ART Hardly Seems "World-Class."
Mayor Richard Berry has told the world repeatedly that his $126 million Albuquerque Rapid Transit bus route is a “world-class” project.
With ART nearing completion, you can judge for yourself by reading the 1514 Silver.com blog by ART opponent Donald Clayton.
The log is full of pictures of a single ART bus – a prototype – that has been delivered to the city so far, and of the nine-foot-wide ART platforms.
When I look at the ART platforms in the middle of Central Avenue, I can only think that they're puny, look cheap and are anything but world-class.
When other cities do things – New York, Chicago, Phoenix, Denver – they do them in a big and magnificent way. ART isn't big or magnificent; it's puny.
And remember, the Federal Transit Administration still hasn't approved the project for funding. That's right, the FTA still hasn't approved the project even though it's nearly complete. That means the next mayor could be left trying to fill a $69 million budget hole.
Also remember that bus ridership in Albuquerque is down 25 percent in the past five years.
Clayton spent a lot of time going up and down the ART route taking pictures and talking to bus drivers and others about the project's status. His impressions about the project:
“It's absolutely terrible; it's absolutely not world-class.”
Don's blog is a great read and a great ART update. So please check it out at 1514
