Council hears proposal for fall fare-free RFTA pilot; city staff and RFTA seek partners to cover a $550,000 cost

Roaring Fork Transit Authority (RFTA) representatives described a proposed fare-free pilot for an off'season window (roughly Sept. 22'Nov. 22) that would temporarily waive fares on most paid routes to test ridership response, mode shift and greenhouse gas benefits. A presenter said, "Last year at about that same time period, we had about 260,000 trips." The RFTA team projected a 30'40% increase and estimated total trips could rise to about 360,000 during an off'season pilot.

Councilors welcomed the experiment but emphasized the need to capture who the new riders are and how much of the increased boardings represent true mode shift versus riders who already hold passes. Staff and RFTA said capturing demographic or origin'destination shifts will require planning and possibly investment in data collection; RFTA staff cautioned that the agencies that ran summer pilot programs captured varying levels of rider profile data and that identifying truly new riders without a fare transaction will be a challenge. The estimated total cost of implementing the pilot and replacing lost fare revenue was discussed at approximately $550,000; staff floated city contribution figures in the $200,000'$250,000 range and said they would seek matches from EOTC and other partners. RFTA indicated May 15 is an internal deadline for vendor readiness and that a fall start could be delayed to spring 2026 if funding or data plans are not finalized.