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Record ridership for RFTA during X Games

Elise Thatcher

A big snowstorm hit during the X Games this winter, making it hard to get around on the event’s biggest day. But as Aspen Public Radio’s Elise Thatcher reports, the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority still saw record ridership that weekend.

RFTA officials say there were more than 50,000 rides on the Saturday of the X Games weekend. That’s usually the biggest day of the January event, but this year’s ridership was about 12,000 more than last year, and about 20,000 more rides than the Saturday before the 2016 X Games.

“That blizzard came in just about when the X Games was getting over [on Saturday],” said co-director of operations John Hocker at a RFTA board meeting on Thursday. “People were coming for the concert that evening. So with the highway being closed for 45 minutes, it put a real dent in our game plan of moving people.”

 

Hocker said this year’s record was right at the limit of what RFTA can handle.

The ridership numbers were a bright point in Thursday’s meeting. RFTA is considering a big picture review of how it is doing, and whether it should improve or expand its services. CEO Dan Blankenship said a plan of some kind is necessary so the agency can decide how to replace buses and cover other upcoming expenses.

“Our forecasts indicate that barring our ability to garner a significant amount of grant funds from the state and federal government,” explained Blankenship, “that we’re probably going to need more local resources, in order to replace those buses in a timely fashion.”

The review has an updated price tag of $1 million, up from the previously estimated $200,000. Board members have asked Blankenship to find a way to bring that cost down. A decision is expected in June on whether to go with a bare bones look at the future or a more comprehensive vision for the coming decades.

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