Red Apple Transit – City of Farmington
Why support public transit in New Mexico?
Public transit provides access for the general public, disabled and senior citizens to get to and from jobs and job training; emergency, medical prenatal and behavioral health care and veteran services; educational facilities; entertainment, shopping, community, senior, parks and recreational facilities.
As public transportation continues to grow, New Mexico’s 28 transit agencies provide fixed-route, dial-a-ride, demand response, intercommunity routes and paratransit that gives people more mobility options with low or zero emission transit vehicles to reduce carbon emissions to improve New Mexico’s air quality.
In the attached backgrounders, the transit agencies tell their stories about how their services assist the communities they serve, how they have expended federal grant funding and where they could invest additional state match transit funding if it was available.
What is your agency’s service area?
Red Apple services San Juan County with five fixed routes operating in Farmington and one in each of the following cities, Aztec, Bloomfield and Kirtland.
What transportation modes does your agency provide?
We run 8 fixed routes as well as a complementary paratransit service.
How many buses, vans and other vehicles do you operate?
Our Vehicles of Maximum Services (VOMS) is 10 and our fleet has 16 vehicles total.
Key priorities for making services route decisions?
Our routes were established after completing and evaluating a comprehensive route study.
How has your agency applied its federal funding?
We have applied federal funding to subsidize our operational expenses in an effort to keep fare rates as low as possible. We utilize federal STIC funds in the purchase of new vehicles, maintaining our security camera systems, cleaning contracts, driver's wages and management, printed materials, vehicle maintenance and fuel, and any other need that may present itself while simultaneously working to prevent any potential overspending.
How would your agency apply additional state transit funding?
Additional funding could be used to explore the implementation of new technologies namely, fare processing software and card readers, telematics and microtransit routing software. We would also benefit from investments in our maintenance facility.
What ways does your agency assist your community during community events or emergency assistance?
Red Apple has a plan for emergency assistance, though we have never had reason to enact it, where we would coordinate directly with law enforcement to assist the community to the best of our ability. Our agency provides a chartering service for special events throughout the year including, Riverfest, Veterans Stand Down, San Juan College's Luminaria display and a Historic Aviation Tour at our local airport.