Mountain Metropolitan Transit (MMT) was honored to receive the Colorado Association of Transit Agencies (CASTA) Large Community Transit Agency of the Year award. The award is given to recognize best practices implemented by a transit agency serving a community of more than 15,000 people. Thirteen CASTA member agencies fall into this category. Award winners are determined by a CASTA committee comprised of managers and employees of transit agencies from around the state.
“Six years ago Colorado Springs had a bare bones transit system. We had no bus service during evenings and weekends and three-fourths of our weekday routes ran on 60 minute frequencies. We operated 255 days of the year. Today, our transit service is at a new level. We now operate 362 days of the year and the revenue service hours of our local fixed-route bus system have increased by 59% since 2010,” commented Craig Blewitt, transit services division manager.
Blewitt accepted the award on behalf of the City of Colorado Springs. In 2016, Mountain Metro increased bus service frequency to 15 minutes on a major north/south corridor connecting Downtown to the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs campus and two urban renewal areas. MMT added four routes on evenings or weekends and reconfigured two long, circuitous “coverage” bus routes into four shorter, direct, functional routes – providing quicker travel times and improved on time performance. The four reconfigured routes enjoy a combined average of 91.9% on time performance, up from the previous average of 81.5%.
