Shamrock’s shuttle fares take a hike

One of Northern Colorado’s major airport shuttle services raised its rates by $2 per passenger for the remainder of the year, citing the need to make up for escalating fuel prices.

Windsor-based Shamrock Airport Express, which serves Denver International Airport from Greeley, Fort Collins, Loveland and Longmont, received approval for the hike on Sept. 29 from the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. The PUC granted a 90-day increase to Shamrock.

In the same meeting, Shamrock won 90-day approval to add $1 per trip to its taxi service, which operates in Greeley, Fort Collins and Loveland.

The PUC licenses and regulates transportation services in the state.

The shuttle increase means adult one-way fares from Greeley, Fort Collins and Loveland will temporarily increase to $26 from $24, an 8.3 percent increase. Fares from Longmont will increase to $23 from $21, or 9.5 percent.

Shamrock also serves Cheyenne, for which fares will increase to $34 from $32.

In his application to the PUC for a surcharge, Shamrock President Tom Hofmann cited the increase in gas prices between January and September. In that time frame, gasoline at commercial stations increased more than 50 percent, to $3.03 per gallon from $1.83 per gallon. In the same period, diesel fuel jumped to $2.97 per gallon from $1.93.

Shamrock shuttle service purchases an average of 373 gallons of diesel fuel per day and 246 gallons of regular unleaded fuel per day. Consequently, fuel costs for the shuttle service had increased $681 per day since the beginning of the year.

By dividing the $681 increase by the daily average of 328 adult passengers, Shamrock calculated an average additional expense per passenger of $2.08.

“The future of fuel prices is obviously uncertain,” Hofmann said in the application. “After 90 days Shamrock should have a better idea whether a permanent rate increase is necessary and how much that increase might be. Financially we cannot wait any longer for fuel prices to decline.”

In fact, prices have come down since the PUC granted Shamrock’s faire hike. As of Oct. 24, prices for regular unleaded fuel fell to about $2.65 per gallon. Still, the price represents a 45 percent increase since January.

At the time of the price hike request in September, Shamrock’s monthly fuel costs had grown to $55,200 from $36,800 in January.

The $1 increase on Shamrock Taxi service is intended to support the independent contractors who lease Shamrock cars, Hofmann said.

Shamrock drivers “pay for their own fuel … from commercial gas stations,” he said. “The average gas purchased per shift is 9.7 gallons, which translates into an additional $11.64 per day that drivers are now paying.”

The burden of rising fuel prices forced some drivers to resign, Hofmann told the PUC.

“Without this fuel surcharge Shamrock expects to lose drivers and have a difficult time replacing them, thus affecting our ability to serve the public.”

Shamrock drivers will get to keep 100 percent of the surcharge while it’s in place. The company will not increase its lease rates to drivers.

Hofmann could not be reached for comment on the price hikes, or to say if he intends to extend the price hike after 90 days.

According to PUC files, Shamrock’s last price hike for the airport shuttle occurred in July 2003, when one-way fares increased to $24 from $21. Shamrock is one of six taxi or shuttle service companies in Colorado that have sought temporary price hikes this year to deal with the surging fuel prices, said Terry Bote, a PUC spokesman.

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