Bustang to start Denver-to-CSU weekend service

FORT COLLINS — Students and staff at Colorado State University – as well as all Northern Colorado residents – will have a new weekend option for getting to and from Denver beginning later this month.

Bustang, the Colorado Department of Transportation’s new service that in July began running three express-bus routes from Union Station in Denver, will launch the direct, nonstop RamsRoute on Friday, Sept. 11. RamsRoute buses will leave CSU for Denver on Friday afternoons and return Sunday afternoons.

The trip will leave for Denver from the CSU campus at West Plum Street and Meridian Avenue in Fort Collins at 4 p.m. each Friday, and will depart from Gate B3 or B4 at Union Station at 4 p.m. each Sunday for the return trip to Fort Collins. Round-trip tickets will cost $19 and must be purchased online or through the Bustang mobile app.

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The buses which normally provide service for 50 passengers, will be limited to 45 passengers so that a maximum of six bicycles can be transported on each trip. However, bike spots will need to be reserved in advance and online.

From Union Station in lower downtown Denver, riders can connect with Regional Transportation District bus and light-rail routes, including SkyRide buses to Denver International Airport. Beginning next spring, the SkyRide route from downtown to DIA will be replaced with commuter-rail service.

“CSU enrolls thousands of students from the Denver metro area.  Bustang provides a convenient, cost-effective option for our students to travel back and forth between the campus and the Denver area on weekends,” said Aaron Fodge, CSU alternative-transportation manager, in a media statement. “Increasingly, a larger percentage of incoming students elect to not bring a personal vehicle to campus.  Bustang helps support that decision while connecting them with Denver and their families.”

Although RamsRoute is aimed at serving CSU, riders not affiliated with the university also can use the service.

RamsRoute marks the first expansion of Bustang – and the first Sunday service – since it was started July 13, providing three express lines from the Union Station hub during peak weekday commuting times. One line stops at the Downtown and Harmony transit centers in Fort Collins and makes a Loveland stop along Interstate 25. Another makes a handful of stops between Denver and Colorado Springs, and a third serves mountain communities with stops along I-70 in Summit County and Glenwood Springs.

The fleet features 13 purple and black buses in rotation on each of the three original routes. Each coach is handicap accessible and equipped with restrooms, bike racks, free WiFi, power outlets and USB ports.