Polis signs bill providing RTD with fare-free pilot

Law includes state highway fixes, expansion of Bustang routes

Colorado will spend $68 million to underwrite fare-free promotions on transit systems, expand Bustang service and invest in more main street improvements under a bill signed into law Thursday by Gov. Jared Polis.

The Regional Transportation District in metro Denver is still working out plans for a likely monthlong pilot that would allow people to ride its buses and trains for free at the height of ozone season. It’s targeting August this year and again in 2023, with the bill providing state money to offset most of the agency’s costs.

Senate Bill 180 was this year’s highest-profile bid by Polis and lawmakers to support alternatives to driving.

“First and foremost,” Polis said, the bill is about “saving Coloradans money, reducing pollution, reducing congestion and introducing new riders to transit across the entire state.”

Polis signed the bill outside Union Station in Denver during a ceremony launching the state’s new Interstate 70 mountain corridor transit service, called Pegasus, for the Memorial Day weekend. The service, which is aimed at recreational riders, will run 11-passenger vans approximately hourly in each direction from Denver to Avon on Fridays through Sundays.

Besides the free transit program, SB 180 will contribute $30 million toward a $73 million investment by the Colorado Department of Transportation that will double or triple its Bustang regional coach bus service along three major routes over the next three years in a bid to attract more riders. The routes in store for more-frequent buses are along Interstate 70 from Denver to Grand Junction, on Interstate 25 from Denver to Fort Collins, and I-25 from Denver to Colorado Springs.

The bill also earmarks $10 million to expand the state’s Revitalizing Main Streets program. It helps pay for improvements along state highways through cities and towns, including those geared toward making them friendlier to pedestrians and cyclists.

Transit advocates have supported SB 180’s farefree pilot program, although some recent pilots tried out elsewhere have produced mixed results — with clear boosts to ridership but limited reductions in driving.

“We cannot solve our unacceptable air pollution problem without significantly increasing clean travel options,” said Danny Katz, executive director of COPIRG, in a recent news release praising all of SB180’s components. “While these investments won’t be enough to ensure clean air for Colorado this summer, they are a great start.”

RTD is eligible for up to $11 million of the $14 million set aside for the farefree program each of the next two years, with the rest allotted to smaller transit agencies around the state.

Agencies are eligible so long as they run pilots that last at least 30 days.

Debra Johnson, RTD’S general manager and CEO, told RTD’S board this week that planning will be tight, especially because applications won’t be accepted until the state’s new fiscal year begins in July. RTD also must work through staffing challenges and security concerns.