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Colorado’s Bustang and Pegasus regional transit services will offer half-price tickets through Labor Day in a bid to help build ridership, state officials said Wednesday.
The discounts are available now on Pegasus, the Colorado Department of Transportation’s new weekend van-based mountain shuttle service between Denver’s Union Station and Avon. The half-priced tickets for Bustang and Bustang Outrider routes across the state will begin July 1.
Started in late May, Pegasus is aimed at attracting recreational users and day-trippers. The vans run on a near-hourly basis in each direction on Fridays through Sundays, with some Thursday westbound service and Monday eastbound service.
Fares from Denver to Frisco normally cost $13 each way, and the cost is $20 for travel to Vail and Avon. The vans also stop at the Federal Center in Lakewood and in Idaho Springs. A 50% off promotion that was set to expire at the end of June will now run through Sept. 5.
According to CDOT figures, the Pegasus vans have attracted modest but growing ridership — reaching about 180 passenger trips last weekend and 536 overall.
“With passenger numbers growing, we thought it best to give people the opportunity to evaluate the service for themselves throughout the summer and this is a good incentive,” CDOT executive director Shoshana Lew said in a news release.
During an 18-minute demonstration ride Wednesday between Union Station and Lakewood, Gov. Jared Polis streamed a Facebook live video about the promotional fares. He also pitched Pegasus as a viable alternative to paying high gas prices, using the Denver-to-Vail route as an example.
“You know, with parking and gas, both ways that can be $100 — versus, let’s say two people, (Pegasus fares are) $40 bucks,” he said in an interview on board the van. “So why not spend that $60 having dinner out in Vail rather than just having it go to gas?”
CDOT’s longer-haul Bustang and Bustang Outrider routes across the state are still recovering from pandemic dips in travel, with some routes seeing quicker returns to normal. CDOT has plans to rapidly increase service on its main-line routes out of Denver in the next few years.
One-way fares for the three routes out of Union Station typically cost $10 to reach Fort Collins, $12 to reach Colorado Springs and $43 to reach Grand Junction, with cheaper fares for closer destinations. The new promotion that starts in July will cut those in half.
Online reservations are required for Pegasus. Tickets and schedules for all of the transit services are available at www.ridebustang.com.
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