The Granby Board of Trustees met on April 22 at town hall where they listened to a presentation from Assistant Town Manager Nicole Schafer about the town’s on-demand transportation system’s pilot program, before suggesting that the town continue the program.

Granby Connect is an on-demand transportation system that residents and visitors can use to get around town by downloading an app and requesting a ride. The pilot program launched on Feb. 6. The service operated Thursday through Saturday from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m. The cost of each ride was $2 and the vans took passengers to a variety of stops around Granby.

Schafer presented data, figures and feedback that the town has collected since the launch of Granby Connect’s pilot program.

Since the app’s launch, the town has had 432 people download the app, according to Schafer. The program has completed a total of 479 rides for 704 passengers.

Regarding average wait times, Schafer said that there were longer time on Saturdays due to demand, but that 92% of all riders had to cool their heels no more than 20 minutes.

Schafer explained that she believes that the program has fulfilled many of the goals set by the trustees. The board had set goals for economic development by increasing tax revenue and workforce availability, health and human services by improving access to food and health care, and safety by giving people the ability to avoid driving in winter conditions or while under the influence.

Some of the most popular ride locations were and City Market with 134 trips and Granby Ranch with 98 trips. Other notable drop-off locations were The Inn at Silvercreek with 39 trips, IgadI cannabis dispensary in Granby with 28 trips, Sun Outdoors Rocky Mountains with 19 trips, Brickhouse 40 with 18 trips and Grand Azteca Mexican Restaurant with nine trips.

When analyzing common pickup locations, Schafer said she noticed many seasonal worker housing spots were taking advantage of the program.

During the presentation, Schafer also shared success stories she has received about Granby Connect. She told the board about a rider who would sometimes go without food because she depended on her neighbor to buy groceries. This person told Schafer that she was now able to use the transportation program to go to City Market every Thursday.

Schafer also worked with Middle Park Health to “preload” desired locations for a patient who had difficulties with her fine motor skills, which made typing on a phone nearly impossible. She made the accommodations and the rider was able to go to the hospital and grocery store without having to type in the multiple addresses.

Included in the agenda packet were letters from Mountain Family Center, Granby residents and Destination Granby in support of the program. Schafer said that Granby Airport staff were very grateful. Rick Howard, president of the local Experimental Aircraft Association chapter, wrote a letter thanking the assistant town manager for the ride service.

One letter from Maureen Palmer wrote, “I am writing to you to express my gratitude for the Granby Connect program that was rolled out this year. As a local full-time Granby resident, my family and I loved the ease of the app and convenience of using the shuttle to get rides from our home in Grand Elk to Granby Ranch this ski season. We are looking forward to using Granby Connect into the summer months as well!”

Aspen Bias with Mountain Family Center wrote in a letter that “Granby Connect is an accessible, affordable way for people to not only explore Granby, but to run every-day errands and maintain independence. Mountain Family Center has heard plenty of positive feedback from community members who visit our center. This service has been specifically helpful to older adults in Granby.”

The letter went on to support the town in investing in a wheelchair accessible bus.

The app also included options for riders to leave feedback and this feedback was shared with the board. The average driver rating was 4.93 stars out of 5.

Due to the high influx of upfront purchases, the cost per trip during the pilot program was $40.41 and the cost per passenger was $27.49. Schafer said that this was due to the high initial cost of the program and a “slow burn” of use. She said that the town made the decision not to market directly to people with flyers, magnets or postcards because of the potential for a changing timetable after the pilot program. This meant that the town potentially missed out on those riders.

“The fact that we’ve done such limited communication of the program and have gotten the ridership and the loyal following that we have is pretty impressive. I think if we start a direct mail campaign, Ted had a great idea about getting refrigerator magnets to all the short-term rentals so that when someone comes in and doesn’t know about Granby Connect, they can see that magnet, get the QR code and upload that app,” Schafer said.

Schafer will come back to the board with more information about the projected costs for the remainder of the year, but she did include a year one cost estimate. In a hypothetical analysis that spread out the upfront costs throughout the year for seven day a week operation with a 25% increase in ridership, she concludes the cost per passenger would drop to roughly $6.55 and the cost of each trip would be $11.13 on average.

Schafer asked the board for direction on whether it was interested in continuing the project and if so, how they would like to proceed.

During the pilot program, the town was able to utilize buses from the recreation department because they were not in use at the time.

Trustee Seth Stern said that he would be interested in having conversations with Granby Ranch and City Market to ask them to help fund the transit program. He also suggested implementing a higher service costs for tourists. Trustee Rebecca Quesada suggested expanding the service area to include YMCA Snow Mountain Ranch.

Regarding Granby Connect funding, Schafer explained that if the board is interested, that the town will reach out to entities like Granby Ranch, Sun Communities and City Market for a $40,000 sponsorship that grants them a spot on a flier and bus advertisement. She also suggested an option where others can do a $10,000 sponsorship for a spot on a flier advertisement only.

Mayor Pro-Tem Deborah Shaw suggested that the town implement some sort of special pricing for seniors. Schafer explained that she is easily able to implement discount codes for seniors if the board is interested in that.

Other trustees suggested implementing a cost per rider system rather than per ride. This would be more difficult to implement, Schafer said, because the system requires people to be honest about how many people are riding in order for it to work properly.

Following discussions, the board directed staff to keep one of the recreation vans, because the recreation department will be purchasing a new one, and to seek out leasing another seven-passenger van. Other items such as final budgets and contracts will come back to the board in the future for approval.