One of the stated goals of the newly created Eagle Valley Transportation Authority is to implement a fare-free zone for riders that runs from Vail to Edwards. Implementation of that fare-free zone has been projected to cause ridership to increase beyond the capacity of what ECO Transit will be able to accommodate with buses and drivers.
On Wednesday, Nov. 8, the interim director of ECO Transit, Larry Tenenholz, presented to the Eagle Valley Transportation Authority board on the current state of the county’s transit operation. Going into the winter schedule, which begins on Nov. 26, Tenenholz reported success in hiring and ridership but also spoke about continued struggles with an aging bus fleet.
The staff is here
ECO Transit is “115 percent” staffed for winter service, according to Tenenholz. With six staff members available to step in if problems arise during regular service, plus two full-time road supervisors (up from one last year), ECO Transit has the staff to effectively provide the promised increased winter service.
Thirty-six employees were hired in 2023 to replace 15 that departed, creating a net gain of nearly 60 percent of ECO Transit employees, compared to a 15 percent net gain in 2022 hiring. Fifty-two percent of applicants who received job offers accepted the offers, compared to just 28 percent in 2022.
ECO Transit operator salaries will also increase beginning on Nov. 13.
“We will be extremely competitive with all the surrounding areas,” Tenenholz said.
ECO Transit’s winter schedule begins on Nov. 26, with $3 fares on all regular routes, fare-free service on the Vail-Beaver Creek Express, and both expanded and more frequent service. The U.S. Highway 6 route will see an additional morning and evening trip to alleviate overcrowding during peak periods, a 1 a.m. bus leaving from the Vail Transportation Center, and half-hour service that lasts through 11 p.m.
The riders are here
Counting mobile ridership fares through the Masabi app, overall ridership on ECO Transit lines in the third quarter of 2023 was up 14.8 percent from pre-COVID (2019) numbers, Tenenholz said. Exceeding pre-COVID ridership numbers is an indicator of interest in ECO Transit on the rider side.
“This valley, I’ve said it before, you could double your service … and still meet minimum thresholds — you have the ridership,” Tenenholz said.
In order to best service riders, ECO Transit is implementing “loop operators” with the winter service who will be in buses during peak hours to assist routes experiencing overcrowding or mechanical problems, in addition to the increase in regular service.
But where are the buses?
“Now that we have six additional drivers, do we have enough rolling stock that they could use?” asked Dave Eickholt, Eagle Valley Transportation Authority board member.
“We’re working with maintenance very hard to get to a pull-out number that we’d like of 22. We’re not there yet, but we hope we will get there,” Tenenholz said.
The ECO Transit fleet currently includes 42 buses. Over the last 90 days, an average of 18 buses have been out of service. Two new Gilligs, which are diesel-fueled, will be added to the fleet and in service prior to the winter schedule starting on Nov. 26. Gillig buses currently comprise 79 percent of ECO Transit’s fleet.
When an ECO Transit bus is down for mechanical issues, it currently takes an average of nine days to be repaired and returned to service. This is partially due to a need for more mechanics.
At ECO Transit, the current ratio of mechanics to buses is one mechanic for every nine buses. Tenenholz’s goal is to reach a ratio of one mechanic for every five buses. There are currently advertisements out stating that ECO Transit is looking to hire mechanics, Tenenholz said.
ECO Transit also has a lower number of bus repair bays per bus than is needed to efficiently service the existing buses.
“Normally, for the amount of buses we have here, for right around the number, you have eight bays. We only have three and a half,” Tenenholz said. “We’re at a point where we’re asking somebody to fix a problem, but we’re not giving them the tools.”
One of the benefits of the Eagle Valley Transportation Authority is that its expanded financial resources and specific focus on transit enable change to happen faster and more effectively than ever before.
“The platform that we’re looking at with ECO Transit, and trying to expand, we didn’t have everything we need (in previous years),” said Tanya Allen, executive director of the Eagle Valley Transportation Authority. “As we’re getting deeper and deeper here, we’re better able to itemize: What are some of the issues, what are some of the challenges, to really getting the right number of vehicles, the right number of operators to expand to the level that we want to the level that we want to expand, and to where we know there’s demand for.”
Bus refurbishment is another important way to boost the ECO Transit fleet, as it is much faster to refurbish an existing bus than to purchase a new one.
“You have such old buses, and you have some high mileage buses, and you need buses quickly,” Tenenholz said.
On average, bus refurbishment takes six months, while a new bus takes 18 months to arrive.
Short-term, there are seven ECO Transit buses on the list to be refurbished, following four that are currently being refurbished. Refurbishment can provide buses with an additional 10 years of productive performance.
Contracted buses
As of Nov. 8, the contracted SP Plus buses that will run the Vail-Beaver Creek Express route are in Denver, getting painted and wrapped. The operators, who already have commercial driver’s licenses and have been through training with SP Plus, will start ECO Transit-specific training around Nov. 13 and 14, according to Tenenholz.
The Vail-Beaver Creek Express route will be the first ECO Transit line to trial fare-free service, beginning with the winter schedule. The route includes four stops, at Beaver Creek Village, Avon Station, Lionshead, and the Vail Transportation Center.
“One of the things that I think is really important to remind people is that the Vail-Beaver Creek service will stop at Avon Station and will stop at Lionshead as well. That’s something that I think wasn’t clear to many people when they heard ‘Vail-Beaver Creek Express,’” Allen said.
The Eagle Valley Transportation Authority board meets from noon to 2 p.m. on the second Wednesday of every month. The meetings are open to the public, both on Zoom and in person at the Avon Town Hall.