ABQ RIDE Forward Network Plan

ABQ RIDE partnered with a world-renowned consultancy to design a once-in-a-generation network to update current bus routes to meet the evolving needs of the transit community

The ABQ RIDE Forward Network Plan is an initiative that began in 2022 to review the purpose and performance of Albuquerque’s bus network and plan for improvements to the network. The Plan identifies goals and purposes of the City’s investment in public transit and has established where bus routes will go, at what times they’ll run, and how frequently.

In 2024 ABQ RIDE proposed a “Recovery Network” to the public with the support of Jarrett Walker + Associates, Toole Design, Bernalillo County, and Rio Metro Regional Transit District. Following thousands of surveys and intensive community outreach, ABQ RIDE finalized its new bus route network plan.

With the last approval received in June 2025, the final network is ready to start a phased implementation as ABQ RIDE is able to add staffing over the next several years. The new network will make getting around Albuquerque easier all day, every day of the week. It features buses coming more often on the busiest routes (shorter waits for riders) and more evening and weekend service. Almost all routes will run as often on weekends as they do on weekdays.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the development of the ABQ RIDE Forward Network Plan.

In this map, red routes come every 15 minutes or less, pink routes every 20 minutes, dark blue routes every 30 minutes, and light blue routes every 60 minutes. The grey areas are demand-response zones. (To see where we’re starting from, here’s a map of the 2024 service.)

Background Information

During the planning process, the study considered how best to meet the evolving transit needs in Albuquerque and make the most efficient use of existing resources. “This is a chance to step back from our current system and ensure that transit services reflect the values and priorities of the community,” said Transit Director Leslie Keener as the project began in 2022. In the first two phases of the project, ABQ RIDE got feedback from the community on how they think transit service should balance running routes that are ridden by the greatest number of people (ridership) versus running routes that cover the greatest geographic area (coverage), illustrated by the examples below.

Study Considerations:

What is possible within the limited budget for service?
What is the relative importance of:
- High frequencies
- Long hours / days of service (span)
- Short walks to service
- Covering places where people have severe need for transit
- Covering newly-developed areas
How do land use and development affect transit's usefulness?
What other factors affect transit's success?

Maximum Ridership Goal

This diagram illustrates a transit network focused on serving the maximum number of riders by focusing routes on highly trafficked corridors.

Maximum Coverage Goal

This diagram illustrates a transit network that is focused on serving the larger geographical area with bus routes on all streets across a community.

These examples have the same number of people (dots) and buses but different service goals and ridership results.

In the first phase, ABQ RIDE asked for feedback about these priorities in general, and in the second phase ABQ RIDE asked for feedback based on two actual concepts of potential route network in Albuquerque. One concept showed how routes could be structured to maximize ridership; the other showed routes that could maximize coverage. Feedback in general favored the “ridership” concept, but feedback on the actual concepts was evenly split.

In the third phase in 2024, ABQ RIDE proposed a “recovery network” (recovering from staffing shortages) that attempted to find a balance in the middle between these two broad goals. Public feedback to the proposal was very positive. Almost 80% of over 700 people who responded to a survey said the new network would be better for the city overall. After considering many detailed comments, ABQ RIDE made several changes to the network before finalizing it in the spring of 2025.