About the Project
The Lift is a free bus system that serves the towns of Winter Park, Fraser, Granby, and parts of Grand County. The Town of Winter Park recently launched a process to develop a new Five-Year Transit Development Plan that will guide The Lift on how to enhance local and regional service. The final plan will recommend strategies to efficiently expand service frequency and coverage, while better serving current and future riders of The Lift.
Please review the proposed alternatives below.
Proposed Alternatives
Using information gathered from the community survey, existing conditions analysis, and conversations with The Lift and stakeholders, the project team developed proposed improvements or “Alternatives”. The proposed alternatives are split up into alternatives that focus on enhancing local service and regional service.
All alternatives recommend increasing frequency, service span, and making routes year-round. How the alternatives accomplish that goal differs. Please explore the tabs below to learn more about how each alternative would enhance local and regional service. Please sift through the tabs "Alternatives for Local Service, Alternatives for Regional Service" and "Other Identified Opportunities" before taking the survey.
NOTE: The alternatives are visionary improvements for The Lift to enhance service over the next five to ten years. Delivering the preferred alternative will be dependent on funding and partnerships.
Alternatives for Local Service
Alternatives for Local Service focus on strengthening local service within Winter Park and Fraser.
Primary Opportunities/Goals
- Enhance connections for workforce housing areas.
- Enhance service for Winter Park and Fraser Lines.
- Enhance bus stop experience for users.
Three alternatives can be pursued within the Local Service, they are explained below by expanding the orange +.
Alternative A concentrates on keeping and enhancing all existing routes. Key points include:
- Increase the Winter Park frequency on all routes from 30 minutes to 15 minutes during peak times (weekends and holidays) and from 60 minutes to 30 minutes on weekdays.
- Increase WP service span starting one hour earlier and one hour later than currently operated.
- Increase Fraser service span starting at one hour earlier and one hour later than currently operated.
- Increase Fraser frequency from 30 minutes to 15 minutes from peak am commute time (6am-12pm)
- Increase seasonal operations in Winter Park and Fraser.
The table below shows the existing service characteristics and proposed changes to the routes within Winter Park.
The table below shows the existing service characteristics and proposed changes to the routes within Fraser.
Alternative B concentrates on enhancing existing services and is very similar to Alternative A. The main difference is that Alternative B consolidates the existing Orange, Yellow, and Brown routes and replaces them with a singular route and microtransit zone. Key points include:
- Increase WP line frequency from 30 minutes to 15 minutes during peak times only for routes that produce more ridership for service hours supplied.
- Increase WP service span starting one hour earlier and one hour later than currently operated.
- Increase Fraser service span starting at one hour earlier and one hour later than currently operated.
- Increase Fraser service frequency from 30 minutes to 15 minutes from peak am commute time (6am-12pm).
- Increase seasonal operations in Winter Park.
- Microtransit Zone covering western[KL1] Winter Park geography and consolidation of Brown, Orange, and Yellow routes to a singular new route that primarily runs on Vasquez Road and Forest Trail.
- Anybody within the Microtransit Zone will be able to order a Microtransit vehicle to take them to town or a stop along the new route to get to the resort.
The table below shows the existing service characteristics and proposed changes to the routes within Winter Park.
The table below shows the existing service characteristics and proposed changes to the routes within Fraser.
The graphic below shows the proposed Winter Park Microtransit Zone and example of new consolidated route alignment.
Alternative C has all the attributes of alternative B and adds a Fraser Microtransit Zone throughout the majority of developed Fraser. Key points include:
- Increase WP line frequency from 30 minutes to 15 minutes during peak times only for routes that produce more ridership for service hours supplied.
- Increase Fraser service span starting at one hour earlier and one hour later than currently operated.
- Increase Fraser service frequency from 30 minutes to 15 minutes from peak am commute time (6am-12pm).
- Increase seasonal operations in Winter Park[KL1] .
- Microtransit Zone covering western Winter Park geography and consolidation of Brown, Orange, and Yellow routes to new route.
- Anybody within the Microtransit Zone will be able to order a Microtransit vehicle to take them to town or a stop along a new route to get to the resort.
- Microtransit Zone in Fraser.
- Will not replace the Purple route.
The table below shows the existing service characteristics and proposed changes to the routes within Winter Park.
The table below shows the existing service characteristics and proposed changes to the routes within Fraser.
The graphics below shows the proposed Winter Park and Fraser Microtransit Zones.
Alternatives for Regional Service
The alternatives for regional service focus on enhancing regional service, which is currently the operation of the Teal Line (Granby Route). Enhanced service would still be provided on some of the routes within Winter Park and Fraser, but more effort would be focused on expanding regional services.
Primary Opportunities/Goals
- Meet existing and growing regional demand.
- Expand regional service to locations that are currently not served.
Two alternatives can be pursued, they are explained below by expanding the orange +.
- Increase Granby service frequency from 60 minutes to 30 minutes and 2 hour to 60 minutes.
- This improvement increases mid-day frequency and allows for more capacity in morning peak.
- Increase Granby service span so the last bus would leave WP Resort at 11pm and in the summer the service span would start one hour earlier.
- Possible connection to IceBox Park and Ride: In the “Other Identified Opportunity” section, a park-and-ride at the IceBox is a project that could be added to the preferred alternative. If this alternative is selected to move forward, adding a stop at the IceBox under this alternative would be included.
Alternative B has all the attributes of alternative A and adds additional routes to top destinations that would be determined if this alternative is carried forward to the preferred alternative.
Areas this alternative would consider if chosen are:
- Granby Ranch
- Rocky Mountain National Park
- Grand Lake
- Hot Sulphur Springs
- Kremmling
- Circulator route within Granby
- Incorporate flex stops
Other Identified Opportunities
In addition to improving transit service, the preferred alternative will also include capital infrastructure improvements or modifications to the alternative that could include;
- Bus Stop Improvements to Priority Bus Stop Locations (Real-Time Information, Shelters, ski racks etc.)
- Park-and-Ride Facility
- Mobility Hubs
- Improvement to the app
- Training of Drivers
- New Routes (Applicable in the Alternatives for Regional Service, Alternative B)
- Additional Microtransit Zones (Eastern Winter Park)
Take Survey
Previous Engagement
A survey was conducted from November 2023 to January 2024 to understand how to best improve transit service in the community over the next five years. The key results of the survey can be seen below.
Where respondents live
69% of respondents are from Fraser or Winter Park.
Primary Destinations
The primary destination of riders of The Lift is to go skiing/snowboarding. This emphasizes the importance of routes going to the resort.
Top reasons for riding the bus
The top reason somebody rides The Lift is to avoid parking. People also ride The Lift because it is convenient and affordable.
Barriers to riding the bus
The top three responses are the bus is too infrequent, the bus takes longer than driving, and the bus does not run at the time of day when the user would like to travel. There were many “other” responses to this question. Most of the “other” responses mention reliability. Many responses indicated that the bus does not adhere to the schedule and the app does not always have the bus locations correct.
Respondent Priorities
The rank of each improvement is highlighted in green. The top three priorities are increased bus frequency, expanded service times, and more summer services.
