Members of the CSU and Fort Collins community are invited to weigh in on the potential for Transfort, the transit agency owned by the City of Fort Collins, to permanently change to a fare-free transit system.

In March 2020, Transfort eliminated fare collection as part of the agency’s response to COVID-19. Although COVID restrictions have been lifted and Transfort has resumed regular operations, Transfort has not resumed fare collection, opting instead to explore whether fare-free operations are possible on a permanent basis.

Transfort has contracted with consulting firm Fehr & Peers to assist with analyzing the feasibility of permanently eliminating fares. This round of public engagement is a step in that process.

Budget breakdown

One of the factors being considered for removing fares is that only 2.9% of Transfort revenue comes from fares, and the cost of collecting fares alone is about $330,000 per year. When the cost of collecting fares is removed from total revenue, fares only make up about 1% of Transfort’s operating costs. Other sources of Transfort support include local, state, federal and partnership funding.

Community members can provide feedback by taking Transfort’s survey at fcgov.com/transfortsurvey. The survey contains a section of fare-related questions as well as other transit-related questions, including what factors community members consider when making decisions to ride (or not ride) Transfort.

The survey will be open until Feb. 15.

Questions and feedback may also be submitted to Transfort Customer Support by calling (970) 221-6620 or emailing transfortinfo@fcgov.com.

For more information about Transfort, visit ridetransfort.com.