by Ayoni Oyenuga

“The core challenge of transit design, then, is how to run vehicles so that people with different origins, destinations, and purposes can make their trip at the same time and will be motivated to choose transit to do so.”
Jarrett Walker – Human Transit

I came to Albuquerque from Nigeria to study planning at the University of New Mexico. I know it's surprising, but we will save the details for another time. Back home, I mainly used public transportation. When I arrived in Albuquerque, I was naturally drawn to public transportation; however, figuring out this system has been eventful, to say the least. Oh, the stories I have! I won’t mention me standing at the wrong bus stop on Yale and Coal, watching my bus head north away from me or the 30-minute wait on San Mateo and Gibson because the bus did not show up. In this article, I’ll be talking about the coverage and ridership concepts I learned as a transit riding planner in Albuquerque.

The City of Albuquerque provides transit services through regular bus routes, commuter routes, bus rapid transit, and demand response/paratransit. The City of Albuquerque was granted federal funding to construct the bus rapid transit system. During construction, a lawsuit was filed against the city, but it was later dropped after almost a year of legal battle. Problems with stations and buses caused a delay for about two years but the Albuquerque Rapid Transit (ART) finally began service in November 2019.

For most of 2021 and 2022, I relied on the regular Bus 16 – Broadway/University/Gibson route. It only ran once every hour, and the last bus of the day was just after 6 pm. The route itself felt quite long as it went through the various neighborhoods of Southeast Albuquerque. In the mornings, I couldn't afford to miss the 7:12 bus if I wanted to make it to work by 8 o'clock. Similarly, in the evenings, I had to catch the 6:18 bus because it was the last one that was close enough to my neighborhood and within a reasonable walking distance. Unfortunately, I had to learn this lesson the hard way in my first week. I missed the last bus and was forced to check the map for another option. I found Bus 50 – Airport/Yale/Downtown, but it required a 24-minute walk from work to the nearest bus stop and another 22-minute walk from the bus stop to my house in the harsh, cold winter. Needless to say, I never made that mistake again.

In late 2022, the city initiated the ABQ Ride Forward Network Plan to assess the performance of the current bus network and develop plans for future transit improvements. Being a transit user, I was interested in the process and took part in various ways. The project consultants were tasked with analyzing the performance of the existing bus network. They found that the Albuquerque bus network was primarily designed as a grid. While a grid design allows people to travel from anywhere to anywhere else with just one transfer, it requires high frequency to shorten wait times and make transfers easy. Unfortunately, most of the ABQ Ride network lacked the required high frequency. Frequent service was available all day on only three roads in the network.

Only a small portion of the city had access to frequent service—approximately 11% of the total population, 18% of residents living in poverty, and 23% of jobs were located within a 1/2-mile walking distance from the frequent service areas. The consultants found that the high statistics were due to the frequent service's location in densely populated areas with high job density and connected by efficient straight routes. Several people questioned the location of the ART system on Central Avenue but in hindsight, it was located perfectly.

At the stakeholders’ advisory meetings, the consultants presented the concepts of coverage and ridership. They were seeking input on how to balance running routes that cover the largest geographic area (coverage) with those that are ridden by the greatest number of people (ridership). Under the High Coverage Concept, ABQ Ride would continue to serve all areas that were already covered in 2019 and would also add some new areas to the network. However, the service would be spread thinly—they would not be able to increase frequencies or spans on the highest-ridership routes, and some routes would be less frequent. On the other hand, the High Ridership Concept would prioritize frequent service in areas with more residents, jobs, and where many people currently use the bus. There will be better frequencies, and more hours and days of service, but it will not cover as many places. Feedback from stakeholder interaction with these two concepts was to inform the preferred network design.

In my transportation planning class in Spring 2023, I read “Human Transit” by Jarrett Walker and for the second time, I came across these two concepts. Coverage meant that some service had to be provided in a wider geographical area regardless of how few people used it. Ridership meant focused service where demand was high, with the aim of achieving the highest possible ridership for a given budget. In my notes, I had written:

“Ridership: you leave some people out, carrying as many people as possible in specific areas. Coverage: covering as large an area as possible, you dilute your service.”

Due to my previous experience with limited bus service, proximity to transit was one of my key considerations when I was choosing a new place to live. After moving, I suddenly had access to several transit routes: within a 10-minute walk, I could ride Bus 97 – Zuni, Bus 50 – Airport/Yale/Downtown, Bus 16 – Broadway/University/Gibson, Bus 66 – Central Avenue, ART buses 766 and 777 depending on where I was going. As a steady pedestrian and public transit user, I was very excited to participate in the network redesign, but I also secretly hoped that my routes wouldn’t be casualties of the redesign. When I started working full-time Downtown, the 66, 766, and 777 became my go-to routes. Instead of my previous experience of one bus that came once every hour and had a very limited span, I could walk 10 minutes to the bus stop and either get on the bus within a few minutes or wait a maximum of 15 minutes for one to arrive. This gave me the flexibility to catch a different bus if I needed to, getting to and from work without hassle. Every time I get to a bus stop on this route, there are several people waiting to do the same. This reminded me of the ridership and coverage concepts, and how frequency and span of service are important to meeting our transit mobility needs. These three buses run along Central Avenue, one of the three roads in Albuquerque with all-day high frequency service.

Feedback from the public about the High Coverage and High Ridership Network Concepts varied, but the High Ridership Concept received more support during the engagement process. When the trade-off was described in different terms (as a choice between a frequent route that is a farther walk away or an infrequent route that is nearby), the majority of survey respondents preferred a frequent route with a longer walk. The provision of night and weekend service was also important to respondents. The public input period has ended, and I believe that a Final Network Plan has been proposed. Certain bus routes have been modified, and there may be more changes in the future.

Albuquerque is a car-centric city, and a lot of people here have zero transit experience. It feels nearly impossible for bus transit to compete with cars even though about 11% of the population live within a ½ mile walking distance of frequent service. ABQ Ride has had to deal with a lot over the years. Installing the ART system was very contentious. There have been worker shortages affecting service on routes and let us not forget about running service during and after a pandemic! People tend to criticize the ABQ Ride system without realizing the immense effort invested in enhancing mobility options for the public. The authorities are faced with difficult choices and trade-offs in terms of priorities and preferences, while striving to transport residents in the most efficient manner possible to their desired destinations. Within a limited transit budget, how can they provide frequent, accessible, and reliable enough service for people to choose to use transit for their daily needs? High ridership, high coverage, or somewhere in between, I hope that our transit planners can create a design that motivates me and my fellow riders to continue using public transit.

About the Author

Ayoni Oyenuga is a Planner II with Consensus Planning and has experience in transportation, housing, and land use planning. She excels at research and analysis, technical writing, and oral presentations. She started at Consensus Planning as an intern while in graduate school and has quickly progressed to her current position as a Planner II. Ayoni has brought an international perspective to her work and divides her time at Consensus Planning between long range planning and current planning. She has been involved in several Comprehensive Plans for New Mexico communities and entitlement processes, including assistance in preparing master plans, trail plans, and zone map amendment applications.

Chronicles of a Transit-riding Planner in Albuquerque: Coverage vs Ridership

About the Author

Subscribe to our EMAILS