The following recommendation comes from the Aspen Institute’s State of Play Colorado: Aspen to Parachute report. The report assesses the opportunities and barriers for more children to access play, sports and outdoor recreation in rural Colorado communities.

When David Johnson, Roaring Fork Transportation Authority (RFTA) director of planning and communications, visited Helsinki, Finland recently, he was blown away by the city’s public transportation system. Seemingly every sidewalk was wide enough for walking or waiting for buses. Every transportation connection was thoughtfully designed. Every dangerous street crossing had a light that caused traffic to stop. Every aspect of the transportation system was intentionally built for walking or taking the train or bus.

Something else stood out, too: Young children moved around without parents, carrying tennis bags, hockey sticks, soccer balls and other sports equipment. “I was super impressed,” Johnson said. “We have a ways to go to be as intentional here, unfortunately.”

Transportation is one of the most significant barriers preventing more children in the Roaring Fork and Colorado River valleys from accessing sports and other forms of physical activity. RFTA recently began offering a $1 fare for youth 18 and under on all regional routes. As of March 2022, children under age 16 comprised less than 2% of all RFTA bus ridership, and youth ages 16-18 made up 5%. In our survey, 11% of youth from Roaring Fork School District and 9% from Aspen School District said they usually travel to their sports or organized athletic activities via RFTA — far higher than youth ridership from Garfield School District Re-2 (4%) and Garfield School District 16 (1%).

Safety is one factor influencing low youth ridership. “A parent or child may be a little more reluctant to use the bus today than 10 years ago due to safety concerns,” Johnson said. “It used to feel more like a small town.”

The regional growth of WE-cycle offers short, transit-oriented trips for anyone, including teens, at no cost to help address gaps by bus routes. Here are some other ways to help better transport youth:

Build better walking infrastructure between bus stops and parks/youth facilities. Children need physically safe walking and bike paths to and from bus stops to their destination. In many cases, consistent lighting and a paved walking surface that can be plowed for snow can make a difference.
“RFTA is successful because of our geography being very land-constrained, and all we do is go up and down the Highway 82 corridor,” Johnson said. “But the infrastructure between that is not that great. There are plenty of places where the sidewalk ends and it’s clear it’s just an afterthought.”
Create more bus stops closer to schools, rec centers and parks for after-school activities, and add more cross-town shuttles. This is true in many communities served by RFTA. Some parents and coaches complained that RFTA doesn’t stop at any Carbondale schools, although it does serve Carbondale Recreation Center. Johnson acknowledged that RFTA could particularly improve its access to the Glenwood Springs recreation center.
“Glenwood Springs is so congested, and if we ran all of our buses through there, that’s about a three-mile increase in distance and we estimate a 50% increase in operating costs to get through there,” Johnson said. “We don’t serve well downtown Glenwood Springs or West Glenwood where the rec center is.”
Find more bus drivers. Any conversation about adjusting bus schedules must acknowledge that there’s a shortage of drivers. RFTA cut back service on four routes, including its most popular Roaring Fork Valley commuter route, for winter 2023-24 due to a lack of drivers.
For RFTA to have maintained the frequency of the routes that winter, it needed around 200 drivers. RFTA had about 160. That’s due to a combination of low unemployment rates and skyrocketing housing costs, Johnson said. RFTA recently raised its wages to start at $30 per hour or $62,000 a year to attract more drivers.
If politically viable, expand bus service in western Garfield County. RFTA officials say it’s vital to increase transit between Glenwood Springs and Parachute due to two recent traffic studies. One shows roughly 50% of morning rush-hour traffic passing through Glenwood Springs to points south comes from western Garfield County. Another study concluded that regional population growth over the next 20 years will be most acute between Glenwood Springs and Parachute to the west, with Glenwood Springs bearing the most benefits and impacts of this growth.
The Garfield County municipalities of New Castle, Glenwood Springs and Carbondale are members of RFTA and collect sales tax revenues for transit. Sales tax ballot measures for RFTA service failed in Silt and Garfield County in 2004 and again in Silt in 2008. The voters may not have reflected the potential ridership of community residents who could benefit from bus service the most. Rifle voters rejected a sales tax in 2006. “We want them to learn from our experience and we want to be part of the solution,” Johnson said. “Whether or not RFTA does the service, if transit improves in one area of the corridor, the whole system gets better.”

Jon Solomon is Community Impact Director of the Aspen Institute’s Project Play initiative. Jon can be reached at jon.solomon@aspeninstitute.org.