Updated: 4:07 p.m. with comment from Amtrak.
Passengers flocked to the reinvigorated Winter Park ski train this season after the state lowered fares and boosted service.
State transportation officials used money from a new fee on rental cars to slash one-way ticket prices for the Winter Park Express to as low as $19. Before the season, trains were made longer and once it began, also made the trip between Denver’s Union Station and the Fraser Valley more often than before.
“This was really a great quick win,” Piper Darlington, director of the Colorado Transportation Investment Office told the state Transportation Commission on Thursday.
It was “someplace where we could invest those new congestion impact fees to get people excited about expanded train service,” she said.
Passengers responded to those improvements, Darlington said. More than 41,000 bookings were made this season versus about 16,000 bookings last season, she said.
“By all indications, this has been a real success so far,” she said.
The train’s season will wrap up later this month. The car rental industry is suing Colorado over the new fee that is supporting expanded rail service. But Darlington said the state hopes to expand its partnership with Winter Park Resort and Amtrak, which operates the ski train, “on a more permanent basis.”
A spokesman said Amtrak is “happy to see the state’s confidence in the route proven by these ridership numbers.”
“We look forward to operating more Amtrak service in Colorado,” said Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari.
