Starting November 16, 2026, the Night Lift no longer runs in Fraser. After 5 p.m., the bus home from dinner or a late shift is The Lift Flex, a free, shared, on-demand ride you request through an app or by calling dispatch at (970) 726-4163. During the day, the Emerald Line's fixed-route bus stops running from mid-morning to mid-afternoon, and Flex covers that stretch. The Black Line to Wapiti keeps running.
Fraser will spend almost exactly what it spent before. The difference is in who starts each trip. For about 14 of the day's service hours, the bus waits for the rider to ask. This first winter is a pilot, and town officials will use how it performs to decide what Fraser pays for next.
Your Day on The Lift, by the Clock
The Lift's winter FAQ breaks Flex service into time blocks. For someone in Fraser, the day works out like this:
| Time of day | What runs on the Emerald Line side of Fraser | How you ride |
|---|---|---|
| Morning rush, before about 9:15 a.m. | Emerald fixed route | Catch the scheduled bus |
| About 9:15 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. | Lift Flex only | Book a ride in the app or call dispatch |
| 3:15 p.m. to 5 p.m. | Emerald fixed route returns, Flex still available | Either one |
| 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. | Lift Flex, replacing Night Lift | Book a ride in the app or call dispatch |
Flex runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Emerald route area of Fraser, and the Emerald Line's fixed route is off during the middle of that window. The Lift's Emerald Line page gives the gap as 9:15 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. After 5 p.m., Flex covers Winter Park and Fraser in the areas the Night Lift used to serve, until 2 a.m.
Most of the new trips start in the middle and at the end of the day. The morning commute on the Emerald Line still runs on a printed schedule. So does the Black Line, which carries far more of the system's riders.
Getting to the Resort at Midday Now Takes a Transfer
Midday Flex rides don't go straight to the base area. The Lift sends daytime riders headed for Winter Park Resort to Cooper Creek Transit Center first, where they change to a southbound fixed-route bus. The Lift explains it this way: Flex vehicles stay busy with neighborhood pickups while the big buses handle the resort run.
A midday trip to the slopes from the Emerald side of Fraser looks like this:
- Open The Lift Flex app, or call (970) 726-4163, once your group is ready to leave.
- Enter how many people are riding. Groups larger than six may be split between two trips.
- Go to the pickup point the app or dispatcher gives you. It may be moved to a nearby spot because of snow removal, road conditions or private-property access.
- Ride to Cooper Creek Transit Center and transfer to the next southbound bus to the resort.
The same transfer works for other trips. From Cooper Creek, a daytime Flex rider can connect to any fixed route in the Lift system. In Sky-Hi News coverage, officials named transfers among the things they will track this winter.
The Bus After Dinner Will Look Familiar
The Night Lift is gone, but its vehicles are still on the road. The Lift says Flex uses smaller buses identical to the ones that ran Night Lift, marked with a Lift Flex logo and "The Lift Flex" on the destination sign. What's new is the booking. A ride home from downtown Fraser at 10 p.m. now starts with a request in the app or a call to dispatch, and the vehicle may stop for other riders along the way, so trip times vary.
The Lift's FAQ answers a few practical questions:
- Fare: Free. No ticket or fare pass.
- Gear: Skis, snowboards, luggage, groceries, strollers and bikes are allowed if they can be carried and secured safely. Space can be tight at busy times.
- Accessibility: Vehicles are ADA accessible, and eligible paratransit riders can keep using paratransit.
- Service animals: Welcome.
- No smartphone: Call dispatch at (970) 726-4163 and staff will book the trip.
- Booking ahead: Up to six hours in advance. The bus may arrive early, so check the app.
During the summer pilot in Winter Park, The Lift expected a maximum wait of 20 minutes. When waits ran longer, the app could show that no rides were available, and riders were told to try again in 10 to 20 minutes. For winter, The Lift says pickup times may be longer at busy times and in storms. It suggests leaving extra time for work, ski lessons and reservations, and checking its Rider Alerts page for service changes.
Fraser Has Never Had Flex Before
Lift Flex launched June 15, 2026, as a summer pilot that covered the Town of Winter Park, including Parkside at Winter Park Resort. Fraser was outside the service area. The Town of Winter Park's announcement presented it as a way to reach areas the Black Line doesn't serve, with booking by app, phone or online. The pilot is funded by a Colorado Department of Transportation Clean Transit Enterprise Grant and a Grand County Community Priorities Grant.
That means November 16 is the first day Flex serves Fraser at all, and it starts in the busiest season of the year. The summer brought some pushback. A Winter Park reader's letter to Sky-Hi News argued that the app was built around a rideshare model that assumes unlimited drivers, that it could lengthen waits and trip times, that it lacked simple promotion such as QR codes, and that it might not keep up with winter demand. When Sky-Hi News covered Fraser's vote, it described the letter as opinion, not a measured result, and said its concerns about app access and delays are the kind the pilot should test.
Why Fraser Chose This Setup
Fraser's trustees approved the hybrid plan at their September 2, 2026 meeting. In the staff memo it was Option 1. A different option in the memo would have dropped the Emerald Line and the Wapiti part of the Black Line entirely. The plan trustees chose keeps both.
The cost figures show how little the plan saves. The staff memo projects Fraser's annual cost at $1,577,671.70, compared with $1,600,414.26 for keeping service as it was. That is a savings of about $22,743, or roughly 1.4 percent. Fraser expects its dedicated 1% sales tax to bring in $1.2 million to $1.3 million a year, and that tax also pays for trails and capital projects. Sky-Hi News reported the remaining transit gap at $278,000 to $378,000.
Ridership helps explain why the Emerald Line gets reworked while the Black Line stays the same. From 2022 through 2026, the Black Line carried 23 to 39 percent of system riders, compared with 4 to 6 percent on the Emerald Line. A trustee cited 584,485 total system boardings in 2025, with 28,191 of them on the Emerald Line, or just under 5 percent. Fraser's survey drew 584 responses: 83 percent favored keeping service, and 84 percent said their main reason for riding was to avoid parking at the resort. Staff noted the survey was not statistically representative.
The Emerald Line's schedule has changed several times since Fraser created the route in 2019. It went from hourly to every 30 minutes at winter peak in November 2023. Facing a projected 30 percent rise in 2026 operating costs, the town went back to hourly service and moved the first trip an hour earlier for workers. Flex is the next attempt to keep the route running at a cost the town can manage.
Every Ride Is Part of the Pilot
Winter Park manages The Lift and contracts with Transdev to run it. Fraser pays its share of operating costs, plus 10 percent overhead, and Winter Park Resort contributed $300,000 in 2026. The pilot uses smaller vehicles off-peak and full-size buses at peak times. Officials will track winter capacity, wait times, phone access, transfers and service to St. Louis Landing and Rendezvous. Trustees also asked staff to track denied trips, cost per passenger, missed connections, phone bookings and vehicle miles.
Town staff and Lift officials can adjust the pilot as demand changes. The longer-term funding options trustees discussed include contributions from those who benefit from the service, a regional transportation authority, voter-approved taxes, grants and new cost-sharing agreements. Each request through the app or dispatch this winter adds to the data those decisions will rest on, including how long the wait was, whether the Cooper Creek connection worked, and whether a phone booking went through.
Whether a home is near the Black Line, inside the Emerald area or a short ride from Cooper Creek is now a real part of how a Fraser address works in winter. If you're thinking about your next move in the Fraser Valley and want a clear read on how transit, access and location affect value, Kristen Meyer and our team know these routes well. Request a Market Consultation.