Years after reducing its service due to staffing challenges, Summit County’s free bus system, Summit Stage, will once again offer 30-minute pick-up times for various routes beginning Sunday, April 21. 

Supporting around 2 million riders each year, the Stage is a critical service for the county’s workers, students and visitors. But an hourly schedule in recent seasons has added some difficulties for commuters. 

For residents like Simon Toupin, missing the Stage can mean being late for work or having to walk a mile or more to reach his destination. Speaking while waiting for a bus at the Frisco Transit Center on Wednesday, Toupin said he’s “so excited,” and “so ready” for a more frequent schedule. 

“I think it will make a big difference for people like me that need to take the bus everywhere,” said Toupin, who relies on the bus every day to make it to work, the ski resort and to attend classes at Colorado Mountain College. 

Local officials hope the change will give people more reasons to ride. 

“Anytime you can increase service, you get better ridership and give people the opportunity to plan better,” said Commissioner Eric Mamula, who also serves on the Summit Stage Transit Advisory Board. “I think 30-minute service gives people the opportunity to utilize the bus to get to work, the slopes, the grocery store or whatever else they use it for.”

Most bus routes were reduced from 30- to 60-minute service in 2021 when a shortage of drivers became further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, a lag in wages and a lack of affordable housing in the county. In the years since, officials have sought ways to bring on more drivers, like boosting pay and increasing housing options. 

Starting hourly pay for drivers rose in 2022 from $20.93 to $29.25, with a further increase to $30.25 planned to go into effect this summer. That figure will then increase to $33.25 after one year, $35.25 after two years and $37.25 after three years of employment.

“Being competitive and staying competitive in a very competitive market of scarce resources — those resources being the talent the drivers that we need — allows us to not only bring back service but improve and even grow transit,” said Transit Director Chris Lubbers. 

The county is also renovating an existing housing structure in Dillon to provide eight housing units for Stage staff that they hope will be ready this summer. And a sweeping proposal to build a $42-million transit center, the largest federally-funded project in the county’s history, is being designed with 10 units that will be reserved for Stage employees in mind.

“We have a history of losing valuable talent because of housing, simply because housing either was not available or time was exceeded in whatever local housing program they were in,” Lubbers said. 

But staff shortages haven’t been the only cause for the county’s limited service. Stage officials say an aging fleet and the time it takes to procure new buses has also made it difficult to meet demand. 

Spending on buses has been staggered since 2017, creating a mixed-fleet of too many older buses and not enough new ones, Lubbers said. For the Stage’s roughly 30-bus fleet to be adequately operational, Lubbers said the county would need to acquire four buses each year to ensure the overall stock of vehicles averages about 300,000 miles. As of last fall, the fleet averaged around 600,000 miles. 

County leaders at the time said their best option for 30-minute service was the Frisco to Copper route, which they implemented for the winter schedule. But this year, Lubbers said officials have made inroads in bringing the Stage’s fleet closer to the 300,000 mile goal after adding five new buses and five used ones. 

“The pressure is off, and we do feel that we have the inventory necessary to bring this 30-minute service to fruition,” he said. 

Mamula said he hopes the county can sustain its more frequent bus service while also building on other public transit options in the future. 

Stay up-to-date on all things Summit County. Get the top stories in your inbox every morning. Sign up here: SummitDaily.com/newsletter

Currently, the county is conducting a microtransit study to gauge community members’ interest in having an on-demand, ride-sharing service.

Commissioners have looked at Park City, Utah, as an example of where microtransit has been a success using a model that allows residents and visitors to select a ride via an app akin to Uber or Lyft. A shuttle then drops them off within a designated area, either at a bus stop for connecting service or directly at the desired location. 

While not to the scope of what commissioners are considering countywide, officials recently deployed shuttle service to the Swan Meadow Village neighborhood to connect its residents with the Summit Cove bus stop. The measure is seen as a stopgap solution to provide service until a permanent Summit Stage stop can be built for the neighborhood. 

Ultimately, more access to public transportation will help meet a number of community goals, from supporting the workforce to improving sustainability, officials said. 

“The more cars that you can get off the road the better it is for the environment, the better it is for parking congestion, the better it is for traffic congestion,” Mamula said. “I think public transit serves a lot of the needs we have being a resort community.”