{"id":2454129,"date":"2020-02-04T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-05T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=320334"},"modified":"2020-02-04T23:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-02-05T06:00:00","slug":"all-on-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/all-on-board\/","title":{"rendered":"All on board"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Passengers board a westbound RFTA bus early Tuesday morning in New Castle.<\/strong>
Matthew Bennett \/ Post Independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The implementation of additional bus service to New Castle in December has paved the way for increased ridership along RFTA\u2019s entire Hogback route.<\/p>\n

In 2018, voters in Pitkin, Eagle and Garfield counties supported RFTA\u2019s Ballot Issue 7A, a 2.65-mill levy property tax question, commonly referred to as \u201cDestination 2040.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the campaign\u2019s many promises included increased bus service to New Castle from every hour to every half hour during peak times.<\/p>\n

On Dec. 14 last year, that service arrived.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny new service will generally take a year or two for people to begin utilizing to its potential,\u201d said Dan Blankenship, RFTA chief executive officer. \u201cHowever, based on what we know about the response to the service so far, we are pleased.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to RFTA ridership data, in 2019 \u2014 prior to New Castle\u2019s additional departure times \u2014 the Hogback commuter bus service between Glenwood Springs and Rifle averaged 275 passengers per day.<\/p>\n

Following the implementation of New Castle\u2019s half-hour service times Dec. 14, daily ridership for the Hogback route increased to an average of 343 riders between Glenwood Springs and Rifle to finish out 2019.<\/p>\n

Additionally, total Hogback community bus service ridership for the entire month of December in 2018 amounted to 8,083 rides. During the same timeframe in 2019, the Hogback service facilitated 9,392 rides, marking a 16% increase.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the next few months, RFTA plans to do more advertising to New Castle residents about the new service,\u201d Blankenship said. \u201cThe half-hour frequency during peak commuting hours is very convenient for commuters, especially those who work in Glenwood Springs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heading eastbound toward Glenwood Springs, the first RFTA bus departs from New Castle at 5:40 a.m. from its Main and Sixth Street stop. Buses then continue to depart every half hour from downtown until 9:40 a.m.<\/p>\n

From late morning to midafternoon, RFTA buses service Main and Sixth Street nearly every hour until 3:10 p.m., when the half-hour service resumes and continues until 8:40 p.m.<\/p>\n

RFTA services eastbound riders at New Castle\u2019s Park & Ride stop at almost identical time intervals, just two minutes later.<\/p>\n

Heading westbound toward Silt and Rifle, the first RFTA bus departs from New Castle\u2019s Park & Ride stop at 5:59 a.m. and the last bus leaves at 9:31 p.m. from downtown.<\/p>\n

The westbound schedule also has service times every half hour with the exception of a few late morning, mid-afternoon and late night time intervals.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn wintertime, with weather like we\u2019ve been having, I don\u2019t think you want to be hanging out for an hour,\u201d said New Castle Mayor Art Riddile.<\/p>\n

Riddile serves as chairman of RFTA\u2019s board of directors and worked as co-chair on the Destination 2040 campaign.<\/p>\n

Riddile said no plans were currently on the table to improve either of New Castle\u2019s bus stops.<\/p>\n

No shelter currently exists where passengers depart and board RFTA buses on the north side of U.S. Highway 6 in New Castle near McDonald\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s something we\u2019re certainly thinking about,\u201d Riddile said with respect to bus stop improvements.<\/p>\n

Riddile said New Castle community members ranging from downtown restaurant owners to commuters traveling up and downvalley had approached him to compliment the additional bus service.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt hasn\u2019t gone unnoticed,\u201d Riddile said.<\/p>\n

mabennett@postindependent.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Passengers board a westbound RFTA bus early Tuesday morning in New Castle.Matthew Bennett \/ Post Independent The implementation of additional bus service to New Castle in December has paved the way for increased ridership along RFTA\u2019s entire Hogback route. In 2018, voters in Pitkin, Eagle and Garfield counties supported RFTA\u2019s Ballot Issue 7A, a 2.65-mill […]<\/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":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2454129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 17:29:59","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":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2454129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454129\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2454129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2454129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2454129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}