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Last week I spent four days in Albuquerque.  Whilst I was there I rode the New Mexico Rail Runner Express (RRE) from Albuquerque to Santa Fe and back, as well as from Albuquerque to Belen and back.  It is an efficient and effective operation.  The equipment is fairly standard.  The locomotives are Motive Power 36PH-3C's, and the bi-level cars are from Bombardier.  The interior of the cars are bright and cheerful.  The seats are covered with a bright red and yellow fabric that helps give them a Southwest ambiance.  The ceilings appear to be a brushed gray, which complements the red and yellow seats.  One drawback is the seating arrangements.  They face each other.  If a long legged person is sitting opposite a passenger, which happens frequently on the most heavily patronized trains, his knees are likely to bump or intertwine with the other person's.  This makes for an uncomfortable ride. Passengers must buy their tickets on-line (discounted) or on the train.  RRE does not have any ticket machines or ticket offices.  Each train has two ticket agents who are easily identified by their yellow vests.  They accept cash or credit cards except American Express.  They record the purchase transaction and give the passenger a receipt, which serves as a ticket.  RRE appears to have saved money by avoiding the cost of buying and servicing ticket machines.            The trains are operated in a push mode northbound and a pull mode southbound.  This means that the road runner, which is painted on the sides of the locomotives and cars, is running backwards half the time.  On the northbound train one can get an engineer's view of the track by sitting in the first seat on the left hand side of the cab car.  It is not exactly an engineer's view, since he or she sits on the right hand side of the car, but it is the next best thing.    In Santa Fe the RRE trains use the Santa Fe Depot.  It is about a half mile walk from there to the city square, which is dotted with a variety of tourist attractions.  In Albuquerque the trains use the north end of a platform that serves the RRE and Amtrak, which by the way is a good spot to watch the arrival and departure of Amtrak trains 3 and 4.  The Alvarado Transportation Center is located next to the railroad platforms, which make transfers to and from ABQ Ride buses convenient. ABQ Ride has two Rapid Bus Technology (RBT) routes.  I used the 766 route to get to the University of New Mexico and Uptown, which is a shopping and entertainment district.  The buses are frequent, quick, and comfortable.  They demonstrated that RBT is clearly the best public transport fit in many locations.
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