I rode the Rapid Ride bus today. I parked for free
at the Uptown Station (between NMEFCU and Coronado Shopping Mall (I saw a
bike chained to a fence, but did not see a bike rack). When I arrived at 12:27pm, a bus was waiting; it left a minute or so after I
boarded. At Uptown, there may have been half a dozen folks. Along Central we picked up quite a few more, including bike commuters; it
felt half-full, but I didn’t count heads (or make much eye contact, except when a women on a neighboring bus made me smile).
The
trip from Uptown to the Downtown Library at 5th and Copper took about 1/2 hour, but I was busy with the newness of the experience and
with the wireless connection, which worked great for me. Sitting with my TabletPC, the infinite newstand/library of the Web at my
fingers. I even sent email to my wife, telling her I was on my way.
All for one buck (each way). Highly recommended.
When I
exited the bus, I was surprised to see the library partly surrounded by a fence. Even more surprised by the picket line. Between 30 and
50 men and women marched with signs for a carpenter’s union. They had a lively chant, demanding many good things like decent wages and
health care for all, plus “no justice, no peace!” Right on! I don’t expect to see a word of this in the Journal or on TV. You got to get
out of your car to meet the people.
It has been a few years since I walked around downtown as much as today. Great to see several
large murals — we need more. We walked from the City-County Building on the Plaza to the new Flying Star on Silver near Eighth.
Beautiful place, great service, OK food. I felt so urban/urbane, sitting on the balcony, browsing the Web for the cost of the new lofts
across the road (up to $360K!). Felt like visiting a big city, though I had to stop myself from saying hello to everyone I passed. mjh
Rapid Ride travels an 11-mile route along Central Avenue from Unser to Wyoming, then north on Wyoming to the Uptown shopping district.
ABQ RIDE – City of Albuquerque
Rapid Ride Now Has Wireless Web Access
Using
the Rapid Ride just got a lot more interesting for the business commuter and college student. All of the city’s 12 Rapid Ride vehicles
now have wireless web access. There are 83 hot spots along the route that allow the buses to establish a connection from zone to zone.
This new technology will allow passengers with laptop computers to surf the internet, check email, send reports to work or chat with
friends. Now, many people will find their commute time to be productive time.
Map of Route
http://www.cabq.gov/transit/pdf/05aprrapidram.pdf
Way cool about the hotspots. I migrated from Minneapolis lo these many year
ago (1978). (Where the powers that be many years ago stupidly — like so many other cities — paved over the electric streetcar tracks
in favor of the automobile). Minneapolis had a great mass transit system even back then. I didn’t need a car until I moved to NM.
Really. The buses ran until 2:00 a.m. — an hour after last call, and started up again 4 hours later. I’m glad to hear Rapid Ride was
a good experience.
On a somewhat related matter, I also drove the new and improved Tingley Beach road last week for the first
time and noticed tracks that I presume will provide some sort of transportation between the zoo and the aqaurium/botanical gardens. We
better watch out though, or somebody might get permission to build a building taller than the Big-I.
Imagine,
cko