Metro Beat: How did City Council vote on zero fares?

The bus pass is a thing of the past.

The City Council voted 6-3 late Wednesday to keep bus fares free in Albuquerque. The bill sponsors, Councilors Klarissa Peña, Pat Davis and Tammy Fiebelkorn, voted in favor, alongside Councilors Isaac Benton, Brook Bassan and Trudy Jones.

Approaching 70 years old, Evelyn Kuhn has ridden the bus since she first moved to Albuquerque for work, for chores and “for survival.” Zero fares have been a respite, she said, making it easier to “schlep” laundry and groceries on the bus without having to also wrangle a pass.

When she first moved to the city, Kuhn said she had to walk to places where passes were sold or distributed, with no guarantee there would be any passes left by the time she arrived. She said oftentimes, she would have to stop at two or three different places to find an available pass.

“I can remember how cold it was,” Kuhn told the Journal in a recent interview. “I had to leave the house at 5:45 in the morning to catch a bus that came through at 6:15.”

Kuhn said the zero fare program has reduced the number of people panhandling for fares at the city’s transit centers and has been a financial relief as costs increase and incomes don’t follow suit. Kuhn lives off of retirement benefits and said she could not afford the cost of buying and maintaining a car.

But there are certain issues that Kuhn said she would like ABQ Ride to improve, including making the bus system larger and more accessible. In early October, ABQ Ride cut routes to lessen the burden on Transit Department employees struggling with a staffing shortage. At that point, about 40% of bus driver and mechanic positions were vacant. Since then, two hiring fairs have resulted in 76 conditional job offers for motorcoach operators, SunVan drivers and mechanics.

Additionally, Kuhn said zero fares have brought crowding, on both the platforms and the buses themselves.

“Fares were a barrier,” Kuhn said. “Now that you remove them, you have more people. More people means more crowding, more trash — more of everything.”

On Wednesday night, fellow bus riders — including a group of students who were allowed to comment early since they had school the next day — came out to express their support for the zero fares program during public comment. Althea Atherton, a transit advocate with Together for Brothers, even recited a poem in support.

But some councilors expressed concerns about the cleanliness of bus stops in the city, the potential for free bus rides to be misused by scofflaws and the safety of drivers. Councilor Renée Grout said she frequently heard from constituents about the condition of the bus stops and was concerned about buses being used as getaway vehicles for retail thieves.

Councilor Louie Sanchez, who said he would be undecided on his vote until the last second, said paying fares ensured that primarily a “different type of rider” would use the bus. With zero fares, Sanchez said, anybody can board, which he said could be a security concern for the drivers.

Although the report from the zero fares pilot program found violent crime did not increase since its start, narcotics incidents did.

“Zero fares is the genie out of the bottle,” said Sanchez, who ended up voting against the measure.

The administration said it was in the midst of a short-term security plan, and had longer-term goals to increase security on the buses.

Peña, who was one of the original cosponsors of the pilot program, told the Journal in October she was waiting for a report on the program to be released before deciding her stance on its future. Previously, she had considered legislation to require a pass-or-pay program.

After the report was released, Peña became a sponsor of the bill to make zero fares permanent. At the Wednesday meeting, she thanked former Councilor Lan Sena’s push for the pilot program.

“I’m really proud to have supported this,” Peña said. “... Through her efforts, we’ve continued the momentum.”