Transportation

Transportation

Success Story

A Chain Reaction

A Longmont nonprofit gets children started with bike maintenance.

The Mobility for All (M4A) Program in conjunction with Chain Reaction, a startup nonprofit in Longmont, held a Bicycle Maintenance 101 workshop at Casa de la Esperanza to teach residents how to use the bicycle maintenance station M4A installed. Over the two hour workshop there were approximately 15 children who participated.

Some participants were shy and apprehensive at first, but really opened up and got excited about fixing flats. Alondra Cabrera, reluctantly brought her bike with a flat front tire up to the maintenance station, but was too shy to ask them to fix it for her. The Chain Reaction trainers used her bike as the first demonstration and in the end she had helped patch her own inner tube and two others! She was beaming with pride as the trainers reassembled her bike and told her that she can tell all her friends that she fixed the flat. It was really great to see the participants’ new found confidence when talking about taking care of their own bikes.

Why It Matters
What's Being Done
Transportation
Why it Matters

Economy

Essential
for commuters

On bus routes that Boulder County currently invests in, 10% of commuters would not be able to maintain their employment without access to these transit services.

22%
of annual income

Transportation is a basic economic need. Households making $54K per year spend 22% of their household income on transportation, 7% more than recommended. Affordable transportation frees up money to be spent on other family priorities.

72%
of households

The Community Food Share of Boulder conducted a survey of their clients and found that “72% of households report choosing between paying for food and paying for transportation or gas for a car at least once in the past 12 months; 43 percent face this choice every month."

If it weren’t for this I would not have a job or a ride to a job.”
Ride Free Longmont Survey Respondent
Why it Matters

Climate

1,650
metric tons CO2E

Carbon emissions were reduced by 1,650 metric tons CO2e in one year through county-supported EcoPasses and transit service support.

1,200
participants

1,200 people have participated in the Boulder County Clean Air Challenge, which has offset nearly 680,000 vehicle miles, 30,000 gallons of gasoline, 2,900 pounds of ozone-forming pollutants, and 340 tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

 

I like trip tracker so much ‘cause it can stop polluting the air when children are trying to get to the schools.”
Trip Tracker, 1st Grader
Why it Matters

Social

3x
the ridership

Since Ride Free Longmont launched, bus ridership has tripled in Longmont and is providing important mobility benefits.

Four Bus-then-Bike shelters were completed to make it easier and safer for residents to use multiple modes of transit.

$8K +
per person, per year

The national average annual cost of automobile ownership is $8,500 or more: this amount is simply not an option for the 40,000 county residents living at or below the poverty line. A bicycle and education provides residents with the opportunity for a safe, reliable and environmentally sustainable mode of transportation.

It has made it a lot easier to get around town especially for someone who doesn’t have a car like me to get to work. It helps out more than people think.”
Dennen Bustamante, Longmont bus rider
What’s Being done

Progress

22%
less

Boulder County individuals drive their cars 22% less than other residents in the Central Front Range.

13.8
miles

Boulder County continues to develop a Regional Trail system with 13.8 miles of regional trail connections since 2008.

30-40%
increase

After providing EcoPasses, ridership increased between 30 and 40 percent on the Lyons and Nederland bus routes. Nederland is sustaining this success through the community’s approval of a public improvement district with a property tax assessment to permanently fund the program.

What’s Being done

Initiatives

Mobility for All

Mobility for All provides multimodal transportation assistance through a variety of programs, fosters collaboration between transportation and human service organizations, and conducts public education and outreach on the importance of transportation options.

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Trip Tracker

Trip Tracker is a program that engages school staff and students, along with their families, in helping to reduce car traffic at schools and in surrounding neighborhoods. The program improves safety, physical activity level, and our air quality.

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Ride Free Longmont

Thanks to Ride Free Longmont, all local bus routes within Longmont will be free for all users until December 31, 2016.

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Transit Enhancements

Boulder County supports multimodal transportation options. A key component is bus transit accessibility and linkages between buses and biking.

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Earn-a-Bike Program Implementation

Boulder County and Community Cycles developed the program in order to increase transportation options available to low-income residents. The program is open to Boulder County Housing Authority (BCHA) residents.

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Bike Count Program

Started in 2013, the Bike Count program aims to understand cyclists’ usage of Boulder County roadways, so that improvements can be made in order to facilitate more biking throughout the area.

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Benefits Boulder County

This seasonal program is led by Boulder County's Sustainability Office in partnership with Boulder County municipalities, to help support solar applications and electric vehicle purchases. Watch for this in Spring 2017!

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What’s Being done

Take Action

  • Want to find bicycle-friendly routes to work, school, or for errands?

    Boulder County updates a helpful bike map or you can find copies at bike stores, libraries, and chambers of commerce. Stay safe and register for the Boulder County Bike Listserv.

  • Have you wanted to try out riding the bus but not sure how?

    Start by checking out the county transit map as well as local service provider RTD’s website.

  • Struggling with the first or final mile of your commute?

    Try out the Bike-then-Bus shelters.  Bus-Bike shelters provide secure and weather-protected bicycle storage at primary transit connector locations. Sign-up in five easy steps.