- Mountain Metropolitan Transit
-
Mountain Metropolitan Transit 
Headquarters 107 North Nevada Ave Locale Colorado Springs, Colorado Service area El Paso County, Colorado Service type bus service Routes 24 Fuel type Diesel Web site Mountain Metro Mountain Metropolitan Transit is the public transportation operator for the metro area of Colorado Springs, Colorado. In addition to 18 local routes, commuter bus service (FREX) to the city of Denver, and Woodland Park (Ute Pass Express) is also provided.
Prior to November 2, 2005, this transit system was called Springs Transit. The week of November 2, 2005 would also introduce bus service on Sundays for the first time. A lack of Sunday bus service was a common complaint among riders.
By early 2006, the number of transfer stations increased from two (Downtown Terminal and Citadel Mall) to eleven stations throughout the city (UCCS, Chapel Hills Mall, Hancock Plaza, PPCC Centennial Campus, etc.). This allowed more direct bus service and allowed more routes to be created that don't have to go to the downtown terminal to transfer. For example, there were two routes running on Academy Blvd, one on the north part of Academy and another on the south part. That was reduced to just one route running the length of Academy Blvd, which was much easier for riders.
Frequency on weekdays for the most popular routes was 35 minutes. Medium ridership routes ran every 35 minutes during the peak hours. Frequency for medium ridership routes during the off-peak hours and lower ridership routes was every 70 minutes. Frequency on evenings and Sundays was 60 minutes. Frequency on Saturdays was 30 minutes for the higher ridership routes and 60 minutes for the other routes. Evening service ran Monday through Saturday. All routes were changed to run on the current 30 and 60 minute headways in the fall of 2008 after the debut of the Ute Pass Express.
Colorado Springs was deeply affected by the budget crisis. In January 2009, the fare increased from $1.50 to $1.75. Several routes were eliminated in April 2009, including most of the low-ridership routes, five express routes, eight transfer stations, and the free downtown shuttle (DASH). In addition, a few of the remaining routes had their frequency reduced from 30 minutes to 60 minutes. Due to the elimination of route 13, routes 9 and 14 began running evenings and Sundays.
All evening and weekend bus service was terminated on January 1, 2010, along with the elimination of routes 30, 92, 93, and 95 due to the failure of 2C. As a result, from January 1, 2010 to March 7, 2011, Colorado Springs was the largest city in the United States that had no public transit service on weekends.
Mountain Metropolitan Transit recently received 8.8 million dollars in ARRA funds. This money is being used for many things such as allowing subcontractors to provide bus service, preventative maintenance, a new transit facility, 29 new paratransit vehicles, 3 new buses, security cameras installed on the buses, and improvements to the downtown terminal.
It was announced that partial weekend service will return for 2011 due to the city's budget being higher than expected. On March 12, 2011, limited Saturday service returned, with routes 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12, 14, and 25 running at hourly intervals.
Contents
Bus Fleet
The current bus fleet consists primarily of Gillig Phantoms and Gillig BRT's. Mountain Metro Transit also has two Gillig Low Floors, purchased in 2002.
Buses manufactured prior to 2005 are painted white and sport a large purple "metro" logo (as seen in the photograph). All buses purchased from 2005-onwards are painted in a variety of colors (blue, green, purple, lavender, gold, maroon, aqua, teal, silver, orange, black)and have a purple interior scheme.
Most of the 1999 Phantom fleet (except for 9908, 9909, and 9917) was retired and sold in October 2009 due to the April 2009 service cuts. The rest of the 1999 fleet was sold in April 2010.
The 2001 Gillig Phantoms are mainly used as backup buses due to the January 2010 service cuts. These buses still occasionally run routes, but not as often as they did back in 2009.
The NovaBus RTS's were bought to be used on express routes going to Monument. In 2004, they began running on the newly-introduced FrontRange Express (FREX). When the FREX received 19 Gillig BRT's in 2007, the RTS's were painted in a new livery and ran on various express routes. As of 2010, these buses have been retired from active service because the last three express routes were eliminated.
The following chart lists all buses bought from 1975 up to the present day.
Fleet # Quantity Year Manufacturer Model Size Seating Capacity Engine Transmission Retired 1629–1642 13 1975 GM New Look T6H-4523A 35 ft. 45 Detroit Diesel 6V71 Allison VS-2 1994? 1643–1645 3 1976 GM New Look T6H-4523A 35 ft. 45 Detroit Diesel 6V71 Allison VS-2 1999 1646–1650 5 1978 Flxible New Look 45096-6-1 35 ft. 45 Detroit Diesel 6V71 Allison V730 1999 1651–1664 14 1979 GMC RTS-03 35 ft. unknown Detroit Diesel 8V71 Allison V730 1999? 1665–1668 4 1979 GMC RTS-03 40 ft. unknown Detroit Diesel 8V71 Allison V730 1999? 1669–1672 4 1983 Gillig Phantom 35 ft. 35 Detroit Diesel 6V92TA Allison HT-747 2004–2006 1673–1674 2 1983 Gillig Phantom 40 ft. 43 Detroit Diesel 6V92TA Allison HT-747 2004–2006 1675–1684 10 1991 Gillig Phantom 35 ft. 35 Detroit Diesel 6V92TA Allison HT-748 2006 1685–1694 10 1994 Gillig Phantom 35 ft. 37 Detroit Diesel Series 50 ZF Ecomat 4HP-590 2009 9701-9708 8 1997 New Flyer D30LF 30 ft. 25 Detroit Diesel Series 40 Allison B300R 2008 9901-9921 21 1999 Gillig Phantom 35 ft. 37 Detroit Diesel Series 50 Allison B400R 2009–2010 0401-? ? 1999 Ebus N/A 22 ft. 22 Battery-electric motor N/A 2007–2008 0101-0105 5 2001 Gillig Phantom 35 ft. 37 Detroit Diesel Series 50 EGR Voith D863.3E in service 0108-0110, 0112, 0114-0118 9 2001 ABI TSV-30 30 ft. 23 Cummins ISB Allison B300R 2008 0210 1 2001 Eldorado Aerotech (Ford E-450 chassis) 28 ft. 12 Power Stroke 7.3 liter turbodiesel Ford 4-speed automatic 2008 0201-0203 3 2002 NovaBus RTS-06 WFD 40 ft. 37 Cummins ISM ZF 6HP-592C? 2010 0204-0205 2 2002 Eldorado Aerotech (Ford E-450 chassis) 28 ft. 12 Power Stroke 7.3 liter turbodiesel Ford 4-speed automatic 2008 0206-0207 2 2002 Gillig Phantom 35 ft. 37 Cummins ISC Allison B400R in service 0208-0209 2 2002 Gillig Low Floor 40 ft. 40 Cummins ISC Allison B400R in service 0501-0504 4 2005 Gillig BRT 35 ft. 32 Cummins ISL Allison B400R in service 0505-0507 3 2005 Gillig BRT 40 ft. 40 Cummins ISL Allison B400R in service 0601-0612 12 2006 Gillig BRT 40 ft. 40 Caterpillar C9 Allison B400R in service 0700-0706 7 2007 Gillig BRT 35 ft. 32 Caterpillar C9 Voith D864.5 in service F0701-F0719 19 2007 Gillig BRT 40 ft. 40 Cummins ISM Voith D864.5 in service (9 sold as of February 8, 2010) 0800-0805 6 2008 Gillig BRT 35 ft. 32 Caterpillar C9 Voith D864.5 in service 5581-5585 5 2008 Eldorado Aerotech (Ford E-450 chassis) unknown 16 6.8 liter Triton V10 (gasoline) 4-speed automatic 2009–2010 (one or two remain in service) ? 5 2008 Champion Defender (Chevrolet chassis) 33 ft. 24 Duramax Diesel 6.6 liter V8 Allison 2000 in service F0701-F0719 were bought to be used on the Front Range Express (FREX) to replace older buses that were prone to breaking down.
The Champion Defender buses were bought to be used on the Ute Pass Express. However, the Ute Pass Express was eliminated in late-October of 2011. It is currently unknown if the buses are going to be used on existing fixed-route service or be retired altogether.
Most of the Eldorado buses were retired and sold after only one to two years of service due to the 2009 and 2010 service cuts. At least one, possibly two remain in service running only on route 31.
Route list
Route # Destinations Frequency Notes 1 Hillside - Hancock Plaza 30 minutes 3 Colorado Ave - Manitou Springs 30 minutes 4 8th Street - Broadmoor 60 minutes 5 Boulder - Citadel 30 minutes 6 Wahsatch - Citadel 60 minutes 7 Pikes Peak Ave - Citadel 30 minutes 8 Cache la Poudre St 60 minutes 9 Cascade - North Nevada Ave 30 minutes 10 Hwy 115 - Pikes Peak Community College 60 minutes 11 World Arena - Pikes Peak Community College 60 minutes 12 Palmer Park Blvd 60 minutes 14 Chestnut & Garden of the Gods Rd - Austin Bluffs & Academy 60 minutes Originally ran every 30 minutes. 15 E. Las Vegas St - Pikes Peak Community College 60 minutes 16 Brookside St - Uintah Gardens 60 minutes 22 Security - Widefield 60 minutes 24 Galley Rd - Petterson AFB 60 minutes 25 Academy Blvd 30 minutes 31 City of Fountain - Pikes Peak Community College 60 minutes Low-ridership route - Front Range Express (FREX)
- Ute Pass Express
Transfer Stations
Transfer Station Routes Downtown Terminal 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 Citadel Mall 5, 6, 7, 8, 22, 24, 25 Pikes Peak Community College 10, 11, 15, 25, 31 Fares
Cash Fares Price Basic Fare $1.75 Economy Fare
(child, disabled, senior, student)$0.85 Zone Fare
(applied to any travel within the City of Fountain)$1.00 Transfer Free Discount Tickets Price Notes 31-Day Ticket $63.00 31-Day Ticket with Zone Fare $68.50 Adult 22-Ride Ticket $35.00 Economy 22-Ride Ticket $17.50 Summer Haul Pass
(Ages 6–18)$20.00 Unlimited rides from June 1 to August 31 References
1. http://www.ttmg.org/pages/gillig/mmt-gillig.html Transit Talk. Retrieved 2010-06-05
2. http://www.springsgov.com/transit Retrieved 2010-09-04Categories:- Bus transportation in Colorado
- Transportation in Colorado Springs, Colorado
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