe and Albuquerque will get worse as time goes on— the cost of building an alternative system will only increase."

"Aren't we the orange barrel capital of the world? I wish NMDOT would spend our money on fixing up the roads especially near Kirtland and downtown rather than pissing it away on one of Billy's wet dreams."

Yep, I'm pretty sure we are. And, if memory serves, the orange barrel patent is held by the state. If that's true, then the stat should [have] piped the profits from holding that patent (as many other states use them now) into a self-perpetuating road maintenance fund...

Oh, wait, never-mind, that assumes that they're competent and would practice some good stewardship instead of just leaching off the taxpayers and bloating into a grossly ineffective bureaucracy.

The following email, sent to the official railrunner email address, describes my experience with this boondoggle of Bill:

Only in New Mexico...

..can you screw up a free train ride!

I have just returned from the Albuquerque downtown station, where I was unable to ride the Rail Runner due to the sloppy way that the operation is being handled. I arrived, along with my wife, daughter, and four young grandchildren at 10:35 AM. We joined the 60 or 70 people already lined up at that time to board the train and patiently waited our turn. When the train pulled into the station, we carefully walked to the nearest car, only to have our path blocked by a man in street clothes who told us that the doors on that car would not open, and that we needed to then jostle into the crowd trying to board via the doors on the other cars. As a result, after finally getting through a set of doors we walked the entire length of the train, but were unable to find seats. The prospect of standing with four small children did not appeal to us, so we disembarked.

Now, I have ridden trains and subways in the eastern US, in Europe, and in Asia, so I am quite versed on the way that trains are supposed to operate. Don't you think that if you are going to use a "non-standard" method of boarding that it would be a courtesy to those who have spent 20-30 minutes waiting near the front of the line, especially those with small children, to tell them ahead of time that this is how things work? It would have taken very little effort for one of your employees (possibly the door blocker) to circulate once or twice through the line to point out which doors will be accessible. It just doesn't seem fair that your current pathetic way of doing things would result in a situation where those who have waited the longest get cheated out of their ride.

When we came off of the train, I found the man who had blocked the entry to the last car. It is not an exaggeration to state that it would be hard for him to care less when I explained our ordeal. I hope that he is not representative of your staff. I truly wish that he had been wearing an ID badge, or some other form of identification, so that I could provide you with his name.

Oh well, I guess that I should have remembered that we are under the "Curse of Lew Wallace".

****End of email***

I sent this about two weeks ago. To date I have received no response.

Interesting story. A couple of observations and some questions. In my travels in the US (don't know about overseas) I have found that the attitude of most transit employees is that you are supposed to know the answer to your question already. If a tourist, expect to get a curt or surly response, in most cities. And railroad employees need to be uniformed or at least have an identification card. Hard to believe it was just some helpful citizen.

Regarding the crowding, how many cars did the train have, two or three? It may be that during this free period, people are just trying it out, sort of like an amusement park ride (don't mean to insult you, I'd like to try it too).

But the answer to it's being useful is how many passengers will ride if it is priced so that fare recovery for operational costs is more in line with other mass transit systems (40-50% or more). The state DOT admits the initial fare recovery will be less than 10% WHEN fares are first required. People are using it now because it is free and gas is expensive. Let's see how many use it when fares are charged and especially if fares are raised to cover some meaningful percent of costs. Further, at some point the state must not support this to the detriment of other transportation projects and it must be up to the locals who use it and live in the area served to cover the costs (i.e. special transportation district with taxing authority). Let's see how much support it will get if those two requirements, a part of every other mass transit operation, are instituted here.

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