Transfort, the public transit operator for the City of Fort Collins, announced a set of service reductions Oct. 6 intended “to align transit service with available resources,” Transfort Director Kaley Zeisel said in the city’s official press release. 

Changes include the rapid‑transit MAX line, which will operate every 10 minutes from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and every 20 minutes during remaining service hours; Route 81 will see its frequency halved from every 30 minutes to every 60 minutes, while Route 8 continues every 30 minutes in the opposite direction; Route 10 will be suspended entirely; and Saturday service on Route 9 will be suspended. These changes went into effect Oct. 13.

The decision follows a staffing shortage and a broader funding shortfall. The city’s press release stated the citywide hiring freeze has limited hiring opportunities and forced temporary service reductions to maintain reliability.

Zeisel told Denver7 that Transfort’s overall expenses have grown between 50 and 75% due to the rising costs of personnel, fuel, maintenance and equipment; growth that has outpaced revenue.

District 3 City Councilmember and mayoral candidate Tricia Canonico cited lower ridership, reduced state funding and The City of Loveland’s decision to end funding for the FLEX route as contributing factors. 

“We are seeing less money coming in from state funding,” Canonico said. “We lost $250,000 there. … Loveland is no longer funding (FLEX), so that was another $750,000 hit as well.”

The local cutbacks align with broader fiscal pressures across Colorado. According to the Colorado Municipal League, state budget reductions will cost local governments nearly $140 million. The state’s transportation agency likewise warns that Colorado is “up against a steep funding crisis,” as only a limited portion of funding flows to local transit systems.

Canonico said Transfort and the city did not simply cancel routes arbitrarily; they prioritized keeping key, high‑use routes and worked to retain service in areas where riders depend on transit most.

“They really were looking at … where we have the highest transit, … which routes had the highest ridership, and then also looking at where affordable housing was located,” Canonico said. “We ended up coming up with a recommended route system that will hopefully continue to grow our ridership but that’s more streamlined.”

For students at  Colorado State University and other frequent riders, the cuts could bear immediate practical implications. Reduced frequency could pose challenges for students juggling class schedules, jobs and extracurriculars. The loss of Saturday service on Route 9, for instance, may make weekend errands or work shifts harder to reach, especially for those in off-campus housing.

“I probably spend, like, five hours a day on the bus,” community member Katie Walker said in an interview with Denver 7. “It does make it more inconvenient for people.”

Transfort’s fare-free model, which makes public transit more accessible to low-income riders and students, has been in place since before the COVID-19 pandemic. While the policy helps boost ridership, it also limits farebox revenue, making the system more reliant on municipal and federal funding. Maintaining this model amid financial constraints has been a continuing challenge for the city.

To counteract these impacts, the agency is developing an Optimized Service Plan that aims to adjust the network for the fiscal realities the city faces. The full plan is expected to be implemented in 2027.

“We received an exception to the city’s hiring freeze, allowing Transfort to actively recruit and fill vacant positions,” Ziesel wrote in an email to The Collegian. “To improve recruitment and retention, we’ve increased operator pay, added additional benefits and field support positions and offer free, on-site counseling and additional support for front-line staff. We continue to assess and understand what is driving turnover and work closely with our teams to make adjustments to better support our bus operators.”

Still, Canonico said that this is a “challenging time” for transit agencies in Fort Collins and elsewhere.

“This was not something anybody wants to see moving forward, but this is the reality of where budgeting is at with the city right now,” Canonico said. “We understand how important public transportation is for our student population and for many riders of Transfort across the city.”

Reach Maci Lesh at news@collegian.com or on social media @RMCollegian.