Dona Ana County relaunches rural bus service

Today is the first day Las Crucens can take a ride on the county’s new bus service.

South Central Regional Transit relaunched on Monday , connecting riders from Las Cruces to Anthony, Chaparral, Sunland Park, and even Alamogordo.

Riders can also connect to the Sun Metro Transit Service to El Paso.

Dona Ana County originally launched a pilot program back in 2014. While it got a lot of traction, voters turned it down. Chairman of the Southwest Regional Transit Wayne Hancock said Monday ‘s relaunch is a “stripped down” version of the original plan. He said the service is costing the county roughly $800,000. Brand new buses were bought with state funding.

There are five routes the buses take with over 50 stops throughout southern New Mexico.

Currently, rides are free. After 60 days, riders will have to pay $1.

The service runs Monday through Friday . For more information on routes and times you can go to: scrtd.org