The Albuquerque Rapid Transit (ART) bus system will begin running on Nov. 30, according to a City of Albuquerque announcement made on Friday.
The controversial ART bus lines — which Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller previously called a “lemon” — run from Unser Boulevard on the west side of the city to Tramway Boulevard near the foothills of the Sandia Mountains. The transit line is set to run buses seven to eight minutes apart from stations placed a half-mile apart, according to the City of Albuquerque.
"When we took responsibility for fixing this project, we recognized it was a little bit of a lemon," Keller said in a press release. "Today, we’re turning the page and encouraging folks to come ride Albuquerque Rapid Transit on Small Business Saturday."
The $135 million bus system was originally scheduled to be running in 2017. However, a number of problems delayed the launch for nearly two years.
One such problem was the buses themselves. Under Mayor Richard Berry, the city rejected 15 electric buses citing problems with their design. Eventually, new diesel buses were purchased, with no announced plans for electric ones.
The ART project and construction affected a number of businesses along Central Avenue during its two years of stagnation. It impacted the kind of access people have to the businesses along Central, both in Downtown and Nob Hill.
"When we first opened over six years ago, the first three years were nothing but steady increase," Sean Harrington, manager of Town House Antique Mall, told the Daily Lobo.
Harrington said his shop was planning on leaving Nob Hill after seeing a decrease in business in the last few years. Harrington directly cited this decrease as a result of the ART construction.
Joe Rull contributed reporting to this article.
Justin Garcia is the Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at editorinchief@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @just516garc
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
