Longmont City Council to help pursue microtransit system for city

The Longmont City Council decided to support city staff in their pursuit of a microtransit system for Longmont during its regular Tuesday night meeting.

In three votes of 6-0, the council chose to direct staff on the pursuit of microtransit for Longmont, to approve the city’s application for the Regional Transportation District Partnership program, and to direct staff on the future of Ride Free Longmont.

Councilman Tim Waters was absent for the meeting and did not vote.

In a presentation to the council, Transportation Planning Manager Phil Greenwald explained that the microtransit system would operate with four to six vans that could be requested for rides by people all over Longmont. Similar to services like Uber and Lyft, Greenwald said the program would offer a more flexible transportation option for residents of the city.

“It really is an idea of extending transit… to other citizens of the city, to be able to cover the entire city with microtransit,” he said.

Greenwald said cities similar to Longmont already use a microtransit program and explained the city would administer the system but it would be run by a private contractor. Longmont could receive up to $600,000 for the project through the RTD Partnership program, which Greenwald explained is in its first year.

“We’d at least like to get the program started,” he said.

RTD’s new and expanded services include a new transit fare system in 2024 where riders under 19 would be free. Other upcoming changes include reduced fares for low-income individuals and the Access-a-Ride program.

The councilmembers decided that the application should ask for the maximum amount of $600,000.

“I wouldn’t want to face our constituents if we didn’t take a chance at getting some money back out of RTD,” said Councilwoman Marcia Martin.

Councilwoman Susie Hidalgo-Fahring expressed concern that riders would struggle to get used to new schedules and routes with the implementation of a new system. City manager Harold Dominguez and Greenwald responded that programs like Ride Free Longmont would be more effective if they were reinvested into microtransit.

“The trade-off that’s in play is more access,” Dominguez said. “Right now, there is a vast amount of our community that doesn’t really have access to the routes now. So this is getting to those individuals so that they can then tap into the route structure we have.”