As the City Council awaits a report about the zero fares program, bus riders and local leaders discuss it

Free fares have given Althea Atherton one less thing to worry about as a parent.

Atherton, the Bus Rider Project Manager for a local nonprofit, recently visited New Orleans with her baby. As they waited for other riders to pay their fares and struggled with the stroller and car seat, Atherton said paying the fare was just one more hassle.

But in Albuquerque, things are different.

“You just get on the bus and go,” Atherton said.

In 2021, city councilors voted unanimously to adopt a zero fare pilot program for the over 150 buses and dozens of SunVans in the ABQ Ride fleet. Starting January 2022, all Albuquerque residents were able to board a bus without fare, ID or question.

Initially, the pilot program was meant to last a year. But, 18 months later after several extensions, the program’s future is unclear. The City Council awaits a report from the city Transit Department about the zero fares initiative, which could determine whether the City Council will continue the program or make changes to it.

That report was due over the weekend.

For some, particularly those reliant on the buses, the zero fares program is a “lifeline.” But others say the program has resulted in increased crime and decreased reliability.

At a town hall hosted by Together for Brothers to discuss zero fares, Bernadette Hardy, an organizer with Native American Voters Alliance (NAEVA), and the International District Healthy Communities Coalition, said the zero fares program has been essential to get kids to after-school activities and parents to services such as food pantries.

Hardy said many people in her community are unable to drive, whether because of disability, suspended licenses or other reason. She pointed to recent store closures in the International District, resulting in its neighborhood residents having to travel farther for essentials.

“We don’t see the need going away,” Hardy said. “It’s only growing.”

Hardy said she doesn’t feel unsafe on the bus. But, she worries about the program being taken away.

“A lot of people don’t know how they’re going to get their medication, or how they’re going to get essential services,” Hardy said. “It’s vital.”

City Councilor Klarissa Peña was one of the bill’s original cosponsors, along with then-Councilor Lan Sena and Councilors Pat Davis and Isaac Benton. In 2022, however, Peña and Councilor Dan Lewis came together to push for an amended program in an effort to improve security, in which riders could board for free after providing an ID or a city-issued bus pass or pay required fare.

Instead, Peña said, the council ultimately decided to wait on the September report to identify specific issues with the program before jumping to solutions. Some changes were made to improve security, including appropriating an additional $1 million to the public transit system for security.

And Peña said the Albuquerque Police Department, Metro Security and the Transit Department have listened to concerns and been more proactive about keeping the system safe and clean — although she said there’s more improvement to be had.

“Public safety is not just more cops,” Peña said. “It’s really having the buses clean, the bus stops clean and making it a pleasant place to be around. I know Transit is striving to do that — I think it’s still a work in progress.”

Peña said the future of the program would be evaluated once the report came out. She said she initially cosponsored zero fares as a benefit to the community and bus riders. She’d like to keep the program if the report is positive, but said if problems are revealed by the report, the City Council needs to address them.

“If the results are positive, and we’re trending in a good direction, absolutely,” Peña said. “But if we’re not, and it really shows that there’s some real problems … any reasonable person is going to know that we have to kind of relook, revisit.”

But Lewis’ opinions about zero fares are clear.

“It’s a horrible disaster,” he said.

Aside from the report, Lewis said he’s seen other datasets, which show increasing crime, falling ridership and decreased bus routes since the start of the zero fares program.

Without knowing who is riding the buses, Lewis said, buses can serve as getaway vehicles for retail thieves. He still supported the pass system, but wasn’t optimistic that a change would be made; Lewis said the administration opposed his and Peña’s pass proposal.

“We laid out a very good system, a very good pass system that is free,” Lewis said. “I think that the opponents did a very good job of trying to convince everybody that we just wanted everybody to pay, we wanted poor people to pay for the buses — and that was absolutely not the case.”

He said he would not encourage people to ride Albuquerque buses because of security.

“They want this system to be free for everybody,” Lewis said. “They’ve not put the resources in place so far, to really make it safe — and it’s just not there yet.”

A spokesperson for Mayor Tim Keller’s office said in an email to the Journal, “We believe everyone in Albuquerque should have access to safe and equitable public transportation. From establishing the new Transit Safety Division at APD, to installing hundreds of cameras across the transit system that connects with the Real Time Crime Center, to doubling our cleaning schedules for buses and bus stops, we are committed to improving the safety and cleanliness of ABQ Ride.”

At the Thursday town hall, many bus riders said they are “thankful” for the zero fares program. But safety, cleanliness and the reliability and frequency of bus routes received criticism as well. Some riders said the buses are often full so bus drivers pass them by. One man said he called repeatedly about cleaning a bus stop, to no response.

Another bus rider, who identified herself as Ivey Janette, said she rides the bus to work. But on weekends, she has to take an Uber — costing $7 plus tip both ways — to make her shift at Target. During the State Fair, it skyrocketed to $19.

For eight years, Janette has been documenting “bad behavior” on and outside of buses, including drug use and retail theft, on her YouTube channel and TikTok.

“I don’t feel comfortable waiting for the bus in certain locations,” Janette said. “I don’t feel safe.”

A former Los Angeles resident, Janette compared the Albuquerque system to that of the California city. In comparison, she said, Albuquerque is less reliable.

Janette is 62, so she already qualified for free bus fares before 2022. But she said she saves money by not having to buy bus passes for her brother.

Atherton works for Together for Brothers, an organization that assists young men of color in Albuquerque. Although before 2021 there was a zero fares program for students — which many of the brothers are, Atherton said — the process could be fraught even when they provided their student IDs. Some members of the group were hassled when getting on the bus, even if they had ID, Atherton said.

“High school students were getting kind of profiled,” Atherton said. “Even with their student IDs … it was kind of selective about who they were enforcing.”

That’s why the organization advocates for the zero fares program, which they said has been a “lifeline” for the boys in the program.

Atherton doesn’t want to see changes to the zero fares program, including ID requirements. Since the program was instated, the frequent bus rider said, they haven’t witnessed any fare conflicts between drivers and riders and the process has been “frictionless.” Instead, Atherton would like to see more frequent service and longer hours on the bus schedule.

“A true zero fare program, you don’t have any pass requirements, you don’t have any sort of registration, you just let people get on the bus and go,” Atherton said. “That is easiest for our tourism industry, and I think it’s easiest for enforcement … I think we would lose a lot of the benefits of zero fare.”