Regional bus service an increasing necessity

Regional bus service and increasing necessity

Foxtrot has shown the way.
The successful bus service linking Loveland and Fort Collins has exceeded expectations, with expansion of the route under way. Foxtrot met a crucial need for some form of transit to alleviate congestion on U.S. Highway 287 and other arteries between the two cities, but additional expansion of that regional approach is critical.
Northern Colorado is expected to exceed 400,000 population in 1999, meaning more cars on the roads and more workers commuting between cities. This has, after all, become one regional economy, with companies from every industry now focusing on all of Larimer and Weld counties, rather than just one city or another. Large employers such as Hewlett-Packard Co., most notably, have operations in all three cities, with workers commuting in every direction.
Next on the agenda for Northern Colorado transit should be a Fort Collins-Greeley route and Loveland-Greeley service — with stops at smaller communities in between — as well as a link to the Regional Transportation District routes serving metropolitan Denver. Currently, the closest RTD gets to Northern Colorado is Longmont.
But the agency is mulling an expansion into southern Weld County, which would fill a huge need, if local voters approve joining the RTD taxing district.
One can easily envision a bus system linking RTD, Greeley˜s The Bus and Fort Collins˜ Transport bus systems, with transfers from one to the other possible. Bus service from Fort Collins to Denver, with minimal transfers, and Fort Collins to Greeley, etc., would most assuredly find ridership.
With the region˜s population and business growth, now is the time to launch a truly regional bus system that will keep cars off the roads.
But it won˜t be cost-free. Residents and businesses alike must be willing to pay their fair share of operating such as system. If that happens, we˜ll all be better off in the end.