{"id":2454488,"date":"2020-02-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-13T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=320841"},"modified":"2020-02-13T07:37:13","modified_gmt":"2020-02-13T14:37:13","slug":"rfta-bus-service-cracks-5-million-mark-for-4th-straight-year-in-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/rfta-bus-service-cracks-5-million-mark-for-4th-straight-year-in-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"RFTA bus service cracks 5 million mark for 4th straight year in 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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More than 5 million riders packed onto buses and prevented traffic congestion from getting even worse in the Roaring Fork and Lower Colorado River valleys in 2019.<\/p>\n

The Roaring Fork Transportation Authority\u2019s preliminary figures show it hauled 5.47 million passengers last year. That is a record for regularly scheduled service, according to Dan Blankenship, the agency\u2019s CEO. The 2017 number was higher when special, temporary service implemented to mitigate construction<\/a> on the Grand Avenue Bridge in Glenwood Springs was added. RFTA estimated 300,000 passengers rode the temporary service during the bridge construction, he said.<\/p>\n

For an apples-to-apples comparison, ridership in 2017 was about 5.26 million compared with 5.47 million in 2019, Blankenship said.<\/p>\n

Perhaps more important, 2019 was the fourth consecutive year that RFTA\u2019s ridership exceeded 5 million passengers, making the mark the new norm.<\/p>\n

Blankenship said above-average snowfall helped boost the 2019 numbers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it snows, more people use transit,\u201d he said in an email between staff meetings Wednesday. \u201c2019 was a good snow year, as 2020 is shaping up to be as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

He pointed to a strong regional economy as another factor in the high ridership. In addition, RFTA added service last year after voters approved a property tax increase in the November 2018. The additional service is part of RFTA\u2019s Destination 2040<\/a> strategic plan.<\/p>\n

In April, the bus agency added half-hour local bus service during its hours of operation between Aspen and Glenwood Springs, except for offseason weekends.<\/p>\n

Also in April, it added weekend Bus Rapid Transit, or BRT, service during offseason. BRT is RFTA\u2019s bread-and-butter service for valley commuters. Buses run frequently and make fewer stops than the local service.<\/p>\n

In December, RFTA implemented higher frequency service on the Grand Hogback line between New Castle and Glenwood Springs.<\/p>\n

Also new this winter is an expansion of Aspen Skiing Co.\u2019s contract with RFTA to provide bus service on the Flyer between the Brush Creek Road\/Highway 82 lot and Aspen Highlands. Blankenship said ridership in general on free skier shuttles paid by Skico was up in calendar year 2019 due to plentiful snow.<\/p>\n

RFTA\u2019s ridership has grown about 8% since it first cracked 5 million passengers in 2016. While RFTA officials anticipate it will continue to grow because of the new service, Blankenship said lots of variables factor into ridership and make trends tough to predict.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall ridership will depend on a variety of factors \u2014 weather, the economy, employment, commercial and residential development and population growth,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The agency has been able to handle the growth thanks in large part to its Destination 2040 plan and the extra funding provided by taxpayers. While many businesses are struggling to find employees in the Roaring Fork Valley, Blankenship said RFTA did a \u201ccommendable\u201d job of recruiting an adequate number of bus drivers and mechanics thanks to competitive wages and benefits.<\/p>\n

\u201cRFTA is also in a position, along with grant revenue it is receiving, to replace vehicles and add expansion vehicles to the fleet,\u201d Blankenship said. \u201cIn addition, we are working to expand and modernize facilities to accommodate existing and forecasted fleet requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n

RFTA\u2019s service is widely credited with helping Aspen keep below the 1993 target<\/a> of traffic levels at Castle Creek Bridge. Even so, the average number of vehicles entering and leaving town on a daily basis was 21,105. That translates into 7.7 million trips annually.<\/p>\n

scondon@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

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

More than 5 million riders packed onto buses and prevented traffic congestion from getting even worse in the Roaring Fork and Lower Colorado River valleys in 2019. The Roaring Fork Transportation Authority\u2019s preliminary figures show it hauled 5.47 million passengers last year. That is a record for regularly scheduled service, according to Dan Blankenship, the […]<\/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-2454488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 15:53:05","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\/2454488","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=2454488"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2454505,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454488\/revisions\/2454505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2454488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2454488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2454488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}