The Denver City Council is considering a proposal to implement a one-year pilot program for a free shuttle service in the Montbello neighborhood.

The proposal was presented to the council transportation committee Tuesday, with council members unanimously opting to delay the committee vote until next week while the contract is finalized.

As is, the contract would give over $555,000 to Northeast Transportation Connections to run the pilot program, providing free shuttle services every weekday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. throughout the neighborhood.

The shuttles would be on-call only, with residents requesting rides via an app and call-in line, like how Uber and Lyft operate. The city estimates the service would provide 70 to 110 trips per day, with an average of 3.5 passengers per vehicle.

“Montbello is a really good place to start these services,” said Senior City Planner Stephen Rijo. “It’s an equity area with a lot of need. … There’s decent RTD service on the periphery of the neighborhood, but the to-and-through service leaves a little to be desired.”

Denver’s Sloan’s Lake neighborhood to be rezoned to allow ‘granny flats’

The service would cover a 5.2-square-mile zone of the neighborhood from North Chambers Road to Havana Street, in addition to service to and from the Peoria Rail Station.

Similar to Uber and Lyft, the shuttle service would mostly use normal-sized cars: one plug-in hybrid minivan and one battery electric sedan. One large passenger van would also be used to provide wheelchair accessibility.

With the three vehicles all operating at once, Rijo said he estimates response times for rides would be between 15 and 30 minutes. Though, the program’s goal is for 90% of trips to be fulfilled in 15 minutes or less.

The program would target low-income residents without access to cars, residents who use public transit but are far from bus stops and the Peoria Rail Station and youth with working parents who need to get to and from school and after-school programs.

If approved by the City Council, the pilot program would launch in the fall of 2021 and conclude in the fall of 2022 if not renewed. However, multiple council members said they want the program to be longer.

Contract workers at DIA added to Denver’s employment displacement protection

“It’s going to take about a year for us to get the word out to the community and encourage participation,” said Council President Stacie Gilmore. “I’m concerned that, in nine to 12 months, you’re going to come back and say the community didn’t participate in this, so we’re not going to continue it.”

Rijo said one year was all the funding could afford but they’ve requested more funding from the general budget to try to make it a two- or three-year program instead. Updates on the funding will be provided next week.

Council members also said they want the program to hire drivers from within the Montbello neighborhood.

Rijo said they could potentially add a provision to the contract that would require job postings be limited to the neighborhood for a certain amount of time, only opening the jobs to other areas if they do not receive enough applicants.

The committee will reconsider the proposal on Tuesday, Aug. 17 after these changes have been finalized. If approved by the committee, the program would also have to pass two full council votes before implementation.