Boulder County approves RTD funding agreement to restore Gunbarrel shuttle service

Boulder County commissioners on Jan. 21 approved an intergovernmental funding agreement with the Regional Transportation District to access RTD partnership funds for a microtransit shuttle serving the Gunbarrel community.

The agreement will let county staff request proposals for a service provider to operate the Gunbarrel on‑demand shuttle, a service that will cover both the City of Boulder portions of Gunbarrel and unincorporated areas of Boulder County, officials said.

Paul Kwiatkowski, Boulder County transit program manager, said the project “is the end of a few years of planning between RTD, City of Boulder and Boulder County to provide this service of micro transit in the Gunbarrel community.” He described the service as part of the larger Colorado 119 plan and said community engagement had been “very positive.”

Alex Pedre, Regional Model Planning Division manager with Community Planning and Permitting, clarified the geographic coverage: “the portions of Gunbarrel that the service will cover are the City of Boulder incorporated portions and the unincorporated portions in Boulder County.”

Commissioners and staff described the funding as coming from two sources: one‑time RTD Partnership Program funds and a separate pool of federal ARPA‑designated dollars the county is using to restore transit services reduced during the COVID‑19 pandemic. County staff said the RTD Partnership Program funding is intended to support local services that complement RTD’s network and will supplement ARPA funds already committed to restore routes suspended during the pandemic.

Commissioner Stoltzmann (identified in the meeting transcript by name) raised procedural and equity concerns, saying the county lacked a completed transit plan and an equity analysis for prioritizing which suspended routes to restore. “Without understanding the impacts to racial equity around the community, I can't support the ask today,” Stoltzmann said, noting several higher‑ridership routes that remain partially or wholly unreturned since 2020.

County staff replied that the county is in procurement for a countywide strategic transit plan and expected to award a consultant later in January, and that the process used to secure the one‑time funds included a Program of Projects and a Title VI civil‑rights analysis required by the Federal Transit Administration for eligibility as a direct recipient. Staff also said the Colorado Department of Transportation and the governor’s office were involved in the decision to route funds to local urbanized areas.

After discussion the board moved, seconded and approved the funding agreement. No roll‑call vote by name was recorded in the transcript; the chair called for the ayes and then said there were no opposed votes, and the item moved forward.

Staff said the next steps are to issue a request for proposals for a service provider and begin procurement and contracting to launch the shuttle service.

Votes at the meeting recorded the passage of the RTD funding agreement; commissioners’ discussion and requests for follow‑up included a request for staff to provide the historical correspondence from the City of Boulder and additional background about the funding sources and equity analyses.