North Central Regional Transit District
| Overview | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Area served | Northern New Mexico | ||
| Number of lines | 28 | ||
| Annual ridership | 284,285 | ||
| Website | http://ncrtd.org/ | ||
| Operation | |||
| Began operation | 2007 | ||
| Number of vehicles | 54 | ||
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The North Central Regional Transit District operates a network of several local and intercity bus routes in northern New Mexico, serving Santa Fe, Española, Taos, and many smaller communities along a network of 25 fixed routes and one demand-response route, one dial-a-ride and complementary Paratransit service in the Taos area. Routes operate Monday through Friday only, with the exceptions of the "Taos Express," which operates only on weekends, the Mountain Trail route to the Santa Fe National Forest and Ski Santa Fe, which operates daily, and seasonal daily service from the Town of Taos to Taos Ski Valley. All routes are fare-free, with the exception of the Taos Express and Mountain Trail route which are premium fare-based routes. The service is supported primarily by transit gross receipt taxes, which provides approximately 70% of the RTD's revenues.
The North Central RTD was created in September 2004 by the New Mexico Transportation Commission under the Regional Transit Act, a law passed by Governor Bill Richardson that authorized the creation of Regional Transit Districts in New Mexico. The RTD first began public transit operations in 2007 after consolidating with local transit services in Rio Arriba County and the City of Española. In the following years, NCRTD expanded service further, aided by a gross receipts tax of one-eighth of one percent that was approved by voters in 2008.
In January 2015, NCRTD took over operations of the weekend Taos Express bus service, and in July took over operations of the local Chile Line bus service in the town of Taos. In September 2015, the RTD opened a new route serving the Santa Fe Ski Area. And in March 2016, the RTD began service along a new route between Santa Fe and La Cienega.
In partnership with the Jicarilla Apache Nation, the District launched the 170 Jicarilla Route in October of 2017. The route provides service between Chama, Dulce and Farmington, NM.
Current members of the district include Los Alamos County, Rio Arriba County, Santa Fe County and Taos County, as well as several pueblos, including Ohkay Owingeh, Pojoaque, Nambe, San Ildefonso, Santa Clara and Tesuque.; and the Cities of Española and Santa Fe, the Town of Taos and Edgewood and the Village of Chama. The Rio Metro RTD, based in Albuquerque, sits of the Board as an ex-officio member.
In March 2015, NCRTD launched the Blue Bus Tracker, which allows riders to view bus routes and stops, as well as to view service alerts and expected departure times based on real-time GPS data. Each bus stop on the network is identified by a unique number, which is displayed at the stop; by inputting the number into the Blue Bus Tracker or by texting the number to an automated service number, real-time information can be viewed for that stop.
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