Christopher Althea thanks for being here today thanks for inviting us so I wanted to start just talking about buses in Albuquerque who rides them why are they important absolutely you know one of the things I think is great is and I think you know this together for brothers has been doing community-based research around Transportation since 2017 we were funded by the Kellogg foundation and New Mexico Health Equity partnership to really look into Youth and transportation and we've learned a lot about bus riders um what's also great is every five years Albuquerque is required by the Federal Transportation Administration FTA to do an onboard survey with bus riders so that we learn about them and also that we can verify that we are not engaging in any civil rights violations so February and March of 2022 as zero Affairs was launching we have this incredible data tool of the onboard survey that says some important things about bus riders in Albuquerque one thing eighty percent of bus riders identified on average as having a household income less than twenty five thousand dollars so that's basically living in poverty right so a lot of a lot of our bus driver bus riders are economically in that one of the lowest categories in terms of household income the other thing we want to also share is we learned in that onboard survey 60 of bus riders do not have a driver's license or identification and that's important as we're going to talk about in a little bit that one of the proposed changes to zero Affairs was a path which wouldn't have been zero fares but we literally have 60 of bus riders who don't have an ID to prove that they're a senior to prove that they're uh their age to prove to prove that they're who they say they are and so that's important too and we know that especially impacts people experiencing homelessness you find it hard to have and keep an eye d That's valid the other thing I want to point out is that we also learned that there's a higher percentage of people of color so it's between 60 and 70 percent of bus riders are identify as people of color and then there's one important number that I want to make sure that I think transitions into one of your next questions around zero affairs eighty percent of those who responded in the onboard survey in February and March these are the first the second and third months of zero fares said zero fares would be the best Improvement to public transit in Albuquerque if we could keep that yeah so this is like literally eighty percent of and that's just the most important there were other bus riders who said it would be important but it wasn't the most important 80 approval rating of zero Affairs by the people who are using it the most so I think that tells a lot um gives us a little bit of a snapshot and I want to also you know one of the things that we're excited about this year we've brought on two bus rider organizers to complement our work with boys and young men of color so that we know those that are bus riders are more than boys and young men of color Alfie is one of those new bus riders and she might have a something to share about who rides the bus yeah it's a it's a wider range of people than I think people give credit for I think people like me who have like a medical reason to not want to drive or even some of my friends who just have anxiety about the road conditions here pedestrian fatality rates things like that you know end up deciding that the buses even if they're only sometimes using it you know a better way to go and you know I see a lot of students at CNM UNM around the public schools using it so you know and also a lot of seniors who maybe just like don't want to have to deal with driving anymore whether they can or they you know have decided not to for medical reasons as well it ends up being a pretty you know diverse group of people on my daily rides yeah I don't know if this is the case in other cities but buses in Albuquerque have like a bad reputation people always want to say bad things about the buses as somebody who rides them all the time tell me about your experiences riding the bus it's it's so interesting to me because I've read I used to live in Washington DC and I've lived in Boston and I feel like the quality of my rides are actually maybe even better here the big complaints I have about are about frequency and hours of service but I don't have too many problems on the bus I don't really get bothered by people if I do the bus driver is always able to just you know take care of that and help me out and that has only been a handful of times as someone who rides very very regularly um and I think that uh you know the bus is also I actually had a friend visiting from Boston a few months ago and he was like Wow everything's so clean everything's so nice and it was just so funny because I was cracking up because that's not the narrative you hear in the newspaper that's not the narrative you hear in the City Council meetings and so I was like I need I need to be recording you like saying all these things as someone who rides the Boston system daily you know he was like we were taking the art bus and he was just like wow so you just get on and go and I was like yeah you just get on and go and it's beautiful and you know can I add to that because I've been a bus writer since I moved to Albuquerque in 98 and what was interesting in the 90s our bus service was um a disgrace right we didn't have buses after five o'clock there was very little service on weekends now that's still somewhat true but one of the things I think is great when you say about who rides the bus I think what's really important is we're right now going through this ebq ride forward a network redesign and one of the important things that that has really pointed out and we knew this beforehand Laura we know that the peak hours for Albuquerque um ABQ Ride the fixed routes is typically in the middle of the day 12 to 2 are their biggest um their biggest times right and that is also not only Monday through Friday but on the weekends especially Saturday so what's interesting about that is you'd think there'd be that rush hour in the morning right and we and our because our service looks like that we have commuter routes that come to downtown in the morning around nine o'clock and leave at five o'clock those are not peak times for our Riders right so we've unfortunately you have a historically a network a bus Network that favors nine to five workers coming to downtown when in reality that's not the service that's needed by most people who depend on Transit so what's exciting about this network redesign is we're really going to be able to for the first time have Consultants help us really reimagine what service looks like for people that need it most because that redesign is putting Equity at the center and I know we've talked about before with you even with our worker on access to Recreation and Transit Transit Equity says this the people who are most impacted Transit dependent bus riders get what they need and if we know this in a system like Albuquerque where with our around 50 million dollars we're not able to do everything for everybody but if we consider the people who are most impacted and provide service for them we can have a we can have a better service we can have more people who depend on Transit getting to where they need to go yeah oh sorry I was going to say that's what I um what I say to people who say that they wish that the serve them better is now is a great time to be paying attention to that with the ABQ Ride forward work that's going on because they want to be hearing from people who are would-be riders or would take it more as well as part of that process because our system may not serve every you know as many people as they want but we want to get the big snapshot of who would be bus riders as well yeah and so zero fares can you talk about how that program benefits um anybody in Albuquerque but in particular um young men of color and their families absolutely I'm going to take us back all the way to 2018. we finished doing a year of community-based research our health impact assessment and this is what it told us if young people had access to free Transit it would impact their access to education and I think you might remember there was a story we met a young person who was a freshman at Highland High School 100 tardies and he was on the verge of being suspended from Highland no one at Highland had ever asked him what's making you tardy right and it was because he had to get two buses to go to a school of choice and be in the refugee cohort at Highland right access to education access to employment would it be easier to find and keep a job if you had free Transit 97 of boys and young men of color told us absolutely yes right access to Recreation would you be able to get to Quality parks and outdoor space absolutely right in the 90s again and then the other thing that was a surprise because as we were doing surveys interviews focus groups we learned something we we thought about this healthy healthy like getting to exercise but the other thing that a lot of young people which is probably no surprise to you because of the the news that you the news stories you've done about food Security in the International District in Westgate the most impacted transdependent like households access to healthy food was another important factor right so Transit free Transit would do that we learned that in 2018 we push for free student passes and then something great happened in 2019. we were introduced to this new national day of action on Rosa Parks birthday on February 4th we use that as an opportunity to do something to make a call for free transit for everyone we passed our first resolution with the transit Advisory Board in 2019 city council actually voted in support of free Transit we missed a really important element they didn't add anything to the budget so in 2021 something magical happened because we did it in 2020 again and in 2021 then councilor Lance found the three million dollars for the the pilot program for zero Affairs so that's why we're at where we're at right we heard from community and I'm gonna go back to that health impact assessment we did in 2017-2018.

90 of people who rode the bus every day it was one percent of bus riders not a huge number right every day said that they had at least they were 90 likely not to have the fare to be able to travel at least once in the past 30 days we had we had seen it in a survey I think from Denver it might have actually been from La the youth wanted to include that but that was a powerful number for us to realize 90 of people who were daily using ABQ Rod said I didn't have the fare to pay and we hear the stories they would try to get the bus rider to let them in it was like playing New Mexico lottery right would they get in or would they not get in because sometimes drivers would look away and let people on but then would you get on to work on time or school on time if you did didn't have fare so that's why we really focused on free fares because the community that was most impacted said 90 of the time they at least once in the past 30 days they didn't have the fair so here we have zero Affairs and I'm excited to talk to you about what some of that we know what some of the impacts have been in the past pilot year and then we extended that for six months it actually looks like looks like it's going to go all the way now through September of 2023.

I can imagine how important buses are for people to access different services and different places all across the city and so for the zero fares program how do you think that it has affected people's ability to you know get to do things outside in addition to reaching your job or your your school yeah I think it's definitely helped a great amount because I know I was on the art bus a few months ago and talking to someone and she said she takes the bus to the Bosque every sunset and that's like her thing is every sunset she likes to catch um you know the the sunset there and we were talking about zero fares and how that makes that an affordable decision for her an affordable way to get to a beautiful place to watch the sunset every day and I think about you know one of the health clinics where I access medical care the Alamosa Community Center that's a great accessible by Bus location so even though it's pretty far from my house I actually choose to go to that one because I know I can get there pretty reliably by the bus um so it just kind of opens up um doors for so many people and even if people could afford the service before the service is better now that it's zero fare because you don't have to wait for everybody counting their nickels counting you know getting making sure they have the fare you don't have to witness the fair conflicts between the drivers and Riders it's just everybody gets on the bus and goes and it's made me want to take the bus more you know as someone who you know could could walk some places and take the bus in places I'm like oh no it'll be so fast to get on the bus and you know there will be for fewer conflicts in general yeah how it used to be I can imagine that because like even though like obviously like I would be able to pay the fare but I know like as a rider like in a new city or someplace I'm I get like flustered like do I need to have an ID do I need a punch card do I need exact change so I can see how the zero Affairs would have impacts Beyond honestly even just not taking out my purse and digging through to find my ID anymore because I I had free fares before as a CNM student you know like even just not having to dig out for my purse and you know just reduces stress so I'm like way less flustered when I'm on the bus I just have to worry about my mask and can I add one of the things that we're seeing with zero fares too is I love hearing from some of our Community Partners um because we've heard from other service providers like Albuquerque Health healthcare for the homeless they have saw a significant decrease in no shows or late shows for people that are getting Services because previously to get to their service you had to have a bus pass it was one of the biggest barriers for people experiencing homelessness to access health care we also heard from transgender Resource Center that clients that go to the resource center didn't have as many conflicts with drivers right about their IDs or there are not having fares or being harassed and so I think those are really positive outcomes too of zero Affairs it's you get on and go it's it's that easy right um I also want to talk about one other important thing we were supported by the energy Foundation last year to do lots of good organizing and we actually have continued funding which is why we're able to bring on Althea and another bus rider as bus rider organizers Jesus but um which is great because he's actually a sun van user right in a wheelchair so it's great for us to have that his his uh he's worked with t4b before but now we have that that experience and that kind of identity with the we did onboard and at bus stop surveys hundreds of surveys do you know that less than a dozen people told us they didn't like zero Affairs but hearing the stories of people saying exactly what you said Althea I get to get to the park I get to go access um that that outdoor resource right or that we also um get to you know the people the amount of people who told us they weren't working and they were able to go and find and look for work because of the zero fares um I think those are really important so we yes and I want to also connect and I think you've probably thought of this before we know something about school breakfast and school lunch when you give everybody breakfast and lunch it reduces the stigma of who is supposed to deserves to get free school lunch right who or School breakfast so when you do a program like zero Affairs you're saying everybody's welcome right follow the agreements follow the the code of conduct and the rights of bus riders and make sure that everybody's safe but all are welcome and I think that's a really important message that we know about Transit Equity that people who are most impacted get to get on the bus and get to the Bosque or get to the health clinic or get to Social Security or get to whatever they need or school or mosque church temple synagogue where they need to go and that's really great and we've seen this we've seen the success of increased ridership right in the first 12 in the first first 11 months we have data increased ridership for sure and I want to bring up you know the the story we hear is that the buses are not safe so Metro security established a way to to actually document security data on buses and up bus stops and this is what we know we have a good set of data for the three months before zero fares so October through December of 2021 we have some data where people were paying for buses and then we have right now 11 months of data right through November of safety incidents reported by Metro security do you know that there's no significant difference between the three three months before zero fares and those 11 months in fact some months it goes up in some months it goes down and one of the things that was interesting there was legislation proposed in 20 in October that said safety incidents are increasing and as you you see this there's more incidents happening because ridership was increasing and when you looked at those relatives together you actually saw that safety incidents were going down as ridership increased and by the way safety incidents right now on average it is 0.13 percent that's not one percent it's 0.13 so that means 99.987 percent of the time that people were riding the bus nothing happens yeah and I want to and and by the way we know this more than half of the incidents are happening in that bus stops where we know there are other Solutions than law enforcement and that's one of the things that we're really trying to push with our new Albuquerque bus rider Union where organizers like Althea are we really want to document stories of bus riders but we want to make bus stops and buses more safe and we know that looking at communities like Chicago Portland and other communities that are doing Transit ambassadors so instead of security it's people who do help you with your route are trained in conflict resolution and de-escalation and can get people the resources so we can connect them to resources like Albuquerque Community safety department or other resources so that rather than getting cited for being intoxicating um intoxicated at the bus stop we can get them to the resource that they need and deserve and we're excited for those Solutions moving forward because that's going to make buses safer we know girls and women refugees queer and trans Community people experiencing homelessness have felt unsafe at bus stops and on buses as a community we can do some things to make people safer that don't involve further criminalizing most impacted communities yeah and so lastly what is the status of the zero Affairs program and what do you anticipate might happen in the next weeks months yeah so right now we have our zero fire pilot that's still going on and then they just extended time for a study to September to see how things are are going with the fixed routes and in addition there's a new bill that was just proposed to the city council but they have to do an equity study on it first that would make the art bus and Paratransit the Sun man free for everybody permanently which would be a fantastic program that I think would be yeah just one of the best things we can do I of course I want it to be the fixed root Services too but it's a great place to start and again what we're excited for is the implementation plans really call for Community input and first community-led solutions to Transit security that don't rely just on law enforcement other communities are looking to Albuquerque we recently attended a national convenient in DC this is this is where people are moving towards I think you might have heard DC just beat us out as the largest city with free buses in the country right there are about a hundred thousand people more than Albuquerque and we're happy to let them take that right monikers being the largest city with free buses but we're excited that people are looking to Albuquerque as an example of what the future looks like for public transit and by the way that other piece of zero Affairs would be Transit Equity sells us absolutely affordable and ideally free Transit but we also want to look at the routes and frequency of where the buses take people we also want to look at clean Transit unfortunately right out of the 250 bus and Van Fleet in our public transit system we only have five electric buses we need to move towards electric and low emissions vehicles that will also right not impact some of those right more impacted communities in Albuquerque when it comes to air pollution so we can we can be and do better with that as part of Transit Equity as well and then we're taking it to the next level with Mobility sovereignty we're saying not only is it the buses and Sun van it's also being able to safely walk bike and be mobile as a person with a disability in your community so we're excited to look at how that really exciting piece of infrastructure right sidewalks street lights bus from bus bike lanes are all part of making sure that Albuquerque is healthy and people are getting to go where they need to go yeah yeah I firmly believe I'm safer when I I'm on a bus and that's why I think that frequency is going to be a big piece of improving our bus safety just be and especially if the majority of these safety incidents are happening at bus stops you know having the bus come where frequently so they become less crowded is a big step for that on my way here today the only times where anyone bothered me were when I was not on the bus it was when I was walking to the bus stop it was when I was walking from the bus stop to the studio I got some some people calling my you know calling for me or whatever but um but the bus you know but when I'm on the bus I'm not as worried about our you know an extensively terrible DWI rates that I know I've seen New Mexico InFocus cover a lot about and we're not worried about pedestrian fatalities I'm safest on the bus and so it was a little bit hurtful to hear people you know the narrative being like Oh the buses are so unsafe it's like no that's the safest place for me um so it's uh yeah it was definitely very interesting to hear that because that's that's where I feel safest when I'm on the go in the city yeah well thank you both so much for being here for your work on this yeah thank you so much for having us and we're excited because we want um you know one of the questions we we had a Transit Equity day recently right Rosa Parks birthday we celebrated at the Alvarado Transit Center and people asked what can we do to support zero Affairs and we this is get on the bus right get on the bus and show and and let people know that actually it is right counter narrative it is safer than we think it is um and the more people we have on the bus the safer we all are so please take the bus the next time you have that option to wherever you're going here in Albuquerque you don't have to worry about parking an Old Town or downtown right like you can just they have Great Park and rides too so even if your house itself isn't very Transit accessible there's ways you can get to the bus um and then not have to worry about you know the messes of parking and those more congested areas in town and then that makes those parts of towns more enjoyable for all of us and for those that ride the bus already together for brothers in the Albuquerque bus writers Union wants you to get involved in the community we need our most impacted communities saying what they want and need so get your voice heard awesome thank you thank you