I was Impressed with Sun Metro Bus Service (El Paso, Anthony: 2014, transfer)

[Michael Way]

Today was the first time in many years that I rode the bus. I have jury duty this coming Friday, and instead of driving, I decided to take the bus. So today I did a trial run to see how long it would take to get to the courthouse. I caught bus #51 at Acer and McRae, which took me to the Eastside bus terminal in about 10 minutes. And then after a few minutes bus #59 arrived which took me to within about two blocks of the courthouse. Total time was about 40 minutes to the courthouse and did not seem that long. When I told the driver that this was a trial run and was going to take the bus back to the Eastside terminal I didn't have to pay return fair, and he gave me another transfer ticket for bus #51. I thought it was good service.

Actually there was a bus #59 already at the transfer station which pulled out before I could get to it. But another bus #59 arrived a few minutes later. I was told that that bus number arrives about every 12 to 15 minutes, so there must be several buses with that number.

The bus is pretty loud, but I always have ear plugs with me, so I just put them in and enjoyed the ride.

Congratulations to Sun Metro.

[malamute]

It is good. The traffic is so awful lately that it's a whole lot less stressful to just ride the bus -- you can sit back and relax.

They have some really cool changes coming out in the spring of 2014 -- the Sun Metro Brio with those expandable buses you see in some cities like Denver.

Sun Metro | Brio

This new system will be known as the Sun Metro Brio (read about how the name Brio came about). Brio will have various amenities to include: uniquely branded 60-foot articulated buses in mixed traffic; a frequency of 10 minutes (peak service) to 15 minutes (off-peak service); stations that are about a mile apart; branded and landscaped stations with improved pedestrian amenities and signal prioritization (lengthen green traffic signals).

[observe]

Originally Posted by malamute

It is good. The traffic is so awful lately that it's a whole lot less stressful to just ride the bus -- you can sit back and relax.

They have some really cool changes coming out in the spring of 2014 -- the Sun Metro Brio with those expandable buses you see in some cities like Denver.

Sun Metro | Brio

This new system will be known as the Sun Metro Brio (read about how the name Brio came about). Brio will have various amenities to include: uniquely branded 60-foot articulated buses in mixed traffic; a frequency of 10 minutes (peak service) to 15 minutes (off-peak service); stations that are about a mile apart; branded and landscaped stations with improved pedestrian amenities and signal prioritization (lengthen green traffic signals).

Same as the new bus lines they started using in Albuquerque in 2004 it's called Rapid Ride. It has been a great success in ABQ. So it should work out in El Paso.

Rapid Ride — City of Albuquerque

[Michael Way]

Originally Posted by malamute

It is good. The traffic is so awful lately that it's a whole lot less stressful to just ride the bus -- you can sit back and relax.

They have some really cool changes coming out in the spring of 2014 -- the Sun Metro Brio with those expandable buses you see in some cities like Denver.

Sun Metro | Brio

This new system will be known as the Sun Metro Brio (read about how the name Brio came about). Brio will have various amenities to include: uniquely branded 60-foot articulated buses in mixed traffic; a frequency of 10 minutes (peak service) to 15 minutes (off-peak service); stations that are about a mile apart; branded and landscaped stations with improved pedestrian amenities and signal prioritization (lengthen green traffic signals).

It was pretty relaxing. Thanks for posting that link. It's good that they are making efforts to modernize the transport system along those corridors and I'm sure a lot of people will appreciate the improvements.

[malamute]

Originally Posted by Mike555

It was pretty relaxing. Thanks for posting that link. It's good that they are making efforts to modernize the transport system along those corridors and I'm sure a lot of people will appreciate the improvements.

Did you know there are two bus routes that run downtown that are free? Also the park and drive to Las Cruces for $3 looks real good, I may just ride it for the fun of it, wander around Las Cruces for a few hours and then come on back. A lot of people bring bicycles and put them in the storage underneath.

The other thing is that the downtown Sun Metro terminal is just a couple blocks from the long distance bus terminals.

I'm curious about those expandable buses we'll be seeing soon here. I wonder how they make it around corners.

[TexasCCW]

This is exciting to hear! I will definitely be riding the bus. I kinda miss it, actually. I remember the days of not having transportation and having to rely on public transportation. I met some of the most interesting people. Plus, free Wi-Fi!

[katzpaw]

Also the park and drive to Las Cruces for $3 looks real good,

http://dot.state.nm.us/content/dam/n...eJuly82013.pdf
Downtown El Paso to downtown Las Cruces, with a stops at Walmart/Mesa, Anthony, and NMSU for only $3. Many NMSU students use it.

[mistabinks]

Originally Posted by katzpaw

http://dot.state.nm.us/content/dam/n...eJuly82013.pdf
Downtown El Paso to downtown Las Cruces, with a stops at Walmart/Mesa, Anthony, and NMSU for only $3. Many NMSU students use it.

Thanks for info guys. That can come in handy.

[Michael Way]

Originally Posted by malamute

Did you know there are two bus routes that run downtown that are free? Also the park and drive to Las Cruces for $3 looks real good, I may just ride it for the fun of it, wander around Las Cruces for a few hours and then come on back. A lot of people bring bicycles and put them in the storage underneath.

The other thing is that the downtown Sun Metro terminal is just a couple blocks from the long distance bus terminals.

I'm curious about those expandable buses we'll be seeing soon here. I wonder how they make it around corners.

No, I didn't know about the free bus routes. But except for jury duty I don't go anywhere near downtown, and you get free bus passes for that. That drive to Las Cruces could be an interesting way to spend a day though. What I wonder about an expandable bus is if they have to compromise structural integrity to make it expandable.

[Mass Transit user]

Actually, the City of El Paso, Sun Metro tried a semi-express service using the distinctly dark blue and orange buses you sometimes see running around town, but they tried that first on Alameda street.
The people in that part of the city are not very bright and thought that those dark blue buses that were running a limited stop semi-express service to downtown El Paso were standard regular route buses that most passengers thought would stop for them at every bus stop along Alameda.
Those buses were SEMI-express and therefore did not make every stop along Alameda. Sun Metro never did a good job at letting El Paso bus riders know how a SEMI-express bus is supposed to operate. The Lion in Washington, DC is a good successful example.
The result for that SEMI-express Sun Metro bus along Alameda, which ran from the Southside Terminal to Downtown was that you got many ignorant and needlessly irate passengers ringing the bell to get off the SEMI-express route for every bus stop they wanted along Alameda Street.
When all along, a SEMI-express route was not designed to stop at every bus stop on Alameda, it was a limited-stops route. Needless to say, El Paso's experiment with a faster limited-stop SEMI-express route on Alameda Street was a failure because of the decision made by Sun Metro's people to start such a service on Alameda street.
The SEMI-express route should never have been started on Alameda. Sun Metro should have started a semi-express bus on Mesa using the same route that Route 15 now uses running up and down Mesa Street. But it wasn't. And now the City will begin using "Brio" which I strongly believe will have mixed results.