The Roaring Fork Transportation Authority (RFTA) presented to Rifle City Council on Wednesday, June 17, to keep the Hogback bus route running from Glenwood Springs to New Castle, Silt and Rifle.

RFTA CEO Kurt Ravenschlag spoke during Wednesday’s work session about the proposal, which would provide temporary funding through 2029 at the latest while local governments look for a more sustainable long-term solution.

Funding for the Hogback has been uncertain beyond November, when RFTA has said it would be unable to keep the line running without additional support.

The route began in 2002 with support from Garfield County commissioners, who originally contributed $750,000. Their contributions to the route have dwindled over the years, and the county has indicated it plans to eliminate funding for the route in 2027, citing financial issues. 

Rifle and Silt currently contribute $40,000 each, this year being Silt’s first year of contributions. Both municipalities are not apart of RFTA. New Castle and Glenwood Springs are current members of RFTA, which contributed $407,000 to the Hogback route in 2026. While other possible funding solutions were raised, nothing conclusive has come of the discussions yet.

“RFTA has indicated, if there’s not really a funding solution figured out here, they’re looking at a final service day of November 21,” said Rifle City Manager Patrick Waller. “The workshop discussion is RFTA has organized a meeting with Silt and Rifle to look at these possible opportunities to keep the service.”

Costs are going up, so RFTA, working with Waller and Silt Town Manager Jim Mann, have come up with contributions from Silt, Rifle, RFTA, and hopefully Garfield County. 

Under the proposal, 2027 funding would include $575,000 from RFTA, $80,000 from Rifle, $45,000 from Silt and $200,000 from Garfield County.

In 2028, RFTA would contribute $567,000, Rifle would contribute $100,000, Silt would contribute $60,000 and Garfield County would contribute $200,000.

In 2029, RFTA would contribute $544,810, Rifle would contribute $130,000, Silt would contribute $80,000 and Garfield County would contribute $200,000.

Waller said, from his perspective, the issue with the Hogback service is that there’s no dedicated funding source for it, since Rifle is not a member of RFTA and the money Rifle, Silt and Garfield  County contributes come from their general funds. 

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“I think the general sense we’ve had this past year, once we received notification from the County, that they’re intending to reduce their contribution of the service to zero, it really didn’t give the affected parties enough time to identify a more sustainable, dedicated funding source,” Ravenschlag said. “This proposal that Patrick, Jim, and myself came up with was a solution to buy us some time, a little bit of a runway, so that the town of Silt, city of Rifle, and hopefully Garfield County can have a conversation about what we all want to do.”

Ravenschlag said the proposal is not sustainable long-term for any of the parties as they project costs to rise by about $25,000 each year.

“We think we could pull this off for a few years here, to allow for that time for discussions and public engagement to occur,” Ravenschlag said. 

Ravenschlag said RFTA has notified Commissioner Tom Jankovsky, a nonvoting member of the RFTA board, about the upcoming request. Ravenschlag, Waller and Mann have also attempted to contact Garfield County Manager Fred Jarman.

Rifle Mayor Clint Hostettler asked Waller if Garfield County had been in attendance at the meetings where Waller, Mann and RFTA came up with a funding solution. Waller said the county has not. 

“The County is aware that there will be a funding request,” Waller said. “This is really intended to be some sort of short-term solution.”

Waller also said that RFTA would like an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) between the entities, but that they’re open to discussing the terms of the agreement so not everyone is locked in for three years if they come up with another solution before 2029. 

“If we contribute $80,000, but we’re still sitting here next summer, and there’s no solution, I’m going to be frustrated,” Hostettler said. 

Ravenschlag agreed, saying that the funding partners would want to see progress being made, and they’d have to identify what the progress goals are, and they’d be built into the IGA. 

One of the longer term solutions suggested in the session was putting the question to the people of Rifle about joining RFTA, but even if the question is put forth, ballot questions aren’t decided until November. Another possibility could be creating a contract between RFTA and other entities for the Hogback service, similar to how the county originally supported the route. 

“Our citizens of Silt and Rifle are used to having the bus,” Hostettler said. “We’ve been hoping for this, we’ve been waiting for RFTA to reach out.”

Rifle City Council directed Waller to keep working on this short-term solution with RFTA, Silt, and hopefully Garfield County.

Ravenschlag said the municipalities of the Colorado River and Roaring Fork valleys, from Aspen to Parachute, want to see a robust public transportation system where people have options, but the question is how do they get there.