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Aspen Mayor's advice on regional transit is go for it

Squamish-Whistler commuter pilot project wins award

If Aspen Mayor Helen Klanderud and her colleagues from the Rolling Forks region waited for the government of Colorado to approve their plans for a regional transit service, things might not have worked out the way they did.

As it currently stands the Rolling Forks Transit Authority – which was at last made official in the mid 1990’s – is the second largest mass transit system in the entire state behind Denver. More than 3.2 million people use the RFTA service each year to commute between communities in the corridor, and to get to jobs which are overwhelmingly within the resort of Aspen.

Klanderud visited Whistler, Pemberton and Squamish last week to talk about transportation issues and explain how communities in the Rolling Forks region took the bull by the horns in implementing its own bus service at a time when state government still didn’t recognize the need or potential for transit in rural communities.

The situation is similar to Whistler, said Klanderud, where a growing number of resort employees now live outside the municipality in Pemberton and Squamish, and local governments are seeking to establish their own transit authority.

The commuter service between Pemberton and Whistler was approved before the B.C. government froze funding levels for B.C. Transit, and receives almost equal funding from the province under an approved formula. The rest of the costs are shared between the farebox, and equal contributions by local governments.

For the past two winters Whistler and Squamish have also collaborated on a pilot commuter service between the two communities that was more popular and cost-effective than either community had hoped for. Armed with rider numbers and the endorsement of local governments in Whistler, Squamish and the regional district, the communities are putting together a report to present to the province in the hope that the province, through B.C. Transit, will provide funding.

Klanderud’s message to the people who attended the Whistler meeting was ‘don’t wait’. Before there was an official Rolling Forks Transit Authority, with taxation powers awarded by the state government, there was the Rolling Forks Transit Agency formed by Aspen and bedroom communities down the highway. Communities voluntarily agreed to fund the service, with the help of a contribution from the Aspen Ski Company.

"The agency was elected officials, the ski companies, and before we did anything we went out to talk to other businesses in the communities to find out what their needs are," said Klanderud. "We did our homework. In the end the communities in the corridor contributed to the service because they wanted to, not because they had to – until the authority was formed and we had funding through taxes."

Before the agency was formed, getting in and out of Aspen could be a traffic nightmare. There are still a few traffic issues, but the number of cars on the road has stabilized with many employees choosing to take the bus to commute to work. The community has also taken steps to advertise Aspen’s free municipal service and the pay regional service to tourists. "We tell them you don’t need a car, don’t bring a car, don’t rent a car," said Klanderud. "A lot of people listen."

The service still has a few issues. For example, it takes twice as long to get from the end of the line in the town of Rifle to Aspen by bus as it does by car. The transit service is also partially funded by pay parking, which was unpopular when it was introduced, and resort employees are resisting attempts to expand the pay-parking program to side streets. Parking is free on most streets for two hours.

"Some people would rather get out and move their car every two hours than take the bus," said Klanderud.

Despite the issues that will come up, Klanderud’s advice to Sea to Sky communities is to "go for it," and not to wait for the provincial government to launch a regional transit agency. "Once it’s there and it’s working, they’re going to have to recognize it," she said.

Whistler Councillor Gordon McKeever was one of the local representatives who came to hear Klanderud speak, and get ideas how to bring Aspen’s model to the corridor.

"There were a lot of things I took away from (Klanderud’s presentation) and one was to keep moving and have a structure in place," he said. "Kind of like we did with financial tools when we talked to other resorts around the province. It made sense to get everyone together on the same ground, to get all the stakeholders together and come up with a consensus of what we wanted to do to take to Victoria.

"In this case the next possible step is to develop our own transit authority concept – get the players together, get a cohesive plan together and present it to Victoria."

McKeever pointed out that the pilot commuter service between Whistler and Squamish recently won an award from the Canadian Urban Transit Association for Outstanding Achievement in new service development.

"We wanted to run the project as a pilot to verify the interest and to give us some clear ammunition to take to the province, and now we have an award winning plan," said McKeever.

Klanderud’s visit was organized by the Leadership Sea to Sky Forum after a meeting last year when representatives from local governments and other stakeholders were brought together to discuss common issues within the corridor. According to Whistler Forum president William Roberts, representatives at that meeting identified transportation as the number one issue.

"It was on top of a long list of issues, including housing, development, the economy – everyone said transportation was a major concern," said Roberts. "It’s also one of those great issues that promotes cooperation and dialogue between communities, especially when you work together for a solution."