Over the summer I and four other FRCC students made a documentary traveling from Fort Collins to Pueblo using public transportation, in order to cover the prospective Front Range Passenger Rail.
We were all student journalists with the school’s newspaper, The Front Page, but between the five of us – Morgan Treat, Julian Hanes, Catherine Schadegg, Jacob Brown, and myself (Victoria Flores) we had very little experience.
What we did have were ideas.
Morgan Treat, web design major and editor for the Larimer county campus branch of The Front Page, was first to bring the idea to the team.
The project began with a pretty simple thought: “Wouldn’t it be cool?”
Wouldn’t it be cool if, while covering the Front Range Passenger Rail, we actually used the available public transportation along the proposed train route?
The ideas spiraled from there – in the best way.
What if we interviewed everyday commuters on our way there? What if we interviewed the bus drivers? What if we interviewed the Governor?
We talked to anyone who was willing, passengers, drivers, Transfort representatives, the Front Range Passenger Rail Board, Amtrak representatives, and yes, even the Governor — for about 5 minutes at least. He’s a busy guy.
We asked about funding, who actually supports the passenger rail and who doesn’t, as well as environmental and safety concerns.
Our work culminated into a three part docu-series.
Part one has been published on YouTube: It covers our journey from Fort Collins to Boulder, and then on to Denver.
It also happens to include my favorite interview (spoiler: it’s not the governor).
RTD bus driver Bill, shared his feelings on what rail could add to our current public transportation and what we’re already pretty good at.
The best part of our time with Bill was when he shared a touching story about a regular passenger of his, but he can tell it better than I can, so if you want to hear it, you’ll have to watch part one.
In just two weeks, it’s reached over 2,000 views, and we’re pretty proud of it. Julian Hanes, journalism major, associate editor of The Front Page, and one of our cameramen on the trip, said, “It’s really nice to see all the comments about it, and all the views it’s gotten so far. It’s a little like watching people opening the Christmas presents that you’ve had to keep secret for so long.”
