Mountain Biking: Rubber side down- Time for a TurnaroundWell, my friends, things are finally looking up, and good timing, too, since I’m sure you’re all sick of me bitching. Recent bike build, including wheels… fun! In what feels like a fairly short time, I’ve come from sitting around … Continue reading → […]
- This Raised My PulseHey, baby… wanna ride? I may be injured, but I’m not dead yet. I can still have racy thoughts. Here’s more info. In other news, UBI was an awesome success! I had a blast. I highly recommend it. Overhaul day…. … Continue reading → […]
- Time for a Turnaround
- Edgy Veggie
Boulder commuting stats: Driving alone still preferred method
Just over half of Boulder commuters drive alone to get to work. Compared to the rest of Colorado, that’s pretty impressive, we’re also built better for it in the city, so we probably should be comparing ourselves to other cities that are bike- and bus-friendly.
The other number that sticks out on this data from the 2009 U.S. Census American Community Survey is our work-from-home number — but we already knew that.
Here’s some of the relevant data:
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Location | Drive alone | Carpool | Public transportation | Bike | Walk | Work from home | |
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Boulder | 51.2 | 4.8 | 9.8 | 12.32 | 9.66 | 10.26 | |
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Longmont | 80.7 | 6.2 | 3 | 0.7 | 0.59 | 7.15 | |
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Boulder County | 64.9 | 7 | 5.3 | 4.77 | 4.33 | 12.05 | |
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Colorado | 74.3 | 10.1 | 3.3 | 1.4 | 3 | 6.74 |
In Amsterdam, they take more trips by bike than by car. Consider that!
In Portland, bike traffic constitutes 20 percent of the traffic on some roads, leading to bikejams.
Until we’re having bikejams — or until I have to stand up for part of my bus commute — it seems like there’s still a lot of education to be done. (But please don’t cut bus service to artificially make this happen. Here’s a great post from our neighbors to the south on that line of thinking.)
Note: When I lived on the Skip line, I did have to stand up — often.
FLEX bus: Longmont, Berthoud, Loveland, Ft. Collins get connected
FLEX bus map from RTD
We do like to be useful around here, so we’re glad to see that someone linked to us in trying to solve some commute worries. The case in question involved a Boulder-to-Loveland trip and, as of today, that trip became a one-transfer trip (or maybe two if you’re starting from somewhere difficult in Boulder).
The RTD FLEX bus starts service today. Here’s the FLEX bus schedule (PDF).
A quick picture from the Loveland Reporter-Herald of what a FLEX bus schedule might look like for a commuter (shift the hours back a touch for a “normal” commute):
[Mass-transit advocate Gary] Thomas will depart from the transit center at The Square retail center in Fort Collins at 5 a.m. Monday and arrive at Longmont’s south transit center at Coffman and Eighth streets just after 6 a.m.
There, riders have the option of boarding RTD express buses for Denver or Boulder.
Day festivals in Fort Collins just got a bit closer. And folks who commute along this path are happier now, too, according to a Times-Call story about FLEX bus riders.
“It’s about time,” [Longmont resident Connie] Poole said of the new bus route.
She said she’d been frustrated in the past with the lack of a bus route connecting Longmont to Larimer County.
Andrea Robbins, ‘the Eco Pass lady,’ retiring
Andrea Robbins, director of Go Boulder, the city's alternative transportation program, leaves on her bike from her office in the Park Central Building on Thursday. Kasia Broussalian/CAMERA
The Boulder bus system is well-known and well-used in Boulder, but perhaps less well-known is the woman responsible for many of the most convenient aspects of the transit system: Andrea Robbins. Now, after 18 years working for Go Boulder, Robbins is retiring. Read more
FLEX northern Colorado bus service launches in June
Coyote Ridge near Fort Collins | flickr user gregor_y
If you were looking to get up to Fort Collins by bus (say, for some beer or rock ‘n’ roll or for the 2010 Tour de Fat on Sept. 4), it looks like you can take the BOLT to Longmont and take the FLEX up to Fort Collins — starting in just a couple of weeks. Read more
Neighborhood Eco Pass progam gets rolling again
A man walks to one of the waiting buses at the Boulder Transit Center in Boulder. Photo by Mark Leffingwell.
Public transportation fans in Boulder are rejoicing.
The program that allowed neighbors in Boulder to band together and qualify for the Eco Pass — the little card that allows you to Jump, Skip, Hop and Dash all over town for no additional costs – is being resurrected.
Boulder Bus Routes
Beginning Jan. 1, Boulder neighborhoods will once again be invited to sign up for the popular Eco Pass program.
The Regional Transportation District board of directors voted Tuesday night to lift a yearlong moratorium on the discounted annual bus passes. RTD officials voted last October to freeze the program at its current numbers and not to allow new neighborhoods to sign up — or existing ones to expand — amid concerns that the passes were too cheap.
John Tayer, Boulder’s representative on the RTD board who spearheaded the effort to re-open the program, called the decision a “huge achievement.”
“I know that people are still interested in forming neighborhood Eco Pass groups,” Tayer said.
Read the full story at DailyCamera.com, or check out the public transportation resource page on BigGreenBoulder.
