RailRunner ridership remains pathetic, Sen. Soules calls for “high speed” rail from Chihuahua to Denver

The Albuquerque Journal beat us to the punch with an article detailing the latest ridership numbers (and a few potential scheduling changes).

See the latest info below left. Of course ridership WOULD be up because the train was shut down for much of 2021 due to COVID. So, while the train has been open for all of the last calendar year (June 2021 through June 2022) ridership is only 319,635. That compares with 1,240,518 riders in 2010 when the train was shiny and new.

Gov. MLG took it upon herself (after the Legislature rejected it) to cut fares to $2.50 for an entire day of riding, but don’t look for the Rail Runner’s ridership numbers to improve anytime soon.

But, abject failure is hardly enough to deter left-wing legislators like Sen. Bill Soules of Las Cruces who says he plans to reintroduce legislation (see tweet below) in the upcoming session that would create a “high speed” rail route from Chihuahua to Denver.