How Colorado Built a Bustling Intercity Bus Service

Bustang pulls out of Denver Union Station dozens of times a day. It carries riders up and down Interstate 25 on the Front Range corridor, where most of the state’s population lives, and heads across the Rocky Mountains to the rural Western Slope and the cities of Vail, Avon and Grand Junction.

The network was designed for two purposes: to provide links to critical services for rural residents, and to allow alternatives to driving in one of the most congested parts of the country. On some parts of the I-25 journey, Bustang operates in the HOV lanes, flying past backed-up traffic, says Danny Katz, director of CoPIRG, a progressive group that backs transit investment. In other sections it plods along with the rest of the cars. But even in those scenarios, says Katz, who recently completed a tour of state transit services, “I had a bathroom and Wi-Fi, so I was much more comfortable.”

A few decades ago, intercity bus services like these were run by private operators like Greyhound. But those offerings have been contracting for years. In 2015, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) launched Bustang, its own intercity bus service, funded with state money and operated by an independent company, Ace Express Coaches. In its first full month of operations, the service carried just over 7,000 riders. In June of 2018 it carried more than 17,000. In fiscal year 2024, even after a steep ridership dip during the pandemic, Bustang services averaged more than 24,000 riders a month, with strong growth in its rural “Outrider” lines, which stop in cities like Delta, Sterling, Las Animas and Durango.

The service also bought a fleet of new coaches and significantly expanded the frequency of trips on most of its routes. And unlike a lot of urban transit systems, says Paul DesRocher, CDOT’s director of transit and rail, the public perception of Bustang is “off the charts positive.”

“I think people broadly recognize the importance of having a state-supported network,” DesRocher says.

Colorado launched Bustang to fill a gap in intercity transit that opened up after Greyhound cut much of its service in the state. It has built out the network to serve a variety of needs, DesRocher says. Like most transit systems, its foundational services were designed to connect dense population centers with each other, but it also links rural communities with critical services like Veterans Administration facilities, and gives college students and seasonal workers the option to forgo car ownership. CDOT has also repeatedly increased the frequencies up and down Interstate 25 in an effort to reduce traffic congestion there.

“Bustang has been a star performer, with last year’s expansion being almost like nothing we’ve seen in recent years,” says Joseph Schwieterman, a DePaul University professor who studies the intercity bus industry.

Some other state DOTs operate intercity bus services of their own, including those in Virginia, Oregon, Washington and Ohio. Colorado’s service has the most routes. Virginia Breeze, another state-branded service, has grown substantially since it was launched in 2017 as well. Schwieterman says it helps to have a “flagship destination,” like Denver or Washington, D.C., with a robust transit network of its own that allows passengers to move around without a car once they arrive.

The Bustang service has tapped into existing transit hubs in smaller cities, so people who ride transit regularly see it and are aware of it. The operator also has a state-of-the-art fleet, and CDOT puts a lot of effort into social media and marketing, with occasional fare sales to promote alternatives to driving. Catchy branding, with the imprimatur of the state, also gives the service a boost over other transit providers, he says.

“Some see it as almost a stamp of approval or as a validation that you’ll receive a high-quality service,” Schwieterman says. “With the state’s name attached to it, qualms about poor service often are put aside.”

The state legislature has repeatedly voted to support the service over the last decade. In 2022, the legislature passed a bill giving CDOT $30 million to expand service and frequencies. But the department has also been willing to let go of services that don’t perform well, for example canceling a route between Colorado Springs and the Denver Tech Center last year.

“CDOT has been very nimble, and I think that has helped to make it as effective as it’s been,” says Katz.

Still, it’s a challenging time to run transit service in the U.S. Aside from the changes in travel patterns brought on by the pandemic, the political environment for transit investment only seems to get trickier. Some Colorado officials have also been pushing to launch a Front Range passenger rail service in recent years, hoping to ride a wave of investment and enthusiasm during the Biden administration. But that enthusiasm has waned. The Trump administration has signaled a review of many federally funded transit projects, including California’s High-Speed Rail, and has delayed decisions on other long-planned capital investments like a light rail project in Seattle.

The Bustang service expansion funded by the $30 million in state funding approved in 2022 is technically a pilot, and the funding will run out in coming years unless the state reapproves it. It’s a type of uncertainty that many public services, especially transit, face on a recurring basis, says DesRocher. Colorado has had a Democratic trifecta in state government since 2019, but DesRocher notes that is undergoing “a swing to a more financially conservative orientation,” with more scrutiny on all state spending likely in coming years.

He’s hoping CDOT can capitalize on Bustang’s good reputation all around the state to keep the service growing. “What we’re focused on,” DesRocher says, “is demonstrating our value to the public.”