A regular reader sent me a note telling me that Sun Metro’s contractors are hard at work lowering the height of the curbs at some of the BRIO stations. Evidently the rumor from the other day was true and some of the curbs were too high for the buses.
I sent an inquiry to the mayor’s office asking when we can expect our new rapid transit system (BRIO) to start operating.
Within hours I got a response from Sun Metro.
Soon
Sun Metro’s response is that they expect to start Monday, October 27, 2014.
We should expect Sun Metro to discontinue some of the existing routes. Route 18 was express service between downtown and the west side transfer station. An alert reader pointed out a few days ago that route 18 is no longer on Sun Metro’s web page.
This first portion of the rapid transit system is expensive and has been quite disruptive.
At this point we should hope that it is successful.
Brutus
elpasospeak 
Sun Metro needed to eliminate Route 18 to force passengers to take BRIO. Route 18 was the true express service from the west side to downtown.
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Very good observation. I’m betting that they will re-institute Route 18 when the baseball season starts next year.
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Sun Metro has just published the new schedules. Evidently route 18 will stay and so will route 15. They are killing route 204.
This link should take you to the new schedules:
http://www.sunmetro.net/service_improvement.html#rt15
Brio service will be every 10 minutes Monday through Friday, 6-9AM and 3-6PM, and every 15 minutes 9AM to 3PM. Saturday service will be every 20 minutes 9AM-6PM. No Sunday service.
Brutus
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What puzzles me is that I have never – ever – seen any regular size bus in El Paso that was full. So, has Sun Metro discovered a new population of El Pasoans eager to ride a bus, but they have just been hanging back waiting for bigger buses? A new passenger stream, as it were?
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City management thinks Brio is the Wheels of Dreams. If we build it they will come. They might still decide to offer live mariachi bands and cold beer on the buses to increase usage.
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One of Ms. Shang’s triumphs.
When they start working on Montana I think I’ll take a year off and move somewhere else.
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lowering concrete curbs is expensive. lookin into the costs as i type. again, no media says shit. thanks brutus beefcake!
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