Anthony Mortillaro, executive director of the North Central Regional Transit District, is retiring after working with the district since its inception. As he steps back, more than $77 million worth of projects are nearing completion, 80 percent of which came from federal and state funding.
“For the last 20 years since the district’s been in existence, I've been involved with it in one fashion or another,” said Mortillaro, who holds a master’s in public administration and has 40 years of local government experience. “I’ve seen it basically grow and develop, then I had my opportunity to contribute to that when I became the executive director here and take it to where it is today.”
The district, otherwise known as the NCRTD, was formed in 2004 and operates the Blue Bus, which provides free or low-cost public transportation to residents of Taos, Rio Arriba, Santa Fe and Los Alamos counties. Under Mortillaro’s tenure, the district introduced to Taos and Española an app-based, on-demand ridesharing service called MyBlue with a $1 fare per trip. Today, the number of Blue Bus routes have doubled, traveling on 29 fixed bus routes in a 10,000-square-mile service area.
Mortillaro participated in the district’s founding as an alternate board member. At that time, he represented Los Alamos County as a deputy county manager and county manager. In 2011, he came on as a consultant to the district, then was hired as executive director. His retirement leave will commence June 30, but he will stay on until March 2026 to continue overseeing projects.
“I’d like to see all of these infrastructure projects that are funded or in different stages of design completed,” Mortillaro said, “because they’re important to the district continuing and being able to provide services, such as workforce housing, the expansion of the Española headquarters here and construction of our Santa Fe operations facility. Then, the implementation of our Rapid Rural Transit route from Taos to Santa Fe.”
He added, “We’ll be adding an additional nine buses on that route so that every 30 minutes, there will be a bus going from Taos to Santa Fe. Can you imagine that level of service compared to now, where you might have three buses a day? Being able to take a bus service over 14 hours a day, seven days a week, from Taos to Española to Santa Fe. That’s in our long-term strategic plan. We’ve got federal money to make that Phase 1 a reality.”
Mortillaro helped initiate plans to acquire 16 electric and nine hybrid buses and vans. The creation of the fleet is part of the district’s Zero Emissions Transition plan, which was adopted with the goal of shifting to a fully electric fleet within the next 20 years.
“We’ve deployed 10 zero-emission electric vans, five here [in Española] and five in Taos,” Mortillaro said. “We’re getting ready to place an order for six electric 35-foot buses and another nine hybrid diesel-electric buses, so those will be coming on board. Unfortunately, some of them are on board now and some will come onboard after I leave because of the amount of time it takes to order and build those.”
Several new maintenance facilities are also under construction. The 18,000-square-foot maintenance facility in Española was completed in 2023, costing $12 million. In Taos, a $17 million NCRTD maintenance facility, located near the intersection of Salazar Road and Estes Es Road, is expected to be completed by March or April. The facility will replace the one located on Dea Lane, which Mortillaro said the district has outgrown, especially when buses break down or need repairs. A similar facility is planned in Santa Fe.
Mortillaro is especially proud of the reauthorization of the Regional Transit Gross Receipts Tax. The tax was renewed in an election with 74 percent approval and accounts for 70 percent of the district’s operational funding.
“That’s one of our main revenue sources for the district,” Mortillaro said. “That was set to expire in 2023 unless it was renewed by the voters in the four-county area. We decided to go early in 2018 to ask the voters to renew that and reauthorize that tax, and they did. We had a 74 percent ‘yes' vote to renew that tax and make sure it stayed in perpetuity. That’s a big vote of affirmation for what the district does.”
The projects have not come without challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed many of the district’s expansion efforts, such as supply chain interruptions. Last week, President Donald Trump's administration released a memo temporarily suspending all federal loans and grants, which disrupted Medicaid and other federally funded programs.
On Monday (Feb. 3), a federal judge in Washington, D.C. issued a temporary restraining order against the memo, while the White House stated the memo was rescinded.
“The courts have currently determined that the executive order was illegal,” Mortillaro said. “But that’s still working its way through future courts and what have you. At this point in time, that’s not impacting us. I don’t know what the future holds … We’ll have to see, we’ll just have to be vigilant.”
After retiring, Mortillaro plans to move with his wife to Arizona to be closer to his children and grandchildren.
“It’s really been my privilege to be able to have served the district, both as an alternate board member and then as its executive director over its 20 years of existence,” Mortillaro said. “I’ll tell you what, it’s because of the team of employees that we have here, from the drivers to technical personnel and management personnel, along with a fantastic board of directors that have encouraged and been supportive of us … We couldn’t have achieved what we achieved without the staff we’ve had with the district.”
In a release announcing Mortillaro’s retirement, district board chair Lee Garcia said, “Tony’s unwavering commitment, financial acuity and visionary leadership have transformed NCRTD into a model of excellence in public transportation. His efforts have not only enhanced mobility across our region but have also set a standard for community-focused transit services.”
The district will conduct its search for Mortillaro’s successor in the coming year.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
All comment authors MUST use their real names. Posts that cannot be ascribed to a real person
will not be moderated.
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.