After nearly a year of planning, the North Central Regional Transit District Board of Directors unanimously voted at an April 4 meeting to approve the service plan update, which will dramatically overhaul many of the District’s routes.
Ken Hosen, the vice president of consulting group KFH, Inc., returned one last time to briefly go over the proposed changes.
Hosen said the service plan update would address problems with unserved areas, under-served areas, missed connections, duplicated routes and the Americans with Disability Act accessibility.
The service plan update changes a number of routes in Rio Arriba County, including routes in and out of Española, Chama, Chimayó and El Rito.
Before the Board voted on the update, District Executive Director Anthony Mortillaro said the route changes would be applied in a piecemeal fashion as some of them were dependent on funding from the fiscal year 2015 budget, which won’t be passed until the summer. Routes would remain the same in the meantime.
Hosen said it might be better to pass all the changes at once, even if it takes longer for all the changes to be implemented.
While District officials slowly apply the recommended changes to their system, Hosen said the District should spend time promoting the Blue Bus to both riders and advertisers.
Hosen said advertisers could supply additional revenue streams to the District, in addition to the gross receipts tax.
“Let face it, Wal-Mart has more money than Española,” he said.
Tasked with improving awareness is District Public Information Officer Jim Nagle, who presented his marketing plan in front of the Board with the hopes of more budgeted money going toward advertising in 2015.
Nagle said the District is currently advertising in print and radio in Española, Taos, Santa Fe and Los Alamos, with plans to soon advertise with Chama-based radio station KZRM and the Edgewood Independent.
Nagle also expressed interest in creating a new ad campaign that would focus on Blue Bus riders. He said the ads would simultaneously promote the District while dispelling stereotypes about District passengers.
“I want to capture real people, real riders and bring in a cross-section of different people,” Nagle said.
Nagle also asked for overhauls to the District website and billboard, which is located on the northbound side of State Highway 84/285 between Pojoaque and Arroyo Seco.
The following includes some of the other items discussed at the meeting:
• The Board also unanimously approved a para-transit service and on-demand policy compliant with the Act.
In accordance with Hosen’s recommendations, para-transit service would be available to all disabled riders within three-quarters of a mile away from a Blue Bus route.
Additionally, facilities and transit operations director Mike Kelly said on-demand service would be added to La Puebla and Arroyo Seco.
• After District Board members discussed the preliminary plans for a maintenance facility during the previous meeting, the Board unanimously approved a potential funding method at the April meeting.
The Board approved a $6.5 million grant proposal where the District provides a $1.2 million match.
District projects and grants specialist Stacy McGuire said the District would seek funding for the maintenance facility and a laser passenger counter from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery Discretionary Grant Program.
Mortillaro said the District would pull the local match from the $6.5 million the District has in reserves.
He said the District applied for the same grant last year but was denied. However, the District might have a better chance this time because the maintenance facility project is closer to being “shovel ready.”
• While the recent round of municipal elections didn’t shake up the Board, there was a minor shake up in the officers elected to the Board.
Former Board vice chair and Rio Arriba County Commissioner Barney Trujillo nominated Board member and Santa Fe County Commissioner Miguel Chavez to take his place. The Board voted unanimously to approve Trujillo’s nomination.
Trujillo also nominated Board Chairman and Taos County Commissioner Daniel Barrone to continue in his current capacity, which also received unanimous Board approval.
In addition to being Board chairman and a commissioner, Barrone was also recently elected mayor of the town of Taos.
Rounding out Trujillo’s nominations was Española City Councilor Dennis Salazar for Board treasurer, which the Board quickly affirmed.
Salazar had already been serving as the interim treasurer since February after former Board treasurer and Los Alamos County Councilor Geoff Rodgers resigned from the Board to spend more time running for a state senate seat.
District bylaws state Board officer terms last two years.
• The District’s 10-year anniversary isn’t until September, but it received an early present with the release of January’s gross receipt tax numbers.
The District received $528,397 in January, or more than 7 percent of its budgeted revenue for that month.
The surplus was a result of a huge bounce back from Los Alamos County, which contributed 17 percent more than the expected revenue.
The rest of the counties were on trend, with Taos and Santa Fe Counties overachieving and Rio Arriba County underachieving in its gross receipt contributions.
Meanwhile, the District continues to spend less than projected, thanks to payments to Santa Fe and Los Alamos Counties being due quarterly instead of monthly.