ECO Transit will increase frequency on these routes this summer

As Eagle County’s population grows, and parking issues increase, many residents and visitors are looking to public transit options to get around. The Eagle Valley Transportation Authority continues to add service, buses and operators, while pursuing the goal of a fare-free zone between Edwards and Vail (and potentially Eagle), to provide faster, better and cheaper transportation options.

At the Eagle Valley Transportation Authority board meeting on Feb. 14, ECO Transit Director Larry Tenenholz presented updates on the service’s operations, and options for increasing service in the summer, which the board approved.

Consistent service

As ECO Transit ridership numbers climb — ridership totaled over 218,000 in January 2024, compared with just over 167,000 in January 2023 — the organization’s staff continues to strive for consistent service.

In January, ECO Transit buses completed 99.5% of scheduled trips, or 4,332 out of 4,355. An additional eight buses, known as “shadow buses,” which follow routes during busier times, entered into service to prevent overfull buses.

The contracted provider that runs the fare-free Vail-Beaver Creek Express line, SP Plus, lagged behind, completing 96.3% of scheduled trips. ECO Transit buses were able to fill in for much of the missed SP Plus service, however, so that only 0.05% of contracted trips were missed.

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The contracted service, Tenenholz said, is “still very new,” and some issues are to be expected. “But they’re dealing with it, and we’re helping them along, and they’re helping us along,” he said.

More buses and drivers

At the moment, ECO Transit is just shy of fully staffed with bus operators, with 47 out of 51 positions filled. Another four hires will enter training on Feb. 26, and 22 people have applied for future bus operator positions.

Part of the ease with which ECO Transit is hiring drivers comes from the salary increase that went into place on Nov. 13. “We’re competitive in this area, which helps,” Tenenholz said.

After concerns about buses in November, bus numbers appear to be increasing. ECO Transit currently has 35 diesel buses, eight gas buses, and three electric buses on site. One of the biggest challenges Tenenholz cited in November was the amount of time many ECO Transit buses spent out of service. ECO Transit is in the process of setting up a contract with an outside maintenance provider to maintain half of ECO Transit’s fleet. 

The Proterra electric buses, in particular, are known to struggle in Eagle County, as they are designed to run best in cities, with electricity generated only with continual braking.

According to Tenenholz, the transit organization in Jackson Hole has been in touch with the Federal Transit Administration about the struggling electric buses, but has not yet heard official direction on potential compensation. The bus maintenance contractor that ECO Transit is contracting with does have “dedicated Proterra techs that are actually keeping them running in a number of locations,” Tenenholz said, which may lead to positive changes for the electric buses.

By the end of 2024, ECO should receive six refurbished buses, and two more electric buses. In 2025, ECO is set to receive one refurbished bus, one new diesel bus, and five new hybrid buses.

With more buses, in service and overall, one of ECO Transit’s new challenges will be finding the space to house them.

Proposed summer service hours

This summer, ECO Transit will see increased service across several lines.

The biggest change is adding a midday Red Cliff round trip route, initiated after Red Cliff high schoolers wrote to ECO Transit with the service request, Tenenholz said.

Other changes include adding 20 hours of service on the Highway 6 route, with 20-minute service at peak times; an additional three-and-a-half hours of service on the Minturn route, including running the last bus of the day an hour later than at present; and adding another 18 hours of Valley route service, including service every 30 minutes from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“This is an aggressive schedule that, for the summer, is likely to be oversupply,” said Tanya Allen, executive director of the Eagle Valley Transportation Authority.

“But this is intentional, because part of what we are trying to do is to get ourselves ramped up to where we can slide this over to winter at a winter capacity level that we believe will be sufficient to support that transition to fare-free, and the expected increase in ridership we want to see there,” Allen said.

ECO Transit will need to hire six to eight operators to support the increased summer service to help the organization prepare to run more services in the winter.

“These hours that are being proposed, we can be consistent with, and we will be consistent with in winter, also,” Tenenolz said. 

Another change for the summer? The fare-free Vail-Beaver Creek Express, which is only contracted to run during the winter months, may not run in the same way during the summer. Transportation authority staff are studying riders to determine whether the service is utilized by locals, and should be maintained over the summer.

March meeting preview

In March, the transportation authority board will assess possibly running the discussed summer routes fare-free.

“We certainly have the capacity financially,” to lower fares, said Dave Eickholt, transportation authority board member.

Transportation authority staff agreed with Eickholt financially, and also in bus capacity, as lowering fares is typically associated with increases in ridership. “With the capacity we have here, we believe we have the option to consider running these routes fare-free in the summer,” Allen said.

Going fare-free is not a decision that can be made lightly, as once riders become accustomed to fare-free service, it would be challenging to go back to charging fares.

“This isn’t something you roll back,” Allen said.

“In the industry, when you add service or when you take away service — whenever you do a service evaluation or a service change — you really have to give it at least a year, year and a half, before you alter that change,” Tenenholz said.