Bustang Deficit Raises Red Flags for Colorado Toll Revenue

The Colorado Sun, in an April 1 story by Tracy Ross and Michael Booth, does what it usually does with transit stories: lead with the human-interest perfume before getting to the diesel fumes. The piece opens with a sympathetic rider story and then makes the case that Bustang is a valuable public service connecting far-flung Colorado communities. Fair enough. And to be clear, Bustang does provide real utility for some riders. The article points to growing ridership across the system, from 103,800 passengers in its first full year to 353,400 across services in fiscal year 2025, with a 21% jump from 2024 to 2025.

But then the real story barrels in like a snowplow through slush. Bustang may be popular with some travelers, but financially it is getting absolutely smoked. The Sun reports that Colorado will spend $47.8 million on the Bustang system in fiscal year 2027 while taking in only $4.4 million in fares. That is not a rounding error. That is a government math problem with a bullhorn. The article says the service costs more than $10 to run for every $1 it brings in from tickets, and that the temporary state and federal subsidy boosts helping cover the gap are drying up.

Ross and Booth also note that CDOT staff are now looking for alternative revenue sources, including money flowing through the Colorado Transportation Investment Office, with toll revenues very much in the conversation. They report that CDOT is consulting with the Attorney General’s Office on whether laws would need to be amended to clarify whether toll money can be used to support Bustang. That is the part everybody who actually drives to work in Colorado ought to circle in red ink.

The Bullet Point Brief

• Bustang has grown, no question. The Sun reports ridership hit 353,400 across services in fiscal year 2025, up 21% from the year before. Growth is nice. Profitability still exists, last I checked.
• The system costs more than $10 for every $1 it takes in through fares. Colorado is projected to spend $47.8 million in 2027 and collect just $4.4 million in tickets. That is not a business model. That is a subsidy piñata full of taxpayer dollars.
• The one-time money propping this thing up is fading out. The article says a 2022 state law provided $30 million over three years and the American Rescue Plan added another $35.1 million, but both funding streams end in fiscal year 2027. The training wheels are coming off, and the wobble is ugly.
• The projected Bustang deficit is $25.3 million in 2027 and rises to $34.6 million by 2030 if current routes and schedules stay the same. Colorado does not have a transit miracle on its hands. It has a calculator problem.
• CDOT is reportedly looking at toll revenues and other CTIO income streams as possible support, while consulting the Attorney General’s Office about whether the law even allows it. Translation: the same folks who underfund highways now have their eyes on the one pot of money that actually builds and expands them. Different clowns, same circus.

My Bottom Line

Let me be crystal clear. I like Bustang. I think Bustang makes more sense than a lot of the glittery transit fantasies cooked up under the golden dome. It is scalable. It uses existing infrastructure. It is a damn sight cheaper than some governor-approved choo-choo fever dream that costs billions up front and then bleeds operating money like a stuck pig for decades. If Colorado insists on subsidized transit, Bustang is one of the least ridiculous options on the menu.

But liking Bustang does not mean lying about Bustang. The books are the books. Colorado is a big state with a lot of geography, a lot of spread, and not nearly enough density to make public transit pencil out the way the Boulder enviro choir keeps promising. Period. You can write all the soft-focus stories you want about mobility, connection, and community. The underlying math still looks like a bar tab after a three-day bender.

And this mess did not happen in a vacuum. For years, transportation policy in Colorado has been run backward. General fund support for real road capacity is basically nonexistent while the state’s population keeps growing and lane miles do not. Meanwhile, the political class keeps feeding the same dogma: cars bad, transit good, greenhouse gases scary, taxpayers shut up. That is how you end up starving highways while subsidizing systems that cannot sustain themselves. Subsidies are not science.

Now comes the really dangerous part. If the state starts raiding toll revenue to prop up Bustang, we are no longer talking about one underperforming transit service. We are talking about cannibalizing the only serious mechanism Colorado has left to widen highways and maintain major corridors. Tolls may be unpopular, and believe me, I get it. But they are one of the only actual funding tools available to build capacity in a state government that long ago stopped prioritizing roads. Start siphoning that money into operating subsidies, and you can kiss future lane expansion goodbye.

That is the dog-tail-food chain in this state. Governors chase the green applause line. CDOT leadership salutes. The environmental activists get fed. The tail wags. And the people who just need a safe, functional road to get to work, pick up their kids, or move freight across Colorado get left sitting in traffic on a highway the state never bothered to widen. Bustang can be useful. Bustang can even be worth supporting in the right way. But if the Capitol idiots raid toll dollars to keep it afloat, Colorado drivers are going to be the ones paying the price, one bottleneck at a time.

Source: Colorado Sun