Customers
of RoadRUNNER Transit will pay less for day passes as one of the benefits that
comes with the approval of the amendment to the RoadRUNNER Transit tariff, which
was approved by City Council at its Monday, May 20 meeting. With
the approved amendment, the cost of day passes will decrease, and the use of
bus transfer cards and bus tokens will be eliminated. Changes will go into
effect immediately with a grace period to honor already purchased transfers and
tokens.
Other
approved changes to the tariff are clarifying the language pertaining to senior
citizen fares on the Dial-a-Ride service; enabling current City employees to
ride RoadRUNNER Transit by presenting their valid employee identification card;
establishing fixed-route reduced fare qualification cards with photo IDs, to
include a fee for the replacement of this card; and, simplifying the bag limit
policy to make it easier to understand and more fair to all riders.
“By
eliminating transfers, our customers can now purchase day passes for the cost
of two one-way trips or $2 for our fixed routes and only $1 for riders
qualifying for reduced fares,” explained Mike Bartholomew, administrator. “The
day pass will be good for unlimited trips during the day, regardless of which
route or which bus stop the passenger boards.”
Tokens
will also be discontinued. Any tokens in circulation will remain valid for a
single bus ride fare and two tokens can be converted to a single day pass. Bus
transfer cards will be issued for 30 more days to allow time for riders to
become aware of the new lower cost day passes. Tokens will continue to be
accepted on the buses but will no longer be available for sale.
Dial-a-Ride
will also be affected by the amendment. Effective within 30 days of approval of
the revised tariff, all qualified senior citizens will pay the same $2 fare as
qualified ADA customers as was originally established in 2008 tariff amendment.
“There is no fare for single trips to and from a City-operated senior programs
site, such as meal services, for all riders,” Bartholomew said.
“Our
transit tariff was long overdue for an update that aligns with our strategic
goals for better customer service,” said Lynn Gallagher, director, Quality of
Life. “This opens the door for many other improvements we have in line to
provide a transit service that works for the greater Las Cruces area.”
For information, contact Bartholomew at 575/541-2500 or by email at mbartholomew@las-cruces.org. The Mesilla Valley Intermodal Transit Terminal (MVITT) is at 300 W. Lohman Avenue. Transit routes and other information is available at http://roadrunner.las-cruces.org. Follow RoadRUNNER transit on Facebook @RoadRUNNERTransit.