I recently traveled to San Francisco and like many other large cities in the US and in other parts of the world I used their brilliant public transit infrastructure. As I zoomed to the airport aboard the BART, avoiding traffic, admiring the landscape, and catching up on my email made possible with their free public rail wi-fi, I had to stop and think – why has Colorado not jumped on this high speed train?

I know that there are measures on the table to assess whether or not it is a feasible idea to get a light rail system up to the mountains for all of the ski enthusiasts, but how about the one missing from the middle of I-25? As long as there is snow, people will come here to ski, with or with out a traffic free ride to the lifts. But imagine how many more people would choose Fort Collins to start their business, or how many people that work in Denver would opt to live in Fort Collins if we just had a train that could take us from here to there.

There are the obvious benefits like less pollution and less road maintenance, but what about the little things like, being more productive by being able to work while in transit, saving significant money on gas, and less weather related travel delays. I could make a list 50 miles long of all of the benefits.
It makes me wonder how a country as advanced as the US is in so many ways is so far behind when it comes to our rail systems. In many train stations across Europe people have access to bike rental as soon as they depart the train. I long for the day that I could jump on a train headed to Boulder for a meeting during rush hour, make it there in 30 minutes, while working on my presentation along the way, get out at the station and onto a bike for a quick refreshing 10 minute ride to the location of my meeting, and still get home in time for dinner by 7pm. Sanity preserved, exercise accomplished, money and energy conserved, all in all a very well improved meeting process than the way they play out today.

With Colorado becoming more and more of a breading ground for innovative green companies, the more relevant it becomes that we find more ways to connect and support each other sustainably for continued growth. It was a blow when homegrown AVA Solar, now Abound Solar, chose Longmont over Fort Collins for their factory location. Who knows, had there been a train that went straight down the middle of I-25, maybe it could have played a roll in keeping them closer. I can understand why they chose to hang their hats there (aside from zoning and construction issues) as another company in the environmental space, I spend almost three days a week driving to Denver or Boulder for work meetings. When it comes to being able to reach a larger pool of well qualified employees and potential clients, and necessary service providers, (like lawyers and accountants) positioning themselves somewhere in the middle of the triangle of commerce we have here in Colorado makes perfect sense.

I’m convinced the only way a mass transit rail system will ever become a reality is if more people here in Northern Colorado ask for it, and loudly. The powers that be in Denver are not nearly as concerned about how to get to Fort Collins as we are to get to them to grow our businesses.

So whether you are a Northern Colorado resident without a car, but still needs to get to the airport, a business looking to expand your client base, or a simply an environmentalist that would like to see fewer cars on the road – it going to be up to us to speak up to help make rail a reality.

Charisse McAuliffe