Monroe Newsome termed his first time using the FLEX bus service between Fort Collins and Longmont a success. Newsome just wasn’t happy about the reason he had to take the free trip.
Newsome’s clothes were stolen while he was staying in Fort Collins and he had to take the FLEX back there this past week to file a police report.
“They (the thieves) took everything,” said Newsome, who is now staying in a Longmont motel. “But I gotta tell you the ride up there was exceptional. The scenery was beautiful. And I am so grateful the ride was free.”
Newsome is not alone in his feelings for the FLEX, a fixture along the U.S. 287 corridor since 2010. Many Longmonters depend on the bus service to get to jobs and make other appointments in Loveland and Fort Collins, said a city of Longmont staff report.
City Council in December agreed with the staff’s recommendation and renewed Longmont’s continued commitment to help fund FLEX for $176,992 in 2022.
The pandemic likely cut ridership in 2020 and a recent performance report on FLEX was not available prior to the December council meeting. Still, city staff recommended continued support of this service because it provides transportation to people without private vehicles and who need access to critical jobs along the U.S. 287 corridor.
“That’s great to hear,” said Ryen Bound, who lives in Longmont and works in Loveland. “It’s dependable and it’s an RTD bus, so it’s comfortable,” said Bound while running to get to the late afternoon FLEX bus at Eighth Avenue and Coffman Street.
A FLEX bus also stops at the Park-n-RIde at 21st Avenue and Main Street.
FLEX began In 2009, when Fort Collins and Loveland secured a two-year Congestion Mitigation/Air Quality to fund a new bus service from Fort Collins to Longmont through Berthoud and Loveland. The bus service began in June 2010 and two years later the grant expired, according to a city staff report.
The municipalities along the FLEX route agreed to increase their payments to replace the original grant. A second grant to extend the bus service to the city of Boulder and the University of Colorado-Boulder ended at the end of 2018, the staff reports states.
By then, local officials agreed the bus service was viable and more partnerships were to come to the table going along the growing U.S. 287 corridor, the staff report said.
The city’s share of the FLEX ridership is 12%, which is covered by the $176,992, the staff report states.
Fort Collins operates the Transfort bus system, which includes FLEX, and is currently not charging fares for FLEX. The city is entitled to start charging for FLEX rides, provided there is enough public notice of the change, according to the intergovernmental agreement between Fort Collins and Longmont.
.
