Airport shuttle services in Boulder County combine

LONGMONT and BOULDER — The company behind Longmont Shuttle and Boulder Shuttle has purchased Green Ride Boulder and Green Ride Longmont and will merge the shared ride operations to create a single airport shuttle service for Boulder County.

Eight Black Partnership LLC has created a new entity, BOCO Airport Shuttle LLC, to house the new operations, but for the time being all four operational names will continue to exist, said buyer Simon Chen.

Seller Ross Alexander will continue to operate Flatirons Transportation LLC and retain the private ride and contract bus services, which include 10- and 29-passenger buses that take people to wedding venues and other contracted locations. Meanwhile, Eight Black will also continue to operate its limousines — “black cars” —  and executive security and security consulting services.

Green Ride operations in Boulder County are not affiliated with the Green Ride Colorado shuttle line based in Fort Collins that was recently bought by Groome Transportation and reopened after a COVID-related suspension of services.

Eight Black was formed in 2015, started shuttle operations from Longmont in 2017 when Super Shuttle pulled out of the market, and expanded to Boulder in 2020.

Green Ride operations in Boulder County began in 2012. Alexander said his hub-and-spoke network out-competed Super Shuttle.

The new operation will initially follow the Longmont Shuttle schedule, which begins at 3:20 a.m. daily and sets its final departure from Denver International Airport at 11 p.m. Green Ride schedules will be maintained as well, Chen said.

“We’ll take the key staff from Green Ride, the reservation system from Green Ride and the dispatch system,” Chen said, because those are better developed. His company had about 34 employees at the time of the deal closing, and Chen expects that to grow to about 50.

Meanwhile, Alexander said the Flatirons Transportation staffing will drop from about 30 or 40 at time of transaction close to about 20 with his scaled back operation.

Chen said the shuttle services, while impacted when business travel slowed to a crawl during the pandemic, “were fortunate that Denver has the third busiest airport in the country, and we were lucky that people even through the pandemic wanted to holiday [vacation] in Colorado.” 

The year 2021 was the best year in the company’s history, Chen said. 

“We have invested heavily in customer service, training, 24/7 onshore and offshore support and we have an exciting fleet renewal program underway,” he said.

Alexander said the part of the business he retains amounts to about half of the total operation from before. “It’s a downsize for sure,” he said.

The contract and private ride operation will be buying additional buses — four to start. He said the small 10- and 29-passenger buses that he’ll operate are especially useful for wedding parties heading to small venues in the canyons west of Boulder and Longmont.