PUEBLO – Pueblo City Council is looking for a way to add just over $4 million to public transit. It is a lot of money to budget, but if they can find or raise it, a major expansion to bus service could happen.
For a lot of people the bus is their main way of getting around the city. “City bus is like my car,” said one rider named Emilio. He is among bus rider who would like to see service go later in the day. He goes to school in the morning and works evenings. The bus works for him in the morning, but not when he works evenings. “I have a sister pick me up, or i walk.”
“Given the discussion we’ve had with our ridership it seems to be a necessary step that our transit system needs to take,” said Pueblo Transit, Interim Director, Pepper Whittlef. Pueblo Transit went before City Council with a proposal to expand bus hours to 9:30 p.m. for all routes.
$2.9 million is needed for additional busses and staffing. Then another $1.4 million is estimated annually for operating expenses. We think it’s really important expansion tool that our city council consider,” said Whittlef.
So far, City Council reaction is favorable, but there is not an obvious budget source. The process now looks into shifting money from another part of the city budget, or fiding some other funding source.
