Service Planning for Railrunner Express

Planning Technologies has been providing service planning support to the MRCOG (Mid-Region Council of Governments) for the Railrunner Express program for the last several years. This new commuter rail operation opened for service in 2006, running from the town of Bernalillo through the City of Albuquerque to the town of Belen. In late 2008 the second phase of this program will extend the line to Santa Fe. In the first phase, Planning Technologies performed a number of planning assignments, including the development of a travel forecasting model for the corridor, multi-modal analyses of various highway, bus, HOV, and rail options for the corridor, forecasts of travel patterns, preparation of ridership projections, creation of operations plans, and forecasts of other transportation and environmental measures such as accidents and emissions.

In recent months for the Phase 2 program, Planning Technologies has participated in the analyses of various alignment alternatives and station location studies. Most recently, we have been developing a transit service plan on behalf of Santa Fe Trails, the transit operator for the City of Santa Fe, and the New Mexico DOT in connection with the initiation of Railrunner service in Santa Fe. Our GIS-based TRAM model (Transportation Accessibility Model) has been instrumental in the successful completion of many of these assignments throughout the duration of the program. To see examples of the application of the TRAM model, click here.

Sandoval Easy Express Evaluation

Planning Technologies performed the system evaluation of the new transit operation that started service in Sandoval County in the spring of 2007. This Section 5311 program provides public transit services running between outlying rural townships and Pueblo lands to Bernalillo and Rio Rancho, connecting to Railrunner Express stations there. In this evaluation study, we assessed the performance of these services in support of the grant application for a second year of operation. In addition, we were responsible for recommendations for service changes to make the operation more efficient and effective.

Planning Technologies was responsible for the original TDP (Transit Development Project) that led to the creation of this system in the first place (see below).

Belen Area Transit Plan

Planning Technologies developed a transit development plan (TDP) for the Mid-Region Transit District on behalf of a new Section 5311 grant program request by the City of Belen. The stated purpose of the transit proposal was to develop connecting and feeder bus services to the Railrunner Express terminal, particularly to serve employers in the Belen Industrial Park southeast of the station. Resources established for these feeder bus services are also available to serve other public transit needs in the City.

In this study we canvassed public transit needs in the City and developed a number of transit service options for consideration, including consideration of potential schedules. Cost estimates associated with thsoe options formed the basis of the grant application, which is pending at this writing.

Sandoval County Transit Development Program

Planning Technologies was the prime contractor for this study that aimed to introduce public transit services to Sandoval County, the mostly rural county immediately north of Albuqerque. Among the more interesting options pursued in this study was the concept of a transportation brokerage service. The brokerage service would pool the resources of the pueblos, senior centers, and social service agencies that currently operate completely independently under an umbrella organization using common scheduling and dispatching functions. Ultimately, the county decided to pursue a more conventional approach involving traditional fixed route services. In this project Planning Technologies provided data analysis and mapping functions and relied on the assistance from a team of subconsultants who specialized in senior transporation and brokerage approaches. The study was successfully completed in 2004 and has now been successfully implemented as the Sandoval Easy Express (see project above).

Mesa del Sol Near Term Transit Plan

Mesa del Sol is a 9,000 acre development immediately south of the Albquerque International Airport that ultimately will house 90,000 people and provide over 40,000 jobs to the region. This is the largest master planned community in the State of New Mexico to date. It is also a "new urbanism" community, planned from the outset to be a self sufficient sustainable city. Planning Technologies had participated in some of the earlier transportation planning work with regard to travel demand forecasts, traffic impacts, and the needs for the new interchange with I-25. Now, with several new major employers already relocated to Mesa del Sol and construction of new residential neighborhoods scheduled to start this coming year, Mesa del Sol wanted to start bringing transit service to the community in the immediate future. To achieve this goal, Planning Technologies developed the "Near Term Transit Plan" that seeks to connect Mesa del Sol to commuter rail services and to extend the bus service network to the new developments at Mesa del Sol. This plan is currently under review by the developer, Forest City Covington.