COLORADO SRPINGS – —Andy Garton delivered what sounded like a eulogy for the FrontRange Express bus line Monday.
Garton offered Colorado Springs Transit Solutions Team recommendations to the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority board of directors. By far the biggest — and most controversial — recommendation was eliminating FREX, the weekday commuter bus service between Colorado Springs and Denver.
“Bottom line, we have a local transit system we have to maintain,” said Garton, Transit Business Administrator for Colorado Springs. “It’s a tough decision. The service is a good one between here and Denver but we don’t have a partner in Denver, or one in Castle Rock any more.”
PPRTA contributed nearly $7 million to Colorado Springs’ 2012 transit operating budget — at 30 percent, the largest piece of that pie — with nearly $800,000 going to FREX, which cost just over $2 million this year.
City bus routes have been trimmed over the last several years but eliminating FREX won’t bring those back, Garton said.
“It won’t help put any more service back on the street,” he said. “But it’ll help maintain and stabilize our local service.”
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