Staff Report
UNM students have been able to ride city buses for free since August, and now CNM students can do the same.
The program extended to include CNM students after Mayor Martin Chavez met with the community college's president, Kathie Winograd, said Greg Payne, director of transit for ABQRide.
"We had a lot of folks at CNM who were interested in participating in the program," he said.
The programs are similar. UNM and CNM students get a sticker to put on their student IDs, and they can ride any city bus for free.
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The program for UNM students began after Rep. Gail Chasey, who represents the University area, got a $35,000 appropriation from the Legislature.
Payne said the program for CNM students is funded by an agreement between the city and CNM in which they'll split the cost, about $15,000.
"At this point, we've only handed out about 800 bus stickers for CNM students," he said. "Although, the enrollment numbers are different at UNM
and CNM."
Winograd said her students appreciate the free buses.
"We have a number of students who actually have been buying bus passes from the college for years," she said. "We serve a number of students who really need bus passes in order to have transportation."
The program is beneficial to CNM and the city, Winograd said.
"It's better for the environment," she said. "It's a really good idea to support transportation that is not based on everyone driving separately and needing parking spaces and using gas and all those other things."
CNM student Shaun Kurley said it was unfair CNM students didn't get the same benefits as those from UNM.
"It was kind of annoying because we weren't recognized as students the way they were," he said. "It made us feel like we didn't matter."
CNM student Diane Wilson said she's a single parent and needs all the help she can get.
"We use it just as much, and I go from Tennessee Street to here twice a day," she said. "I got a sticker, but why did it take
so long?"
