ABQ RIDE, the city of Albuquerque’s transit agency, has restarted driver training for ART buses as part of preparations to begin resumption of service.
Drivers will be practicing docking close to the platforms and working with the traffic signals. The route also has some new features to make the corridor safer, including pinned curbs that were added alongside some of the medians.
Danny Holcomb, ABQ RIDE transit director said, “Both our veteran and newest drivers who will soon be driving the ART route again are set to train on how these curbs are set up and what areas could possibly see drivers illegally turning across the lanes.”
Pinned curbs are yellow-colored, raised concrete barriers eight inches in height and width that run along the double-yellow line on Central. They stretch from Coors to 52nd Street, from Tingley to Rio Grande, from just west of Atrisco to Sunset and from Washington to San Pedro. They are designed to prevent cars from turning left or making U-turns across the ART lanes.
Installation of additional pinned curbs is planned for other parts of Central in the next few months. The bi-directional ART lane near the University of New Mexico is also scheduled to be painted red in the coming weeks, an additional safety feature intended to make the corridor easier to navigate and reduce crashes.
