City
Councilor Pat Butler (pointing) asks a question about the proposed new Gallup
bus line, which is scheduled to begin Oct. 1. Looking on, left to right, are
City Planner Lisa Baca Diaz (seated), Jack Valencia, head of the New Mexico
Passenger Transportation Association and Dorothy Claw, transportation director
for Na'Nizhoozhi Center, Inc. (CourtesyPhoto)
by Bill Donovan
Staff Report
GALLUP — The new Gallup
bus line is scheduled to be up and running on Oct. 1.
Dorothy Claw, transportation director for the Na'Nizhoozhi Center, Inc. (NCI),
said Wednesday that her agency is now working on final details to make the line
a reality.
Gallup Express, as it is being called, is an outgrowth of a program NCI has been
sponsoring for the past three years which transports low-income workers to and
from their jobs and various appointments.
The group plans to add three small buses - which will be able to carry a maximum
of 15 passengers each - to the three buses it now runs.
NCI officials met Wednesday with state and city representatives to answer
questions about the new line.
Many of the answers, such as the exact route and the cost to passengers, is
still being decided but Claw said the buses will be affordable and will travel
to all major areas of town, such as the hospitals, the mall area and the county
courthouse, all on a set time frame.
NCI now carries more than 3,000 passengers a month on its current program and
expects to add thousands more when the service becomes available to the general
public.
Claw also stated that plans are in the works to develop bus stops throughout
town with benches and some covering to protect people from the weather. The
group plans to ask for local business support, allowing businesses who donate
the cost of a bench to put advertising on it.
Funding for the program is coming from two federal/state transportation grants,
with the city and county each contributing $30,000 to pay for matching costs.
NCI and state transportation officials at the meeting stressed that the bus line
will be taking "baby steps," starting small and probably just hitting
the core business and government sites in the beginning and then expanding as
time goes along.
Part of their future plans call for the creation of a bus line that will go from
Gallup to Grants to Albuquerque.
By starting small, Claw said, the program can also stress reliability, so that
potential customers will know that if the bus is scheduled to be at a certain
place at 7:30 a.m. and they need it to make it to work on time, it will be
there.
This will mark the first time that a bus line will be set up to serve Gallup.
Navajo Transit has routes from Gallup to various locations on the Navajo
Reservation and makes a couple of stops in Gallup, such as the mall and the
hospitals. The same is true for the Zee Bus lines, which serves customers in the
Zuni area.
City Councilor Pat Butler said the city, in an effort about 10 years ago to
provide public transportation, used a state grant to provide subsidized taxi
service but that lasted only about three years.
He said city officials decided to end it because of the lack of enough taxis in
the area.
"It just didn't fulfill the need," Butler said.
City officials were extremely positive Wednesday about the possible benefits of
the new bus line.
Mayor Bob Rosebrough said if NCI hadn't stepped up and created the bus line, the
city would probably have had to do it. This will, he added, make an important
contribution to the city's efforts to bring economic development to the area.
Councilor Mary Ann Armijo agreed, saying that this will not only provide people
with a way to get to and from work but with the rising fuel costs, it will help
people who want an alternative to driving their own car.
She said it will also help senior citizens who no longer can drive, she added.
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