Gallup, Navajo bus systems plan improvements

Waiting for the bus will soon be more comfortable as the Navajo Transit System and Gallup Express are partnering to provide covered benches at bus stops in the Gallup area.

Matthew Ortiz, director of Gallup Express, said two covered benches have already been established for patrons of the two bus lines - one at the Gallup Walkway on Aztec Avenue and the other across from the Gallup Indian Medical center.

The benches are designed to seat three people comfortably and have a small overhang that provides some protection from the weather.

"I have seen, however, six or seven people squeezed onto the bench at times," Ortiz said.

Albert Johnson, a program supervisor for Navajo Transit, said his agency hopes to install 10 stations in the next year, one at each NTS stop in Gallup. They will be built as money and supplies become available, and others are planned at other stops in the Navajo bus system.

There are also plans being discussed to install more elaborate structures at points where many riders gather to wait for buses.

Johnson said Navajo Transit will have to acquire land in the major reservation communities for these transfer stations and that may take some time.

Ortiz said Gallup Express will have at least one more bus stop in cooperation with Navajo Transit but the exact location is still uncertain. He said he would like to see one at Wal-Mart but he didn't know if that was possible because of the corporation's policies.

Gallup Express currently has two routes in Gallup, stopping at GIMC, social service offices, the veterans' clinic and other places that its primarily Navajo customers need to visit on a regular basis.

The Gallup bus line is looking to fine tune its service schedule to reduce the waiting time for customers who have to transfer to a Navajo Transit bus to get back to Window Rock or Shiprock.

Ortiz said there are also plans to add a third route that would make hourly stops at Fire Rock Navajo Casino.

"We are now working out the details for that with officials at the casino," said Ortiz, adding that he hopes that the casino will help with the cost to set up the route, which may up and running by June.

"We already have the bus for the route," he said. "That's not the hang up - it's training the drivers."

The new route would include stops at the senior citizens centers, hospitals, clinics and social service offices, as well as the University of New Mexico - Gallup campus.

The buses will only run on weekdays, he said, since Gallup Express, which last year saw a record 40,000 riders use the buses, doesn't have the funds to provide bus service on weekends.

Because of increased ridership and the availability of some state and federal grants, officials at Gallup Express considered expanding to provide weekend service but when it came to adding a third weekday route or expanding existing service to include weekends, the new route won out.

Bob Winter, CEO of the Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise, said he was happy to see plans being made to bring more people to the casino.

The casino has been providing a shuttle service to Gallup since it opened in November 2008, but its buses only serve motel and hotel guests and truckers. It does not pick up people at city bus stops.

Sky City and other casinos in the area used to provide free bus service between Gallup and their casinos, but once Fire Rock opened up, ridership decreased drastically and the other casinos finally stopped running shuttles to Gallup.

Back to top ^