Cash shortage stymies transit expansion

Enhancing public transportation in Larimer and Weld counties is both a goal or government officials and a desire of citizens.

Visions of expanded bus service and intercity commuting are tempered, however, by the reality of reduced funding.

“In 1996, our federal funding will go down 25 percent,´ said Tom Frazier, transportation group leader for the city of Fort Collins. “That’s good news. It was going to be 40 percent.

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“Trying to continue existing service and expand for new service is going to be difficult,” he added.

The city plans to improve a couple of routes next year. But no new routes will be added.

The same is true in Greeley, where a five-year transit plan was updated earlier this year.

“Right now, I don’t know of any (transit) system that’s truly adequate,´ said John Lee, transit services superintendent for the city of Greeley.

Greeley, however, did improve The Bus this year by reorganizing the system for improved timing while extending service to some new areas.

The Bus costs about $1.3 million annually to run. Fort Collins’ Transfort bus system takes $2 million to $2.5 million.

Funding comes from the cities themselves, fare collection and federal transit programs.

With explosive growth along Colorado’s Front Range, it’s no longer unusual for workers to commute several miles to and from work.

“As Northern Colorado grows,” Lee said, “there will be more of a need to shift the population out of single-occupancy vehicles.”

The Denver metro area’s Regional Transportation District serves municipalities as far north as Longmont and provides commuter bus service up Interstate 25 to Northglenn and Thornton.

That commuter service, however, is not likely to extend much further.

“We have no plans to bring bus service to Larimer and Weld counties,´ said Andrew Hudson, RTD spokesman. “The voters in each county would need to vote to have the RTD excise tax charged against them. There’s no proposal talked about for now, or in the future, for that.”

To help meet the transit crunch, private employers sometimes will join the push to get workers out of cars. Symbios Logic Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. in Fort Collins, for example, pay for the operating cost of public transit vehicles to their plants, while Transfort picks up the capital costs.

Others have ride-share programs, but even some of those have fallen victim to funding.

Windsor’s Eastman Kodak Co. used to have such a program, but it stopped in 1989.

“It’s a matter of resources,´ said Lucille Mantelli, Kodak spokeswoman.

“We’re always looking at it, though,” she added. “And some employees who work in the same departments get together car pools.”

In addition to working with employers, Fort Collins also encourages students to use public transportation.

“We’ve had a lot of success with youth since we made it free to them,” Frazier said.

Colorado State University students show their identification cards to ride free. Next year, an ID system will be set up for youths under 17. Transfort officials hope the program curbs sporadic behavioral problems caused by a few under-17 riders who already take the bus for free.

Additionally, discussions will begin next year with employers downtown, along College Avenue and Colorado Highway 14 to see if they will participate in employee-ride programs.

Many of the hoped-for improvements are part of the transit-development plan that outlines goals and desires in public transportation. The plan should go before the Fort Collins City Council this month or in December.

“It identifies what the community wants to see happen in the next five for seven years and also is a vision for 20 years out,” Frazier said.

To implement route improvements in Fort Collins and add night service would bring Transfort’s budget to $4 million.

Feedback also has focused on more intracity and regional service.

“There’s definite interest in a bus system between Fort Collins and the city of Loveland,” Frazier said.

Additionally, the city of Loveland is exploring the possibility of a bus system.

It already has Extra Special People, a transportation system for the elderly and handicapped.

Discussions with Fort Collins, Weld County and Greeley officials will take place next year to explore the possibility of service between the counties.

And next year, Larimer County will take over Care-A-Van, the system that serves the county’s special-needs population.