RideNoCo Connects Riders to Rides in Northern Colorado

With its vast expanses and mix of both rural and urban places, getting around northern Colorado’s Larimer and Weld counties is a challenge for nondrivers of every age.

Larimer County is a member of the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities. With the county’s older adult population expected to double by 2030, the Partnership for Age-Friendly Communities teamed up with other local organizations and county agencies to conduct community surveys, listening sessions and a symposium titled “Rethinking Transportation.” 

In pursuit of solutions, transportation providers, local transit riders, advocates and government officials convened in 2018 as a Project MILES Expert Panel to brainstorm about improved transit options.

“All of these community partners came to the table with their expertise and broke down some of those barriers to help the region thrive together,” observed Alex Gordon, a transportation planner with the North Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization.

The engagement efforts confirmed that transportation is a significant challenge for the region’s older adults. Those unable to drive themselves rely on family and friends for rides, especially in the rural and unincorporated parts of the county. Another discovery: While older adults do lack transportation options, many residents were wholly unaware of the options that are available.

Using a 2018 AARP Community Challenge grant, the PAFC conducted transit trainings through which older residents (ages 60 to 90) learned to use the regional, fixed-route bus service that connecting the Larimer County communities of Fort Collins and Loveland to downtown Denver. Participants learned how to read the route maps and schedules, pay fares, make transfers and, in certain locations, request rides through the Berthoud Area Transportation System’s door-to-door ride service

Training participants reported being more at ease using public transit. But the feedback also revealed a need for a better way to coordinate trips, expand rural transportation services and develop a transportation call center for the county.

As the work developed in Larimer County, partners in neighboring Weld County stepped up efforts to improve options in the Greeley-Evans and for cross county transportation.

The Result

With a renewed focus on transportation access, the PAFC secured grant funding from the Colorado Department of Transportation and the National Aging and Disability Transportation Center.

In 2020, the North Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization voted to permanently establish a transportation coordination center. RideNoCo, a one-call, one-click transportation hub, launched in 2021.

RideNoCo enables residents to connect to multiple regional public transit and on-demand ride service providers and plan trips using the service’s Trip Discovery Tool. A planned enhancement will add the region’s volunteer transportation providers into the RideNoCo system.

Since its debut, the vast majority of the calls to RideNoCo's transportation assistance center have been from or for older adults. The service is appreciated, with the most common comment by callers being, “Thank you so much."

LEARN MORE

• RideNoCo  
• North Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization 
• Partnership For Age-Friendly Communities: Mobility and Access
• Larimer County, Colorado
• Weld County, Colorado
• National Aging and Disability Transportation Center.
• Project MILES Expert Panel
• Berthoud Area Transportation System

Related Planning and Assessment Documents

• Larimer County, Colorado, Age-Friendly Action Plan
• Larimer County, Colorado Transportation Needs Assessment
• Senior Transportation Implementation Plan

_{Caitlin Hillyard is an urban planner and AARP Livable Communities consultant.}

^{Page published May 2023}