Blue Bus expects to restore routes limited by onset of COVID-19

A North Central Regional Transit District bus shown in downtown Santa Fe. (NCRTD courtesy photo)

BY: AUSTIN FISHER - MAY 5, 2025
Courtesy of Source NM

Over the next year, Northern New Mexico’s bus system anticipates restarting routes that were suspended or curtailed at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, fears of a national recession are driving uncertainty about how much the so-called Blue Bus will receive from both local governments and Washington.
The North Central Regional Transit District Board of Directors on Friday approved a preliminary $53 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year, a nearly 7% decrease from the previous year’s budget. The board will meet again in June to formally vote on the budget, which staff will then submit to the state Department of Finance and Administration.

The district projects the number of riders on its 26 fixed routes to increase compared to last year, when more than 565,000 people took the bus, a marked decline from the 2018-2019 fiscal year pre-pandemic numbers of more than 814,000 rides.

In his budget message to the board, Executive Director Anthony Mortillaro wrote that the district suspended some routes or limited them to on-demand service in response to the pandemic’s outset, but most have returned, and the rest will in the coming year as they hire more staff.

The district’s service area encompasses 74 communities across 10,0000 square miles where nearly 290,000 people live. NCRTD employs approximately 100 people, and the budget pays for two additional bus drivers.

At its Friday meeting in Española, Mortillaro told the board that the district’s future projections remain uncertain because of federal actions. Nearly 50% of the district’s income comes from the federal government.

“There’s an increasing concern about the odds of a national recession due to the tariffs and high interest rates, and all that could impact tax revenues as well as future grant levels,” he said.

Most Blue Bus routes run in Santa Fe, Rio Arriba, Taos and Los Alamos counties, with some connecting to eight Northern Pueblos, the Jicarilla Apache Nation and the counties of San Juan, Mora and San Miguel.

While the area is experiencing a “leveling economic recovery based upon reported tax revenues,” Mortilarro wrote, a recession could lower those tax revenues and how much grant money the federal government will provide.

Los Alamos County, the City of Santa Fe and the Rio Metro Regional Transit District, which operates the Rail Runner, receive more than $7 million from the Blue Bus’s budget, which they use to fund regional transit in those areas, Mortillaro wrote.
The budget also includes $9.5 million for electrical charging infrastructure in Española and Taos, and three diesel hybrid electric buses. Tariffs can add between 5% and 10% to the price of an electric bus, Mortillaro said.
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This story was updated following publication to correct information about Blue Bus funding. Source regrets the error.