{"id":795612,"date":"2019-05-08T17:12:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-08T23:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/rising-bus-ridership-has-breckenridge-working-on-new-transit-plan\/"},"modified":"2019-05-08T17:12:00","modified_gmt":"2019-05-08T23:12:00","slug":"rising-bus-ridership-has-breckenridge-working-on-new-transit-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/rising-bus-ridership-has-breckenridge-working-on-new-transit-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Rising bus ridership has Breckenridge working on new transit plan"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery\" readability=\"6.742209631728\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-365657-677\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/05\/TransitPlan-SDN-050919-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/05\/TransitPlan-SDN-050919-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"File Photo \/ Summit Daily News | Breckenridge has put out an online survey to try to get more information about how, when and where people are using the Free Ride transit system. The effort falls inline with the town's plans to update its transportation plan.\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"7.5\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/05\/TransitPlan-SDN-050919-1.jpg\" alt=\"Breckenridge has put out an online survey to try to get more information about how, when and where people are using the Free Ride transit system. The effort falls inline with the town's plans to update its transportation plan.\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"10\">\n<p><strong>Breckenridge has put out an online survey to try to get more information about how, when and where people are using the Free Ride transit system. The effort falls inline with the town&#8217;s plans to update its transportation plan.<\/strong><br \/>File Photo \/ Summit Daily News<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/05\/TransitPlan-SDN-050919-1-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/05\/TransitPlan-SDN-050919-1-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Eli Pace \/ epace@summitdaily.com | Evan Gray, a first-year ski instructor who\u2019s originally from Seattle, celebrates as he steps off a Breckenridge Trolley during a ceremony in December 2017 marking the Breckenridge Free Ride system reaching 1 million rides that year. In the first quarter of this year, the system easily passed half-a-million rides, and the increased ridership has the town working on a new transit plan.\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"9.5\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/05\/TransitPlan-SDN-050919-1-1.jpg\" alt=\"Evan Gray, a first-year ski instructor who\u2019s originally from Seattle, celebrates as he steps off a Breckenridge Trolley during a ceremony in December 2017 marking the Breckenridge Free Ride system reaching 1 million rides that year. In the first quarter of this year, the system easily passed half-a-million rides, and the increased ridership has the town working on a new transit plan.\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"14\">\n<p><strong>Evan Gray, a first-year ski instructor who\u2019s originally from Seattle, celebrates as he steps off a Breckenridge Trolley during a ceremony in December 2017 marking the Breckenridge Free Ride system reaching 1 million rides that year. In the first quarter of this year, the system easily passed half-a-million rides, and the increased ridership has the town working on a new transit plan.<\/strong><br \/>Eli Pace \/ epace@summitdaily.com<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/local\/rising-bus-ridership-has-breckenridge-working-on-new-transit-plan\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/local\/rising-bus-ridership-has-breckenridge-working-on-new-transit-plan\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Would easier access to bus stops, more frequent arrivals, expanded service times or new direct routes encourage heightened use of the Breckenridge\u2019s Free Ride public transportation system?<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Breckenridge wants to know this and more with a <a id=\"N0xdbee50N0xd2d6d0:N0xdbee50N0xdd3510\" href=\"https:\/\/www.surveymonkey.com\/r\/BreckTransit\">town-issued survey<\/a> posing those questions and over a dozen others. The hope is to gather answers will help produce a better public transportation system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Realizing that ridership on Breckenridge\u2019s free public transportation system has increased dramatically in recent years, town officials see this as an opportunity to continue trying to grow these numbers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Moreover, they want to ensure residents, local workers and tourists alike view the town\u2019s free public transportation system as \u201ca primary choice\u201d in the busy ski town that can get weighed down by traffic gridlock, especially during peak travel times.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">In the first quarter of this year alone, ridership on Breckenridge\u2019s Free Ride system easily surpassed the half-million mark, which continues a longstanding trend of exceptionally strong growth in ridership for the system that logged almost 190,000 rides in just March.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">For the month, ridership was up a remarkable 21.8% \u2014 or 33,886 passengers \u2014 compared to March 2018. It was second busiest month in Free Ride history.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI know, it\u2019s pretty crazy,\u201d said Jennifer Pullen, assistant director of public works, before adding the Free Ride system also broke its ridership record for April this year, too.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Only two months prior, ridership was up 10.5% over February 2018, and that was described as a slower month. Compared to 2017, last year brought a 16.6% spike in ridership, making it the fourth straight year the system has experienced double-digit growth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Since 2008, the Free Ride system has seen ridership increase by 70% overall, according to figures previously produced by the town.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe\u2019ve obviously been adding service and routes so it\u2019s not exactly the same service over that time,\u201d Pullen said, as she attributed some of the increases to the town\u2019s efforts to keep growing the system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The increased ridership has Breckenridge officials thinking now might be a good time to retool the transit system, as town staff are currently working on a new transit plan, last done in 2008, and is seeking feedback through the online survey to aid them in the effort.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Most basically, the survey is designed to help local officials better understand the current public transportation system and any opportunities for improvements, as the survey\u2019s questions aim to drill down into exactly how, when and why people are using the transit system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The survey itself is straightforward and easy to take. With 17 questions \u2014 mostly multiple choice \u2014 it requires about 5-10 minutes to complete the questionnaire. On it, respondents can expect to be asked how often they ride, their reasons for using the free transportation system and which routes they take the most often, among other things.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Many of the questions are multiple choice, but others, like what kind of additions to the system might encourage greater ridership, give respondents a chance to offer some suggestions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cOur hope is to have several different data points form the survey so our consultant can use those data points to analyze and build on that data,\u201d Pullen said, explaining the ultimately goal is to look at people\u2019s behavior and see what Breckenridge\u2019s Free Ride system might to do internally to capture even more riders.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Pullen expects crafting a new transit plan will be about a five-month project and town staff aim to update the document in the fall.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">For more about the Free Ride system, including routes, schedules, a link to the online survey and more, go to <a id=\"N0xdbee50N0xd2d730:N0xdbee50N0xdd3e10\" href=\"https:\/\/www.breckfreeride.com\/\">BreckFreeRide.com<\/a>. People can also keep up with the Free Ride system by following <a id=\"N0xdbee50N0xd2d790:N0xdbee50N0xdd3ea0\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BreckFreeRide\">\u201c@BreckFreeRide\u201d on Twitter<\/a> or downloading the \u201cMy Free Ride\u201d smartphone app.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/local\/rising-bus-ridership-has-breckenridge-working-on-new-transit-plan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Breckenridge has put out an online survey to try to get more information about how, when and where people are using the Free Ride transit system. The effort falls inline with the town&#8217;s plans to update its transportation plan.File Photo \/ Summit Daily News Evan Gray, a first-year ski instructor who\u2019s originally from Seattle, celebrates [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-795612","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-15 08:47:11","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=795612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795612\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}