Originally marketed at a price of $122 million and as possibly being “high-speed,” the Rail Runner shuttles (mostly) tourists and government employees from downtown Albuquerque to Santa Fe and from Albuquerque south to the bedroom community of Belen. 

Only recently have New Mexico taxpayers been made aware of the full scale of spending that this project entails. The issue has exploded onto the pages of the Albuquerque Journal and other papers. According to newspaper reports, the train will cost a total of $1.3 billion over the next 20 years.

(Albuquerque) The Rio Grande Foundation has long been critical of the Rail Runner and its finances. A new report from the Foundation outlines the top “Ten Reasons to Shut the Rail Runner Down Now.” The report is available here.

Originally marketed at a price of $122 million and as possibly being “high-speed,” the Rail Runner shuttles (mostly) tourists and government employees from downtown Albuquerque to Santa Fe and from Albuquerque south to the bedroom community of Belen.

Regardless of whether you think the Rail Runner is worth the money or not, there is no doubt that the process that created the train is rotten to the core. For starters, the train has been operational for five years, but only recently have the system’s true finances been explained in any detail.

(Albuquerque) In August of 2010, the Gail Ryba bike bridge over the Rio Grande at I-40 was opened. The project, which was funded with federal stimulus money, cost approximately $5 million to construct. And, while the fight continues over the ultimate economic impact of the federal stimulus package, we at the Rio Grande Foundation wanted to better understand the impact of the new bike bridge on local commuting habits.

At the dedication ceremony last August, West Side Councilor Dan Lewis called the bridge “another bridge crossing over the Rio Grande” and, while the statement is certainly accurate on its face, we wanted to see how many people are using the bridge and how many of those people are actually commuting to work.

To do this, two Rio Grande Foundation employees stood on the bridge, counting people and filming the scene from the bridge during a recent morning rush hour (from 7:40am to 8:30am). Video of the rush hour (which we have sped up, set to music, and uploaded to Youtube) clearly shows traffic on the Interstate Highway passing by at a rapid rate with only occasional bike or walking traffic on the bridge.

(Albuquerque) Over the past few decades, drunk driving has been one of the most pressing problems facing New Mexicans. Laws have been passed on an almost yearly basis in efforts of reducing the incidence of drunk driving and drunk driving fatalities and some progress has been made.

In fact, drunk driving fatalities in New Mexico generally decreased from 2005 to 2009, but the cause of this decline is poorly understood. It may be due to a statewide emphasis on policy modifications and media campaigns, more responsible attitudes about driving drunk nationwide or just plain luck.

The Rio Grande Foundation, in order to bring an economist’s perspective and economic thinking to bear in the discussion, decided to take a closer look at one particularly intrusive and expensive mechanism for reducing drunk driving, interlock devices. The full report is available here. 

There was a lot going on last week when transportation expert Randal O'Toole spoke at a Rio Grande Foundation event in Albuquerque on May 6th. If you did not get to come out to hear what O'Toole had to say, here is the next best thing – O'Toole's presentation is online at Youtube below:

Gov. Bill Richardson has been touring New Mexico touting the "success" of the taxpayer-financed Rail Runner commuter train. Recently, he has promoted the idea of transforming the train from a regional, commuter rail system operating between Santa Fe and the southern suburbs of Albuquerque to one that bisects the state traveling through Las Cruces on to El Paso and keeps going far beyond Santa Fe all the way to Denver.

The Rail Runner’s losses are mounting and its relatively low ridership makes it an incredibly inefficient mass transit system. Information obtained by the Rio Grande Foundation through a public records request shows the Rail Runner is proving to be the grossly expensive, low benefit waste of money critics predicted.

The Rio Grande Foundation recently published a study explaining why President Obama's plans for "high speed rail" would leave New Mexico taxpayers paying the bills for a system from which they will not benefit. In response to this study and a press conference being held by Governor Richardson and Sen. Udall, Channel 4 interviewed Gessing for this story in which I got to outline the many drawbacks of the proposal.