Edgewood residents may soon see more public transportation options.
To get more information on the community’s transportation needs, the North Central Regional Transit District Blue Bus is conducting a survey to help develop potential future public transportation options for the Edgewood area.
The NCRTD Blue Bus is a free, ADA-compliant transit service for communities in north central New Mexico including Los Alamos, Rio Arriba, Santa Fe and Taos. The district’s mission is to be a mobility leader connecting people, communities and the region through innovative options.
Rick L’Amie, NCRTD’s communications and marketing manager, said the district has a route that runs through Edgewood, so this development will act as a transit version of Uber or Lyft and enhance the local point-to-point connections.
“What we wanted to do was reach out to the community using a number of tools,” L’Amie said. “The survey is one tool we will use to help get more detail from residents on where they go and how they get there.”
The district seeks extensive public engagement as it develops its five to seven-year transit service plan, which provides recommendations for creating different transit services. Bryce Gibson, NCRTD’s planning and projects manager, said the district received feedback from Edgewood residents that there was a need for more local transportation options.
“The service plan update was a direct result of that public engagement and recommendations that we provide what’s called micro transits for the community of Edgewood,” Gibson said. “This would be a curb-to-curb service that you can request with a little bit of advance notice through an app on your phone or by calling our offices.”
The district hopes to learn more about Edgewood residents’ transportation needs through the survey. The survey asks participants how long they have lived in Edgewood, how often they use a vehicle for local travel, their preferred destinations in and outside of Edgewood and how likely they are to use public transportation if it is available in their area.
“We are hoping to engage with as much of the community as possible for this project,” Gibson said. “If we are able to get that level of engagement and talk to as many people as possible to make sure that what we are providing is within the needs of the community, it will help us in the future as we continue planning. There is potential for us to extend service beyond just this, depending on the feedback that we get from community members.”
The survey is open through June 9 and is available on the Town of Edgewood’s website.