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SCRTD details service redesign and real-time app as ridership rebounds; highlights solar microgrid project
Summary
At its July 22 meeting, the South Central Regional Transit District reported strong ridership growth, unveiled route changes and a real-time passenger app, and shared a submitted APTA video highlighting a solar microgrid at the agency's Southern Park facility.
At its July 22 meeting, the South Central Regional Transit District heard an executive director report outlining route changes, technology upgrades and rising ridership as the agency prepares for the fall service season.
The most immediate operational change will remake parts of the Green and Magenta routes to improve connections at Dona Ana Community (DAC) College and New Mexico State University while adding a late-afternoon trip serving Hatch. “It gives a trip that will go out after 4:00, get people back into Hatch, and then bring another trip back after 5:00,” Executive Director David Armijo told the board, saying the change should better serve workers and students with late schedules.
Armijo also described growth on the Blue Route, which now includes added stops and a Friday–Saturday weekend run, and said the district will use recent schedule savings to add trips and reduce duplicative coverage. Board members said constituents noticed reductions in weekend service this summer and welcomed plans to restore or rework weekend runs in the fall.
The agency has adopted Passio (Pasio) Go to provide real-time GTFS/GPS data to riders and staff. Armijo said the system will feed live locations and estimated arrival times into the district’s app and website, allowing riders to time waits more precisely and improving connections between routes. “With Passio we’re actually getting real time information on the bus,” Armijo said.
Ridership data presented to the board showed growth: through June the district was “already approaching 167,000 trips,” and staff said July estimates put cumulative trips near 180,000 year-to-date, a substantial increase from the previous year. Armijo said the district has seen roughly a 45% year-over-year gain in recent months.
Staff also showed a short video submitted to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) for innovation awards that highlights the Southern Park Mobility and Energy Hub — a solar-powered microgrid at an SCRTD facility. The video states the hub uses 408 solar panels feeding storage units (stated in the submission as 88 battery units) with a combined storage capacity of about 442 kilowatt-hours so the district can charge zero-emission buses and continue operations during grid outages.
The board welcomed the presentation and recognized three summer interns who work in HR and operations; grants and procurement work were discussed later on the agenda.
What happens next: several service changes are scheduled for the fall semester, staff will continue to tune Passio integrations, and the district expects to publicize the microgrid project and its APTA submission if selected for an award.
(Reporting note: quotes and numerical details above reflect statements made aloud during the SCRTD board meeting on July 22, 2026; where transcript phrasing was unclear, the article uses the nearest clear figures presented to the board.)
