Roaring Fork Transportation Authority recaps 2024 projects, looks to 2025 plans

The Roaring Fork Transportation Authority, undergoing threats of a strike in the new year, provided Tuesday a recap of construction projects, highlights of a newly adopted climate action plan, and speculation on what the future holds under a new White House administration.

A new administration

The speculation on what the future holds for public transportation under a Trump administration was brought up by Pitkin County commissioner Greg Poschman, who also serves on the RFTA board, during Tuesday’s presentation to the county commissioners.

RFTA CEO Kurt Ravenschlag said that while most transit systems throughout the United States receive around 50% of operating and maintenance funding from the federal government, nearly 95% of RFTA’s operating and maintenance funding is locally generated through sales and property taxes.

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“So, we’re a little insulated in that regard in terms of our operating and maintenance revenues,” said Ravenschlag, who became RFTA’s CEO in September 2024.

But RFTA’s capital funds tend to rely more on state and federal funding. The transportation authority, however, has been successful in obtaining grant funding through the Biden administration for its capital needs, which include facility expansions and rolling stock, for the next 10 years. Under the 46th president’s various programs were created to help support public transportation, as well as the transition to zero emission technologies across the country.

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“As many are concerned and speculating, there are a lot of rumors, and it’s kind of hard to know what the next four years will look like,” said Ravenschlag, who has been with RFTA going on seven years. “That’s something that we’re working with our current consultants, our lobbyists to help us figure out how we’re going to navigate the next four years in terms of grant funding opportunities.”

Construction projects

In 2024, RFTA wrapped up a number of construction projects, including an underpass at the intersection of Colorado Highway 82 and 27th Street in Glenwood Springs, which also provides a trail connection for the Rio Grande.

Ravenschlag said this one of the busiest and most dangerous intersections in Glenwood Springs. It is also where RFTA has its 27th Street bus station, where several connections are made for local and regional services.

RFTA has also been working on a maintenance facility in Glenwood Springs.

Historically, RFTA’s maintenance facility in Aspen has served as the hub for transportation authority for decades. But as staff, facilities, and services have moved downvalley, RFTA has recognized that Aspen is becoming a more of a satellite hub since less and less people are able to live near the Aspen facility. Services are also continuing to extend further and further to the Interstate 70 corridor, such as the Colorado River Valley’s Hogback service.

So, the Glenwood Springs maintenance facility, located on 2307 Wulfsohn Road, has become the central location of RFTA, Ravenschlag said.

“To be able to prepare for the future growth we’re expecting, primarily coming out of the I-70 corridor, as well as the ability to operate a zero-transmissions fleet, which means buses with batteries that need to be in conditioned spaces and not just parked out in the snow, we needed to expand that property,” he said.

For the past couple of years, RFTA has broken this project into multiple phases, mainly because it is difficult to find grant funding that would cover the entire $100 million or so needed. The transportation authority has worked on phases 3, 4, 5, and 7, which includes a new fueling lane, the construction of a facility that will store 60 buses indoors, and a new operations center.

The $75 million cost for the site, which flanks a mountainside, was increased due to construction difficulties, like grading and retaining walls. Ravenschlag said he is expecting RFTA staff to move into the space around Thanksgiving.

RFTA also owns the Rio Grande Rail Corridor and the recreation trail there, so they had five miles repaved between Emma and Catherine Store Roads.

In addition to these projects, the Roaring Fork bridge right outside of Carbondale had some foundational pylons rehabilitated, and a 42-unit employee housing complex was completed.

The housing complex, located on U.S. Highway 6 in Glenwood Springs, used to be a hotel and was converted into housing. It cost RFTA $4 million to purchase the property, and $6 million to renovate. It will be completed on Dec. 2 and will be move-in ready in the new year.

In 2024, RFTA received $47 million in grants. This includes $32 million for the expansion of the Glenwood Springs maintenance facility and $15 million for the purchase of 10 battery electric buses.

Currently, RFTA’s operating and maintenance budget is $72 million. The total 2025 budget, including capital funds, is $152 million. There are a number of large capital projects RTFA will begin next year, such as a facility expansion and the purchase of electric buses, which the transportation authority has received grants for.

In 2025, RFTA will continue construction projects at the Glenwood Springs maintenance facility, including phases 6A, 6B, and 8.

Phase 6A is a new West Glenwood Springs transit center, similar to Rubey Park in Aspen. The site is currently a park-and-ride location, but the transit center will provide more customer service opportunities.

“We don’t really have any customer services available, so if someone has lost and found items or wants to purchase a ticket, they are getting sent to Aspen,” Ravenschlag said.

Phase 6B is an administration building, which will allow RFTA to consolidate its office space. Many administrative staff are located in leased offices around the Roaring Fork Valley and with the new building, the transportation authority can relinquish some of its other leased properties.

Climate action plan

RFTA’s climate action plan was just completed and adopted by its board in 2024, and it lays out a plan for the transit authority to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

Ravenschlag recognized that emissions mainly come from the operation of the buses themselves rather than facilities, so that is an area that the board has targeted. The board also created a zero-emission transition plan for its entire bus fleetwith all battery electric and hydrogen buses.

Hydrogen buses are essentially electric buses because they also operate off battery technology, Ravenschlag said. The hydrogran charges the batteries rather than the batteries being plugged into and charged by a grid.

Hydrogen buses would work better for the valley rather than electric buses because of the longer distances the buses travel, Ravenschlag said.

“There was a feeling that hydrogen buses would be a great solution for this region because the distances we travel are not in a tight urban area where we are able to circulate and get back to a charging point quickly,” he said. “We travel many many miles, and hydrogen could really work well.”

RFTA is also going to place another order for 10 battery electric buses this year; however, the order time frame on these vehicles has grown over the years. It used to be one year from ordering to receiving, and now it is 24 months, so those buses are expected to be delivered in 2026.

In the climate action plan, Ravenschlag said RFTA identified another target was to figure out how to get people to utilize the existing service that is already in place, or rather how to get more people on buses and less people in cars.

Ravenschlag said that a barrier valley residents face are unaffordable fare prices. So, RFTA is working on an initiative that they are hoping to put into effect in 2025, where there will be fare free or reduction in fare times during the day when the buses are less busy and have the capacity to take on more riders.

Commissioner Francie Jacober asked how much RFTA brings in from fares. It is about $5 million, or 6%, of RFTA’s overall revenue, which is “pretty low,” Ravenschlag said.

“We are dipping our toes into that world of possibly going fare free,” he said. “I think that is definitely a great tool in maximizing ridership. We have to then be prepared to accommodate that increased demand, make sure we have the equipment and the drivers to be able to accommodate that.”

Potential strike

Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, one of RFTA’s biggest challenges was getting staff levels back up to where they were pre-pandemic. Ravenschlag said RFTA has made some aggressive moves with wages in the past year that helped recruit and retain drivers.

RFTA bus operators, who are unionized, are nearing the end of a four-year collective bargaining agreement that began in 2021. RFTA added a 22% wage increase in addition to what they negotiated. In total, their wages have increased 52-53% in the past four years, Ravenschlag said.

“It’s been a significant increase. And much of that came from what we felt we needed to increase their wages to be able to make RFTA competitive in recruiting and retaining our workforce. And that’s worked,” he said. “They are currently the highest paid bus operators in the state of Colorado, and I believe they are 12th nationally.”

The RFTA bus operators’ union, however, was approved in October by the Colorado Department of Labor to go on strike by Jan. 1, 2025, if an agreement cannot be reached.

Despite this, Ravenschlag believes they will make progress soon that will avoid any strikes that have been discussed.

Regan Mertz can be reached at 970-429-9153 or rmertz@aspentimes.com.