Leading with Compassion at ABQ RIDE with Bobby Sisneros

I did everything I could to tell everyone in Albuquerque, New Mexico about this great bus system and to use it as often as they can so that nobody has to borrow gas money to get to work.

Stop Requested. This is Stop Requested. by ETA Transit. I’m Christian. And I’m Levi. These are real conversations with the innovators, operators, and advocates driving improvements in public transportation. Today, we’re continuing our series on ABQ Ride, looking at how leadership, safety, and day-to-day operations come together to shape the rider experience.

Our guest is Bobby Cisneros, deputy director at ABQ Ride, where he oversees planning, IT, marketing, safety and security, and communications. We’ talk about his path into transit, how his experience. across different city departments shaped his approach, and why he focuses on both the condition of the system and the people using it. Here’s our conversation with Bobby

Cisneros. Welcome back to Stop Requested. We have a great episode today. Uh, we have Mr. Bobby Cisneros, who is the deputy director moving forward ABQ

Ride, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Uh, Bobby has a reputation of being a hands-on transit, leader in Albuquerque, overseeing ABQ Ride’s bus network, uh, recent expansion, safety focus, and tech upgrades with all the growth in, uh, New Mexico’s largest city. How you doing, uh, today, Bobby? I’m doing great. Thanks for having me on. And thank you for being with us. Welcome to Stop Requested.

Bobby, for those who don’t know ABQ Ride or your work, uh, and what you do at ABQ Ride, how do you describe, uh, your position as a leader, deputy director for Albuquerque’s transit scene? Yeah. Um, so when I first meet people and they ask what I do for a living,

I, I let them know that I move people from point A to point B, and we try to do it in an efficient and safe manner. Um,

I… Here’ at ABQ Ride, I oversee, uh, five separate divisions, uh, the planning division,

IT, marketing, safety and security, and our, uh, PIO. Um, and using those separate divisions, uh, we try to communicate to folks, uh, the importance to using public transportation and why it’s, uh, so important that we do it in a safe, clean manner.

So thanks for giving that, uh, rundown of what you do, Bobby. Uh, you know, I think it’s always interesting to find out the backstory behind individuals that are in transit because it’s oftentimes not very linear, and we, we find out some interesting things about a person when we kinda dig into how they got into the industry. Uh, could you explain that for us? Yeah, definitely. So my journey at the City of Albuquerque’s ABQ Ride Transit Department began, uh, a little more than 18 years ago. Uh, prior to coming to the city, I used to own a marketing ad agency.

And just before the, the crash in 2008, I believe it was, uh, we now refer to it as the Great Recession.

Uh, prior to that crash, my business was… It was… It had stalled. It… No matter what I did, I couldn’t, I couldn’t get it to, to come back to life. And I received a phone call from, uh, an individual here at ABQ Ride. He was the marketing manager at the time, and he told me that they needed a graphic artist.

I was desperate for work. Uh, my wife stayed home, and I had three small children at home, so we took the job. Uh, it meant essentially shutting our business down, but we decided that, that, you know, this was what, what we needed to do, and this was the direction that life was pushing us in. So we did that. So I took the job. Uh, but interesting enough, my first day. at work, uh, the individual that called me, his name was Jay. Jay gave me the tour around the facility, introduced me to folks, and then when he ended, uh, the tour, we were in customer service.

They took my photo. Uh, we use this employee badge to identify ourselves. And so he took my photo for this badge, and when he handed me this badge, he tells me, “You can ride the bus for free with this badge.” And that struck me because to get to work that day, I had borrowed gas money to come to work. And that stuck out with me because

I felt, I felt kind of sheepish, uh, because why didn’t I think to use the bus to get to work? So I made it my, my mission at that point to make sure that I did everything I could to tell everyone in Albuquerque, New Mexico. about this great bus system and to use it as often as they can so that nobody has to borrow gas money to get to work. Um, and that, that kind of began my journey here at the City of

Albuquerque. From there, I moved up… I stayed here, uh, about almost four or five years. I was their graphic artist, moved up to their marketing specialist. Then I moved over to a department called the Solid Waste Department. We were starting a recycling, uh, program here in Albuquerque, and they were starting a marketing department, so I moved over there to help them with that project. And while I was there, I learned the importance to beautifying, uh, the environment and keeping your safe, uh, your areas clean and how that leads to safety. Um, I lear- I ran a program there called Keep

Albuquerque, Beautiful. Uh, and in that, during that, my time at. Solid Waste, I learned about the broken window theory. Um, and I’ve,

I’ve kinda have kept that at the forefront of my work, as I moved on. And I was there for about another five or six years, I guess. And then I moved over to a department called the Department of

Family Community Services. And at that point, uh, you know, I w- I was ready to s- get back to kind of, like, more of the executive style work that I was used to before I came to the city as being a business owner. And at Family and Community Services, I worked with the various divisions within that department. That department, uh, was responsible for our youth and family services, uh, so, like, out of school time, uh, activities for children, so before and after school programmingEarly childhood development.

Uh, we also dealt with the unhoused, uh, population, providing shelter for the homeless population, uh, providing services in the form of behavioral health services, substance abuse, um, working with individuals in the areas of mental health, uh, domestic violence, things of that nature. Um, and then from there, uh, Mayor Keller asked me if I’d be, willing to come back to Transit as a deputy director to do work here.

So I did. I rejoined, uh, the Transit Department in January of twenty twenty-two, and it, it’s kind of funny because three– after being here for three weeks, I was sitting in my office, and as most people do when you take a new job, I asked myself, you know, “Self, did you make the right decision coming back here?”

And just at that moment, my, uh, boss at the time pops her head in, and out of frustration, she asked me, you know, “I don’t understand why people have to endlessly ride.”

And without even realizing it, I opened my mouth, and out came, uh, the following statement. I said, “Well, if they’re… If it’s a lady, she might be avoiding her, her pimp or her, uh, her abuser. If it’s a m-male, he might be trying to avoid his drug dealer because he owes a debt. Um, if it’s cold, they’re, they might be trying to, to stay warm.”

Um, and she just looked at me with shock and walked out of my office. And at that moment, I knew that I was in the right place, and I was here to try to make a difference, uh, for the folks that use our system. We had just kicked off Zero Fares, and I had decided that I was in the right place, and since that day, I’ve been trying to use my experience from around the city and before, uh, my work for the city to try to make this place a little bit better for everyone. That’s kinda my backstory. Wow, that’s extremely powerful. And there, uh, you know, there’s so many examples that you gave there that I, I want to kinda pull the thread on just to, to learn more.

Uh, o-one, one area I wanna go down, though, is, uh, you know, working in these other departments that are tangential to transit, I’m, I’m sure that you’ve picked up some lesson or, uh, you know, maybe, maybe there was a turning point, you know, some, uh, some particular nugget that you hold onto and you’re like, “Wow, I can apply that to my thinking about public transit.”

Uh, do you have one of those? Yeah. It’s, uh, the broken window theory. Everyone here at ABQ RIDE is probably tired of hearing me talk about the broken window theory, um, but I constantly remind everyone about the broken window theory. If you’re not familiar with the broken window theory or your listeners are not familiar with it, you can go and Google it.

It’s a short paper, um, and it’s free. You can find it online. And the broken window theory basically states that if there’s an abandoned building, and someone comes by and throws a rock through a window, and if nobody replaces that window in a timely manner, then it’s gonna send a message to the next person that it’s okay to break the windows in this b-building.

So then they’ll start throwing rocks to the next windows, and then before you know it, you know, weeds grow up around that facility. People might start to graffiti it. And if nobody takes care of it, then it just sends this message to that community that nobody cares. Nobody’s paying attention. And before you know it, the potential for unwelcome activity begins to take place. So when I started at Transit,

I drove around, and I noticed, uh, granted, we had just come out of the pandemic, but I noticed that a lot of our shelters had been, uh, unkept. There was a lot of graffiti on them. They needed to be painted. Uh, we have advertising panels with plexiglass in them, and the sun here in Albuquerque, it’s, it’s brutal. It, it just really does a number on plexiglass. So you couldn’t really see through this plexiglass. It just looked horrible. So we put together a, uh, a maintenance schedule to keep up with all of our shelters. Um, our art platforms needed to be repainted. Uh, we just came through and did a, a, a, a beautification project throughout the system.

We looked at our buses themselves. Uh, the… They were dirty. And when I started asking questions why they were dirty, I learned that the bus wash had been not in its best condition.

So we, uh, put an RFP out to get the bus wash fixed. Um, uh, that was a lengthy process. I’m happy to announce that we just got that bus wash up and running last week. It’s been fully restored, and the buses are looking great.

Um, we decided to, to tackle the, the vehicle wraps on our buses, um, and make sure that they always look their best, and it’s just putting your best foot forward.

And, you know, that was… I think that’s probably the biggest lesson from my previous work that I brought to the department. And, you know, realtors have an old phrase that they use, you know, it’s all about curb appeal, and that’s kinda the message that we send to the public when we keep our, our buses looking clean and our shelters looking clean. You know, we send this message, um, that we do care about our system. We take pride in it, and, and it also sends this message that it’s safe at, at the same time. Yeah. The, the looks of it really does matter.

Uh, and I, I think you re-raise an important point there that if it’s not an approachable service, people are not going to want to use it, uh- Yes … no matter how frequent it is. So, uh, yeah, it sounds like y-you all are on the right track there for sure.

Uh, out of all of those endeavors, all the activities that you’ve undertaken during your couple stints at Albuquerque, um, or ABQ RIDE, what would you say you’re most proud of? I’m most proud of creating a safety division that uses compassion to address individuals.

Um, my work at Family and Community taught me that just because you have an officer doesn’t always equate safe reaction. Sometimes introducing an officer to a situation can escalate a situation rather than deescalate a situation. Um-I,

I, I’m a big believer that each of us, we wake up each day with our own experiences, our own, our own, uh, our own trials that we’re, we’re dealing with, and we need to, we need to recognize that. So with my staff, I understand that, that they each have their, their own lives that they’re living, and their own trials that they may be going through, and that’s no different for our passengers, right?

And sometimes our passengers may be behaving badly because they’re, they need help. They don’t know how to ask for that help. They don’t know how to… They don’t, they don’t even– they might not even know that that help is there. So when we decided to create a, a transit safety officer program, uh, we really, really emphasized the compassionate portion first, and we worked with our police department, the Albuquerque Police Department, to create this transit safety officer program. And when I, when I, shared my, my vision and my model for this program, they, they really looked at me and said, “You’re crazy. This– There’s no way this is gonna work.” But after doing this now for three years now, um, they’ve come back to me, and they told me, “I can’t believe that this, this approach has actually worked. It’s made a difference.”

And it does. I mean, we’re able to meet people where they’re at. We’re able to, uh, provide them with information for resources. A lot of times when they’re on our bus, you know, we train our drivers to let them know, “Hey, you know, the next stop, there’s a community center. You can get off there, and they have water, they have computers, so you can jump on and, and, uh, check your emails or apply for jobs or whatever it is you may need.” And, and it’s just really about connecting the community with the resources that the city of Albuquerque has, and that’s our job as transit, is to get people where they need to be so that they can become, uh, productive members of our society.

And, and that compassionate approach has really, really helped. That’s really amazing. There are two things that stick out to me there, Bobby, and it’s one, how holistic you’re thinking about your service, and it’s, it’s not…

I, I know you put it earlier as moving people from point A to point B, and it absolutely is. But, uh, the, the last part of what you said there was, um, making sure that folks are productive members of society and giving them the opportunity to do so. Uh, so that, that holistic thinking,

I think, is quite a bit different than what, you know, a lot of transit agencies are doing right now. And for our listeners, I think that that’s pretty valuable.

Uh, but it– in addition to being holistic, you’re also being empathetic, and w-we could all use some more empathy in our lives y-you know, from others and for ourselves. So I, I really just wanna point that out. It, it’s different what you all are doing.

Um, if, if you had to give a piece of advice to someone that’s just starting out in transit operations, um, or, or maybe transit generally, uh, what would it be? Don’t forget the people. I had a boss when I first started here. He would always… Any–

Again, I started in the marketing department, and so any kind of promotion we did or when we were trying to communicate service to, to the public, this boss would always tell us, “Don’t forget the little old lady in tennis shoes.” And what he meant by that was, is don’t forget to include everyone in your thinking, in your process. And, and I try to do that all the time, right? I,

I… We all want those choice riders, and we all wanna make sure that we’re providing the best clean service, uh, for our passengers.

But sometimes, you know, with this new ABQ Ride, Forward that we’re introducing, we really had to stop and think about all of our, passengers.

Prior to, prior to the pandemic, we had, uh, commuter routes, you know, getting folks, to their traditional nine-to-five, Monday through Friday jobs, and our evening, evening service and weekend service kind of lacked. And with this ABQ Forward, we had to stop and take a, a good hard look at our service and, and admit to ourselves that it’ wasn’t, it wasn’t meeting the demand of the public. And so that’s, that’s kinda where our new program, our new, uh, service is headed. We have more frequent service.

It, it runs later into the evenings to get those folks that work more of those retail jobs. And, you know, they’re, they might, they may be, uh, servers at, uh, restaurants and places of that nature. Um, and then into the weekends as well with more, uh, frequent service, uh, ’cause folks need to get to work.

And gone are the days where folks, uh, just rely on that nine-to-five. You know, those work schedules are all over the place. So I think that’s my biggest advice to folks that are starting out is don’t forget your passenger. Don’t forget the people that… I mean, that’s why we’re in business. This episode is brought to you by. ETA Transit. Too many agencies are still operating critical transit systems on legacy software that is costly to maintain and difficult to evolve. ETA Transit offers a clean break.

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Modern CAD/AVL without the baggage. Visit etatransit.com. Yeah, so a-and, and I really like that. O-one of my mentors, um, that I had in my transit career used to say that. He used to say, “If you’re in public transit, particularly in this business, you cannot just like people.” You have to love people.

Y-y-you know, it, and it’s all the people that we’re serving in the community, right? Like to, to your point, and, and it’s– and everything that you’re doing i-i-you know, with, uh, Albuquerque Ride is for them. It’s to actually to connect them. An-an-and then also the impact that it has for the local economy, right? All those people are customers in different places. It’s, it’s interesting where we’re learning of sometimes shopping plazas wanting to kick out the public transit system, like, “Oh, we, don’t want, you know, the stop near our plaza or coming into our parking lot.” And when agencies have sat down with those business owners and showed the amount of riders that comes to the facility and the average money that they spend, then they’re like, “Oh, no, no, no, no, keep the bus transit system.” So it, it’s very important to think about how people are using it and the impact that it has on the community.

But, uh, something that you mentioned, it, it, it’s quite important because we’ve seen that after COVID-19, mobility patterns, uh, have shifted, right? People don’t have the traditional eight to five.

There’s people that are teleworking, hybrid schedule. Some days they telework, some days they come to the office. You know, people have all these new schedules, and then what I’m hearing from you is you guys have been flexing in the way that the enhancements and the changes to the system are matching those growing, uh, mobility, uh, demands within your community. So you mentioned you expanded some routes, you added some frequency.

How is it, uh, landing so far with the riders? Is, is ridership, uh, responding well, or have you gotten any feedback from riders? Yeah. So our ridership after COVID, uh, it– we’re just like every other agency across the country. We started to see that, that growth return. Um, it… but it-it’s been slow. Uh, we, we still, uh, I believe we’re like at seventy-nine percent pre-pandemic level, uh, when it comes to ridership. Um, I think for us, a lot of that has to do with our driver shortage and our mechanic shortage. So we’re still not at, at, uh, operating at the service level, service levels that we were prior to COVID.

And that makes it tough, right? So our buses, um, they’re, they’re really packed out there. I believe we’re working, uh, we’re running about a twenty-eight passenger per hour. Uh, so our drivers are– they’re really, really busy. Buses are really packed, and I think that might be part of the delay to getting back to pre-pandemic levels. Um, I am happy to announce that we are starting to see, uh, more driver retention. Uh, we, we went and really took a hard look as to why we were losing drivers so frequent.

So we had to make some adjustments in our operations division in, uh, management style there, and that’s really helped to turn that, that ship around. Um, and with that retention, we’re able to start to add hours of service back, and then we’re able to start to see that ridership slowly increase. And, um, I believe the last time I checked, we were getting pretty darn close to eight, eight million passenger boardings for the year.

So, um, it’s coming back slowly. Um, we’re really excited to be implementing more service hours, uh, implement the ABQ Forward plan, and, uh, passengers are really excited about that. Uh, we went, we hit the streets and asked them what they needed, what they were looking for. We listened to them, and we’re in the process of providing that to them. So feedback’s been great on that end. Uh, we wish we could jump feet in and, and, and get that service completely up and running immediately. But again, we’re still struggling here in Albuquerque’ with, uh, bringing, bringing drivers on. Uh, so as we slowly bring them on, we’ll bring more service on to match that, that, uh, growth.

That, that’s good to hear. And, and it’s not uncommon, right? Like that’s a, a very, uh, common situation for many agencies around the nation.

Uh, COVID, uh, definitely affected, uh, uh, transit and bus operators greatly. You look at, uh, a lot of agencies, their, their senior operators, uh, you know, some agencies have operators that passed due to COVID, uh, unfortunately, uh, you know, deadly, uh, virus.

Uh, and also some decided to go. into retirement. And they said, “Listen, I, I… this has been a long run. Uh, now this, this virus and, you know, I’m so close to retirement,” or, or, “I’m already at a point that I could retire.

Let me go ahead and retire.” So, so for a lot of these different reasons, a lot of agencies lost a big chunk o-of their bus operators. And then, uh, it was, time for agencies to get creative, to try to first, uh, increase their retention, so make sure that the ones that are not in retirement age and, you know, are– have been driving stay within the organization, and then also tr-try to he- uh, you know, invigorate the, the pipeline, like try to get more people applying in a community, understanding the opportunities and the career that it is to become a, um, you know, bus operator. Uh, I wanna inquire just a little bit more. So, uh, just after

COVID, um, is there any strategies that you guys, uh, put in place for retention particularly or, or, or for hiring that you can think of and maybe some other agencies could benefit from, uh, listening to and, and maybe replicating? Yeah, absolutely. So, uh, gone are the days where, where our drivers, uh, where we can work our drivers like we used to, right? Uh, we had to come back, um, here in Albuquerque, we would lose a lot of our drivers to, uh, our solid waste management department, um, that they’re, they’re the trash folks, right? They drive around and collect the garbage from your home. So we would lose a lot of our bus drivers to this department. So how do we makeABQ RIDE more attractive than solid waste. So we went in and we implemented, uh, uh, a different pay scale, right?

So our drivers work weekends, they work evenings. At solid waste, they don’t. So you work with us, you’re gonna make, uh, you’re gonna make a little bit more in the evenings and weekends for working those, those, uh, odd hours, and that has actually helped to retain the drivers, and now it’s attracting drivers from solid waste back to ABQ RIDE.

Uh, so that’s been a huge advantage for us. Um, we, like I mentioned a little bit ago, we went in and we looked at the way we were, uh, managing the operations division. Uh, we made some changes in, in leadership there.

Um, that operations division used to be our, our fixed route, our BRT route that we call ART, and our paratransit service all in one, and that’s, that’s a lot for one, uh, manager to deal with. So we broke that up into two divisions. So now we have our bus service in one division and paratransit on-demand service in our second division. So that has really helped us out, so we’re able to spread those supervisors out. They can, uh, give one-on… that one-on-one attention to their drivers that, that they need. Uh, drivers need to, to be heard. They have great ideas. They’re out on.

the road all the time. They need to know that we’re listening to them, that we care about them, and that we’re working hard to keep them safe and to provide the best, uh, environment that we can for them. So that we implemented, uh, broke the division into two divisions. Um, that has been really good for, for the morale.

Um, and then we implemented a, a different pay structure, uh, for those split shifts. Uh, so they make a little bit more if they come in in the morning, uh, run some routes, uh, as they’re on the extra board, and then if they have to hang out i- in the middle of the day and, you know, we pay them a little bit more for that work. So that’s actually attracted folks to, to stay with us and come work with us. Um, and then just all around, just getting out. Um, me and my boss, we like to get out and ride. We’re on the bus once a month. We pick a different route. We get out there. We let, we let the staff see us.

They know that we’re out there, and we like to tell them, uh, that we wanna make sure that the decisions we’re making behind our desks actually work out in the real world. And when we have those conversations with staff, it, it just, it lights them up. You know, they’re really excited to, to know that we, that we care that much, that we go out to make sure that, that, that it actually works, that our ideas are actually working. And if they don’t work, then we come back and we make changes and we make those adjustments and, and we wanna hear from, them if it’s working or not.

Uh, and I think the combination of those three different efforts has really made a difference in, in retention on the driver’s side. Yeah. A- and I can see that. Uh,

I mean, when, when you go out of your way to make them feel heard and involved and part of the process, I mean, the biggest, uh, job classification in any public transit agency is bus operator. They’re the bread and butter, right? The, the… that’s where rubber meets the road. You know, if you don’t have bus operators, then how can you put out the service? And, and during this time, uh, in particular for a lot of agencies, they, they started losing drivers to FedEx, to Amazon, to UPS, to, uh, you know, like, wa- uh, waste authority like you mentioned, sometimes to school boards.

And then, you know, what can we do? And, and I do want to, you know, congratulate you guys for, for doing that, uh, you know, introspection and, and looking at what can we do to improve the working conditions of our bus operators, like from the schedules and, you know, from the way they were cutting the service and laying out the service to make it more attractive for them to be one of, uh, part of ABQ RIDE.

versus, you know, um, just, just driving for any other, uh, organization that requires a CDL. So a- and it seems that, uh, you know, it’s working, right? Like you’re getting that retention under control and, and then working on hiring new bus operators to continue, uh, expanding services. And you mentioned your productivity per hour.

Uh, good productivity, uh, standards for fixed route is about 15 passengers per hour. If you get to 15 passengers per hour plus, that’s definitely good, uh, productivity, and you mentioned yours is about

39? 28. About 28. Oh, 28. 28. So, so close to 30 passengers per hour. That’s double as much of the benchmark and, you know, you’re, you’re saying you have packed buses. I mean, that I can see. Uh, and that’s a great thing, uh, to, to have as a transit agency, have a good amount of ridership. It means that the service is working for the community, uh, a- and that, that is, uh, you know, purpose. But let me, ask you this question. So one, one of the aspects for bringing people back into riding the, the, the service, and I love, I wrote down the broken window theory. Uh, and I’m definitely gonna read it. This is the first time that I hear about it, and I’m inviting everybody else, uh, that is listening to, uh, read this theory as well. But, you know, th- this theory to me sounds a lot like safety, right? Like, uh, you, you mentioned when s- uh, things start deteriorating and people are not keeping up with, with the, you know, aspect of things, then that’s inviting for people to misbehave and then ultimately to, you know, certain behaviors, unwanted behav- behaviors start taking place because it, it, it seems that nobody cares, right? Like, nobody’s paying attention, so, you know, now, now people can get away with doing other things. So, so I wanna talk about safety, right? To me, that broken window theory, it’s, it’s a good starting point, making sure all the facilities, making sure all the vehicles are top-notch, and I think a reflection of that, you mentioned your new, uh, bus, uh, washing facility.

That’s another great reflection of that. If the buses look, you know, beautiful, clean inside and outside, that, that’s also en- uh, going to, uh, you know, uh, encourage people to behave and, and to act properly.Um, you know, a safety top of mind, how are you now tackling operator safety also as a factor for operator retention, uh, keeping passengers safe and secure, and also, you know, keeping an eye on all the street-level incidents that might be happening in the city of Albuquerque?

Yeah, definitely. I’m, I’m glad you asked that question because I, I’ve been spending a lot of time in our– with safety these days.

So first we’ll start, uh, well, I guess it’s all for bus, uh, the bus operator safety and passenger safety. But, uh, first and foremost, we, we used to have here in Albuquerque during the pandemic, they put up these flimsy plexiglass shields to preve– to protect the driver from the virus. After the pandemic, we installed the, the barriers that, uh, you’re, you’re starting to see more and more throughout agencies across the country, and these barriers are designed, you know, to, to keep them safe within their, within their, their seating area so passengers can’t get to ’em. When those barriers are fully engaged, it reduces assaults by a hundred percent, right? And, you know, when those barriers are open, they, they expose themselves. So, you know, once you do that, then, uh, you, you’ve created an environment where you welcome, uh, bad behavior.

Uh, second, we addressed, uh, policy. We went in and changed policy, and we rewrote our passenger removal process, and this passenger removal process essentially removes the driver from that process so that it keeps them safe.

Now, if there’s somebody on the bus behaving badly, um, the driver can ask them to, uh, please sit down and refrain from, uh, the, the behavior that they’re currently engaged in, and if they’re met with resistance, the driver is, has been instructed to just let ’em continue and call dispatch, um, for help. And dispatch will send the transit safety officer, and the transit safety officer will pull the bus over, they will remove the passenger safely, um, and then the driver can get back on route. And what that does is that eliminates the driver from being engaged in any kind of, uh, sticky situation, so to speak.

So we had to address policy. Um, we looked at our rules to ride. Uh, they hadn’t been u-updated in ages, you know, and I’m not joking when I say that. Some of these rules to ride were really, really old, and we had to modernize them, especially after COVID. The world changed dramatically after COVID.

So we re, we revamped our rules to ride. We had the marketing department do a campaign, um, and we just promoted, you know, that when you ride the bus, there’s rules, and you’re, you’re welcome on board, but you, you just can’t behave any old way you wanna behave. So we readdressed the, the rules to ride.

Um, and then, like I mentioned earlier, our, our ridership continues to grow. Um, we were getting really close to eight million passenger boardings. That’s a lot of eyeballs out there. So we introduced, uh, some technology called the See

Say App. Um, and what that app is, it allows the passengers, if they notice anything, they can, from their phone, anonymously if they choose, can report an incident. They can let us know if a bus stop is dirty, if the bus itself is dirty, or if someone’s misbehaving, and that, that comes immediately to our dispatch.

And I oftentimes I’ll watch conversations between our dispatch team and a passenger through my phone ’cause I get those notices on my phone, and we’re able to, in real time, we’re able to address these concerns immediately. And so what that’s helped to do is that’s helped to make the passenger feel safe now. Um, and drivers as they’re driving around now, they know that somebody else is actually keeping an eye out for ’em. And in just, in addition to the See Say App, we’ve, we’ve reached out to the volunteers in the community, and we’ve created a program called the Ambassador

Program. And what this program does is it folks ride the bus in bright colored shirts, and they let folks know that we’re here to help you navigate the system. Um, if you wanna get from one end of town to the next and you don’t– might not know how to do it, they’ll teach ’em how to use our transit app, uh, the See Say App, how to, uh, understand the header sign on a, on a bus, uh, what the bus numbers are, where they’re located, why that’s important, how to read a system map.

Um, and then if folks are just needing help, like I mentioned earlier, um, they can point folks in the right direction. Uh, we arm ’em with a tablet, uh, so that they can look up those phone numbers and connect people with resources that they may need. Um, and if visitors are in from out of town, um, we can point them in the right direction, where to go get a gra– a, a, a bite to eat or what, what some of the local sites are to go see. Um, so and then the, the last big thing I think is creating the Transit Safety Officer program.

Uh, that program, uh, we’ve kept our officers completely mobile, so when a call does come in, they can spring into action, and they can be, i-in a moment’s notice, they can, uh, jump in to, uh, help a, a driver that may be in a situation. And the combination of all these efforts has really, really made a difference. Um, and because

I think the greatest thing that’s come through that Transit Safety Officer program, I mentioned earlier that we developed that program with our police department. Prior to the Transit Safety Officer program, call response times could be anywhere from forty minutes to an hour and a half. Uh, now with the Transit Safety Officer program, we’ve had calls, uh, responded within two minutes.

Uh, we had an incident one time where an individual assaulted another individual, and within two minutes, the, uh, we were able to apprehend the suspect and have him arrested. Um, and that’s because of that partnership that we’ve created with our police department.

Now they see the value to us instead of, uh…Just another call coming through. So it, the combination of all those efforts has really, really started to help turn the tide at ABQ RIDE. Uh, we’re the first to admit and say that we still have a lot of work. to do, and there, uh, and there’s a lot more that, needs to be done, but we’re starting to head down the right direction. Well, that’s a meaningful difference there, the 45 minutes down to two minutes in that, one example that you gave.

That, that is pretty impressive. Uh, and it, again, this is another example of how ABQ RIDE is thinking very comprehensively in terms of safety in this particular example with, like you said, the

See Say app, Transit Safety Officer program. You know, and I know, that there are a, a, you know, you have limited resources, right, like every agency, and you have a lot of things that you want to do. I’m, I’m curious how you balance those, those tighter budgets with some of these more innovative programs, these comprehensive programs that you’ve described. Yeah.

So first and foremost, the drivers, uh, it doesn’t cost us anything to train them up, right? It doesn’t cost us anything to have conversations with our drivers. Uh, you’ll often hear me talk to drivers and, and remind them that, you know, we’re public servants. Uh, we’re here to serve the public.

And I tell them, I don’t care about people’s, uh, employment status when they get on our bus. We don’t check W-2s, and we don’t, we don’t check their, their, uh, housing status either.

You know, uh, we’re public servants. It’s our job. to move folks, from point A to point B. Now, with that being said, if, if they start to misbehave, then we have those rules to ride in place, and we have all these other, um, avenues at our, at our, disposal. But it doesn’t cost anything to have conversations with our drivers, and that’s… We realized that that was the first place we had to start.

Um, we have to remind our drivers that we’re public servants, and that’s our job. And some folks might not be able to handle that, and this might not be the job for them. But if you are working here, you gotta re- you gotta know first and foremost that we, we take care of the public.

Um, some of the, the, the app, we use technology grant dollars to pay for that. Um, our TSO program, that came from funding from an old, uh, transit officer program.

Uh, the, those funds had moved to another department. Uh, we now call that the Metro Security Division, and we used, we reclaimed some of those dollars to, to create the Transit Safety Officer program. So it’s really just taking and repurposing what you have. Um, getting out there and, uh, maintaining the shelters, that’s, that’s work we already do, right? But now we, we implemented a schedule, whereas before, we were very reaction– uh, this department was very reactionary to, to situations.

Now we’re trying to be more proactive. We’ve got a, a, a maintenance schedule in place so that, uh, hopefully these shelters don’t fall, uh, behind or into disrepair like they were when I joined, uh, the department back in ’22.

Um, so a lot, we really haven’t reinvested a whole lot of new dollars into the work that we’ve done. We’ve repurposed a lot of the, the money that, uh, that we’ve already been using.

Um, and, and again, and the reason that we were able to repurpose it is because the way we used it prior to COVID, we’re not needing it in those same forms anymore. So it was really stopping, taking a look, and asking ourselves, why are we continuing to do things the way we are? Uh, we need to change things. Um, the, those old ways don’t work anymore. Um, and that frees up those dollars, um, to, to move the department forward. So Bobby, thank you for, uh, sharing those strategies with us. It, it seems that you’re really getting everybody involved, right? Like the bus operators, the, they’re paramount, you know, checking the, for their safety. But also you’re, you’re getting involved into increasing safety in the community, also the riders, right? With the app that you put in place, everybody’s reporting anything that is happening out there. So just holistically enhancing safety and, uh, therefore, you know, using, uh, safety as a way to, you know, increase, uh, job sa- job satisfaction and just the well-being of the bus operators and, and it’s trickling down to the riders as well. Uh, so thank you for sharing, uh, all those strategies that are taking place at ABQ RIDE today, uh, with us. A- as we start coming to the ending of our, um, recording session here with you today, we have, uh, this segment that is, uh, our quick-fire, uh, question segment. Uh, so I’m gonna ask you a few questions, you know, short questions with, uh, the f- uh, quick, short answer that comes to your mind.

Uh, are, are you ready for that? I’m ready. Excellent. So what… The very first one is favorite ABQ RIDE route to ride yourself and why? I like to ride our ART system. It’s our, uh, Albuquerque Rapid Tri-

Transit system. I enjoy riding it because I can get across town quickly. And the number of people that ride that route, um, I just love to, to be around folks and observe how they’re using the system.

It, it just constantly gives me new ideas how to improve our service. Awesome. Thank you for that answer. And, and I love your ART, uh, service. as well. I think premium transit is, is really the key to get more, uh, choice riders. Uh, second question, one book or podcast that’s, uh, influenced your leadership. Wow. I’m, I’m a book reader, so I have a whole bunch of them. But if I have to pick one, it’s gonna be Weapons of Influence.

I don’t remember the name of the author, but, uh, Weapons of Influence has really, really helped me to-Better understand individuals and their behavior. Um, as a public servant, you really have to understand behavior, uh, human behavior so that you can change that behavior to get them to get on the bus, get them to think more sustainably. Um, so that, I think that would probably be one of my most influential books for my career has been Weapons of Influence, the Psychology of, of Influence. Ooh, I really like that. That sounds very interesting. I,

I wrote it down, and I invite our listeners to maybe consider reading this book as well. Uh, maybe when I’m in town in Albuquerque, we’ll chat about it.

Uh, next one, most underrated job in the transit agency. I think I’m gonna give that award to our dispatch team.

I don’t think folks understand how busy they are and the call volume that they take from the drivers. Um, I think they do an amazing job of keeping this operation running daily, those dispatchers, and I think you phrased it well in your question is they are the most underrated folks in the department.

Yeah, and, and they’re the first line of support to those bus operators. They’re, they’re by themselves on the road with the public with, you know, an asset that is close to a million dollars, and they encounter all kinds of issues, and they, they’re calling to dispatch. Dispatch has to find a way to resolve them and get them back in service. So I, I agree with that. I, I’ve seen how busy they get. Sometimes it’s quiet, but sometimes it gets really busy, so the- Absolutely … definitely, uh, you know, very skillful, uh, professionals. Um, and my last question, rapid fire, if not transit, if Bobby Cisneros was not in transit, what industry would you be in? I think I would love to be a game and fish warden, just be out in nature without cell phones and computers and city council meetings.

Um, that, that’s where you would find me. I think that would be my job. Well, Bobby, this has been an excellent conversation. As a recurring segment that we have here on Stop Requested, we do a, a few key takeaways, and we, we’ve touched on several, um, you know, the holistic thinking that you and your organization have I, I think is really remarkable, something that other agencies could also adopt. You all are very empathetic and compassionate. You l- you lead with that approach.

I think that’s, that also makes you different from some of your peers. Um, you also recommended for agencies to think outside the nine to five, and also be creative about the way that you’re, you’re paying your employees, especially drivers, because it’s a competition with other CDL driving jobs.

Uh, and one thing that you also mentioned is that the admin staff should ride the bus. You know, you n- you need to see with your own eyes and listen with your own ears about how the service is going.

Did I miss anything? No, I think you covered it all. Okay. Excellent. I know there’s a lot more in there. Tried to condense it down to some of the, the really high profile n- nuggets of information that you left us with, and a- again, this has been an excellent conversation. If our listeners want to get in touch with you or learn more about ABQ RIDE, how can they do so? Go to abqride.com.

Well, again, Bobby, thank you so much for joining us. It’s been a real pleasure. And to our listeners, thank you so much for tuning in. We’ll be back next Monday with another episode of Stop Requested.