Boulder County is planning to use federal funds to restore transit options that were cut back during the pandemic.
Part of the American Rescue Plan Act, the Federal Transit Administration is distributing dollars to states for specific “urbanized areas.” Deputy Director of Transportation Planning Kathleen Bracke explained during a public meeting Wednesday that Boulder County has three areas receiving a total of $34 million in funding: Boulder, Longmont and Louisville-Lafayette-Erie.
These regions are based on census data and expand beyond city boundaries. For example, the Louisville-Lafayette-Erie area also includes Superior.
Bracke emphasized that collaborating with local and regional transportation plans would be a core part of moving forward.
“We also know that the transit plans in Boulder County don’t stand alone,” Bracke said. “It’s very important that we’re integrating and connecting with the local transit plans within the communities.”
The money can be used now through 2027. Bracke explained that the funding will be used both to increase frequency on fixed routes and expand on-demand services.
Examples of fixed services that this money will be used toward include the Colo. 119 corridor between Boulder and Longmont, the U.S. 287 route through Longmont and beyond, Colo. 7 and Boulder’s HOP. During the pandemic, these services were rolled back and the hope is that the county can use the federal monies to incrementally restore the frequency of stops to pre-pandemic levels.
Another plan is to restore fixed service between Boulder and Lyons, formally known as the Y bus, with the Lyons Flyer and augment off-peak hours with a taxi voucher program.
For eastern Boulder County communities, Bracke said the county is looking at enhancing on-demand services, similar to Ride Free Lafayette. This could possibly replace the fixed route service that was removed during the pandemic in Gunbarrel.
One question that came up during the meeting was how the county would find the drivers for this expansion while facing the current workforce shortage. Bracke said the county would work closely with partners to ensure that they have the capacity for any revamps of service.
“Certainly that would be taken into consideration, who has the capacity to do what,” she said. “I think that’s why I’ve been emphasizing this as incremental, additional service over time. We won’t be able to bring back everything all at once, but we need to get started and we need to start bringing back what we can.”
Public comment for these plans is open through the end of this month. The county is still working its way through the required processes needed for Boulder County to be the direct recipient of these funds.
“Our goal is to be able to move forward as quickly as possible to get these services in place and incrementally coming back,” Bracke said. “Our hope is we can continue that work this summer and into the fall.”
