Thanks to Valley View’s leadership, employees of Valley View Hospital can ride for free on RFTA’s Rifle to Glenwood and Aspen to Glenwood buses during the month of April with a free pre-purchased employee pass. “We have an excellent bus service available,” commented Nikki Norton, Human Resource Coordinator for Valley View Hospital. “We wanted Valley View Hospital employee’s to become aware that this is an option. By offering passes in April for free, we hope to make our employees familiar with how convenient it is to take RFTA and Ride Glenwood.”After April, Valley View will subsidize the employee passes on a monthly basis. Employers and employees can take advantage of commuter tax benefits when providing transit passes as an employee benefit. For more information, go online to http://www.apta.com or http://www.CommuterChoice.com.Valley View Hospital has approximately 540 employees and is beginning a lengthy construction project that will impact available parking. By encouraging staff to use mass transit, Valley View wins with less demand for parking spaces and increased parking for patients and visitors.Employees are able to save money on gas and maintenance as well as enjoy a stress free commute. Mary Cranor, Medical Staff Services Coordinator for Valley View calculated that she is able to save about $3,000 per year by riding the bus from her home in Rifle. She is able to save money and miles and she is able to read on her commute and wind down at the end of the day.Passes available include RFTA’s nontransferable Valley Monthly adult picture pass with unlimited rides from Aspen to Glenwood and the Grand Hogback adult monthly picture pass with unlimited rides from Rifle to Glenwood and The Ride Glenwood Springs monthly pass with unlimited rides within Glenwood. The Valley and Grand Hogback passes are also accepted on The Ride Glenwood Springs buses.Normally these passes can only be purchased at the Glenwood Springs City Hall or at the RFTA Aspen Maintenance Facility in Aspen but with special case groups signing up 10 or more employees at one time, RFTA representative Laura Mattson will make a special appointment to take pictures and issue passes. Laura will be at Valley View from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, March 26, issuing photo picture I.D. passes and distributing RFTA Safety Flashers to all participants. The City of Glenwood Springs offers a similar incentive program by providing bus passes to employees at a rate of $1 a day for RFTA’s Grand Hogback service from Rifle to Glenwood and The Valley Monthly service from Aspen to Glenwood Springs. The rate is calculated on number of business days there are for that month.Ride Glenwood and RFTA Grand Hogback pass informationDaily fare on the Grand Hogback is $4 one-way and $8 round-trip between Glenwood Springs and Rifle. The Grand Hogback punch pass is $11.50 for $20 worth of rides and $23 for $40 worth of rides. Ride Glenwood’s daily fare is $1 one-way and $2 all day. A punch pass is $20 for 20 days. The monthly picture pass for Ride Glenwood is $18 for unlimited rides for Glenwood Spring Chamber members. This is a $42 savings per month. A 20-day punch pass on Ride Glenwood is $18 for chamber members, a $22 savings. The combo monthly picture pass for the Grand Hogback/Ride Glenwood is available for $75 to the general public and only $70 to GSCRA members’ employees. This pass is valued at $176 per month for a savings of $106 per month. This combo monthly picture pass is offered to youth (ages 6 – 18) for only $45.Monthly picture passes can be purchased at City Hall. Punch passes are available at Safeway, City Market, City Hall and the chamber. For bus schedule information call 925-8484 or 928-8272. You can also go online to http://www.rfta.com.Construction reports for Glenwood SpringsGlenwood Springs Electric Department will be pulling fiber in the 800 block of the Grand-Cooper alley and working on the shoulder up 4 Mile.Transportation Responsibility & You, One Day at a time!Cathy Tuttle is with the consulting firm of Tuttle Marketing and is the RFTA/City of Glenwood Transportation Marketing Alliance manager/consultant. For additional information please call 384-6427 or e-mail to try@ci.glenwood-springs.co.us. This column will appear every Monday to explain how each person in our community can make a difference in our quality of life. Transportation Responsibility & You – one day at a time, one trip at a time