Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jeff Bingaman and Pete Domenici today announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is releasing $4.8 million they helped secure to help the City of Albuquerque continue its bus service.

Funding will be used to purchase seven additional 60-foot articulated hybrid-electric buses for the Rapid Ride and to build one additional park-and-ride lot at the intersection of Central and Unser Blvd.

“With the rise in gas prices, more Albuquerque residents are turning to alternative forms of transportation to get around,” Bingaman said. “This funding is an important investment in the city’s bus service.”

“The release of these FTA funds will work to expand Albuquerque’s transit program, and advance the goal of giving the region an efficient long-term mass transit program,” said Domenici, who is a member of the Senate appropriations subcommittee that funds the FTA.

Over the years, the Senators secured $4.8 million to support a proposed light-rail project along Albuquerque’s Central Avenue. But the city changed course and decided instead to invest the funding in its Rapid Ride bus service. Bingaman and Domenici worked to get a provision to redirect the funds included in a FY08 appropriations bill.

However, last year the Federal Transit Authority (FTA) decided to “reallocate” the funds – or take them away from Albuquerque – and direct them to another state. The New Mexico lawmakers wrote to Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters expressing the unfairness of the decision and were successful in ensuring Albuquerque got its funding.