A busy year for Steamboat Springs Transit saw the city’s fleet of buses, driven by 41 drivers, carry just over 771,000 passengers in 2023 — a full rebound “from COVID ridership,” the city’s transit manager, Jonathan Flint, said Tuesday.

Flint recapped the transit system’s performance at a City Council workshop session, but quickly pivoted toward the need to face capacity issues he hopes to meet over the city’s next budget cycle.

“I know it’s early in the year, we just finished up snow last week it seems like, but we are already in the process of getting ready for next year,” Flint said.

Nationally, public transit system buses carry an average of 27 passengers per hour. In Steamboat, Flint noted, buses transported 35 passengers per hour last year.

“It’s kind of a wonderful problem,” Flint told council members. “It is great in that in most places that I discuss with or look at, they are trying to increase their ridership and get people on the bus. Here, we have a community and a group of guests that arrive and really do rely on mass transit.”

With the high capacity figures seen by Steamboat Springs Transit, Flint said the next goal for his department is to make sure that the city’s fleet of buses and its drivers are able to properly handle the amount of passenger volume they are experiencing.

The transit manager pitched two options for council members to consider when they deliberate over the 2024-25 budget later this year.

Both are designed to rework the system’s current bus lines in a way that meets the capacity issues, and would require roughly 51 drivers to be hired — up from the 47 who worked the most recent season.

The first option, recommended by city staff, would bring an increased cost to the city’s budget with an additional $50,000 added to an expected increase of 3% to the current Steamboat Springs Transit’s roughly $5 million allocation.

That choice would see the addition of three lines in the winter and the elimination of the ExpreSST bus, but would see no changes to summer service.

The second option would add the same three lines and eliminate the ExpreSST bus with no changes to summer service, but would see reduced service in the spring.

“I think we have a capacity issue; we want to bring back the Blue Line, that is probably going to look like four or five additional drivers,” Flint said. “When we get into the budget discussions, that is where we are going to make the final choice.”

Flint explained that the addition and removal of the various bus lines would not stop service at any of the system’s bus stops. The changes might add transit time for some passengers on certain routes, but the ultimate outcome would be to alleviate bus crowding.

Council member Dakotah McGinlay and City Council President Gail Garey asked Flint about adding additional regional transit service currently connecting Craig and Steamboat.

Flint noted a change to that line, along with adding additional night service in Steamboat, were not included in the potential changes to the transit system’s service.

He said adding a bus to the route would represent a roughly $175,000 addition to the budget and a need to hire two more drivers — money that would need to be drawn from the city’s general fund.

Council members made no funding decisions for the transit system at their workshop meeting, but they seemed to agree that adding additional regional service or added service at night would not be likely.

“Short of wishing really, really hard for more money, I support Jonathan’s use of funding under Option 1,” said council member Joella West. “If money fell from heaven, I bet he could figure out how to use that money too, but other than that I think that’s the way to go.”

McGinlay agreed with West. She said the community’s concerns over a need for more regional or late-night service “weigh” on her every time council discusses the city’s transit system, but “so do the concerns of our (transit) director.”

Council member Bryan Swintek told his colleagues that he shared their sentiment, but that he did not agree with moving forward on the option that would increase the transit system’s budget, and preferred the alternative that would adjust the bus routes without adding costs.

“I think we all wish for a night-line and more money, but we are the people who have that ability to put that on a ballot and get dedicated funding for this so we can expand service on the west side and regionally and everything,” Swintek said.

He appealed to council for them to consider a ballot initiative to provide dedicated funding to fund transportation. For example, he said voters could decide to dedicate a portion of the city’s short-term rental tax revenue to help fill the gap.

“There is no room in the budget; taking the additional $50,000 is only kicking the can down the road,” Swintek said. “Let’s try to work together, rather than robbing Peter to pay Paul so that we feel better today in asking questions about regional service that there is simply no money for.”