After 34 years at the helm, the public bus service chief in the Roaring Fork Valley has decided to step down.
During Thursday’s board of directors meeting of the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority, Dan Blankenship announced his retirement as CEO at the end of 2024.
The significance isn’t fully apparent until someone asks you to speak a few words… When asked if it was a tough decision, Blankenship told the Aspen Daily News. “Then the feelings surface.”
It was expected that Blankenship would retire. Throughout 2023, the RFTA board of directors and senior management have been diligently crafting a succession plan. Kurt Ravenschlag, COO, and Michael Yang, CFO and AO, have already taken part in the planning process.
Two excellent internal candidates have been identified for the position of chief executive officer, according to RFTA board chair and Eagle County commissioner Jeanne McQueeney. According to her, the position will be advertised internally by RFTA, but external candidates would not be considered. January is the target date for the board to announce a finalist.
Blankenship announced that September would be the new CEO’s start date. To assist with the transition, Blankenship will remain on until the end of 2024.
From September 1989 until its dissolution, he was an employee of the RFTA and its precursor. At first, he was contracted by Pitkin County and the city of Aspen to work as the general manager for the local transit agency through a management business. With a downvalley service cut off at El Jebel, the 1989 system carried around 1.7 million passengers. With an anticipated 4.77 million riders in 2023, RFTA has expanded its service to include Rifle and Aspen. Nearly 5.57 million people used it in 2017.
On Thursday, he reflected on how he had initially planned to keep things as they were and gain experience in the role before implementing any major changes. The board of directors under his leadership at the time had different priorities; they cut fares in half and contracted a bus manufacturer without relevant expertise.
He spoke about how the first year was tough due to the high demand.
Plus, there were problems with the busses. He spoke about buses that had windshield wipers that may come loose.
During its first phase of growth, Blankenship oversaw the organization’s transition to a regional transportation authority with seven member jurisdictions (later expanded to eight with New Castle’s incorporation). The second phase of growth occurred in November 2018, when voters in the region approved the Destination 2040 plan and funding, enabling the expansion of more frequent service with buses that made fewer stops and a number of capital improvement projects. Blankenship left the management firm in 1999 to take a position with the transit agency directly. His title changed from executive director to CEO in 2003.
Blankenship said he has been fortunate to work with numerous “bold and visionary” board members as well as a talented and dedicated staff. RFTA is in the capable hands of a new generation of leaders, he said.
“There’s still a lot to be done,” he said.
The organization has a total budget just under $100 million for 2024 with an operating fund of just under $68 million.
Blankenship, 75, has made his mark as a tireless promoter of mass transit to ease traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions in the region. In an era where governments are building layers of communications teams to interact with the public, he has remained accessible to news reporters and the public-at-large.
“We are immensely grateful for Dan’s unwavering commitment and visionary leadership, which have been instrumental in helping to shape RFTA into the successful organization it is today,” McQueeney said in a statement released by RFTA.
Blankenship, 75, and his wife live in New Castle and have a son in college. Blankenship said they intend to remain in western Colorado.
His employment contract initially was set to expire at the end of this year but he and the board negotiated a one-year extension. He said it worked better for him to remain for an additional year for a variety of reasons.
