Clean Transit Enterprise awards inaugural formula grant to double Spring - Fall transit service in Gunnison Valley

Statewide — The Colorado Clean Transit Enterprise board approved its first award to support and expand local transit service across the state, awarding the Gunnison Valley Regional Transportation Authority a $455,000 grant for Fiscal Year 2026, with anticipated annual awards for future years between $550,000 and $625,000. CTE’s formula grant program has only been under development since the beginning of 2025, and Gunnison Valley RTA was an active stakeholder as the enterprise developed grant criteria and published its Notice of Funding Availability last month.

Gunnison Valley RTA plans to use grant funds to double peak frequency on its key commuter route from the City of Gunnison through Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte during non-winter months, enabling them to offer year-round peak service with buses reaching every stop at 15-minute intervals. In a second phase of this grant, GVRTA will expand its 15-minute headway winter peak service to cover from 6:21 a.m. until 5:45 p.m. In its proposal, Gunnison Valley demonstrated a strong recent history of growing transit service and ridership in the communities it serves.

“Senate Bill 24- 230 created a first of its kind revenue stream to support transit operations in rural and urban areas across the state. Thanks to this important new law, we are quickly seeing results for Coloradans,” said CDOT Executive Director and Clean Transit Enterprise board member Shoshana Lew. “This first grant, which will double frequency on key commuter routes in the Gunnison area such as Gunnison, Crested Butte, and Mt. Crested Butte, shows how dollars are immediately being put to work in areas where transit successfully helps people get to their jobs, schools, businesses, and other destinations. I appreciate the hard work of the Clean Transit Enterprise staff in executing this program so efficiently.”

The Clean Transit Enterprise reached this grant award milestone after rapidly developing programs established by legislation in 2024. Over the course of 2025, the enterprise board established program goals and policies, while enterprise staff conducted virtual town halls with transit agencies across Colorado to inform the development of these new grant programs. This allowed the enterprise to set program eligibility requirements and create an allocation formula that the enterprise board approved for this fiscal year, which started July 1. With those goals and eligibility requirements established, the enterprise requested Letters of Intent from transit agencies looking to participate in the initial rounds of funding awards and formally released the formula program notice of funding availability (NOFA) on July 17.

“The Gunnison Valley RTA is excited to be able to expand our schedules through this partnership with the Clean Transit Enterprise board and staff,” said GVRTA Executive Director Scott Truex. “This increase in service will benefit our community by allowing better and more consistent access to jobs in our valley, and it would not have been possible without these new funds. CTE funds have flexibility that will enable us to purchase the vehicles we need to expand the service and then fund the cost of the expanded operations. We are very grateful for the support of the CTE and for this opportunity to better service the residents of our community.”

“As Chair of the Clean Transit Enterprise Board, I’m proud that we are delivering on the promise of Senate Bill 24-230 so quickly. Even though we just launched this program, we are already getting resources into the hands of local transit providers like the Gunnison Valley RTA. This award shows how new investments can make an immediate difference for Coloradans — improving mobility, cutting emissions, and strengthening connections between communities. It’s an exciting first step in a long-term commitment to grow transit options across the state,” said Clean Transit Enterprise Board Chair Cris Jones.

The Clean Transit Enterprise was created as part of Senate Bill 21-260 to support the transition to electric vehicles for transit fleets. Since 2021, the enterprise has provided EV planning, facility, charging infrastructure & bus replacement grants and has issued eight planning and eleven capital grant awards totaling $15.5 million. Senate Bill 24-230 established a new oil and gas production fee in Colorado and directed a portion of that fee revenue to the Clean Transit Enterprise under a broadened mission. CTE is now using these new resources to focus on activities that increase transit ridership and decrease greenhouse gases through three distinct programs:

• Local Transit Operations Formula Grant Program (70% of proceeds): the program awarding funds today to the Gunnison Valley Regional Transportation Authority
• Local Transit Grant Program (10% of proceeds)
• Rail Funding Program (20% of proceeds)

Examples of eligible activities in the formula grant program include operating costs for new and/or expanded routes and increased hours or frequency of transit routes. Transit vehicle purchases are allowed, and the program can continue to support transit Zero Emission Vehicle purchases.

"Sustainability and affordability are two core values in the Gunnison Valley, and this grant from the Clean Transit Enterprise is going to help us take actions that support those values. Increasing the frequency of bus service in our core commuter corridor will increase people’s free transit options, providing more flexibility and reliability, while also reducing traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions. This really is win-win-win for us and we’re thrilled that the Enterprise has invested in improving the lives of residents and visitors to the Gunnison Valley by expanding our free bus service," said Laura Puckett Daniels, Chair of the Gunnison County Board of County Commissioners and Treasurer of the Gunnison Valley RTA Board of Directors.