Discounted Durango Transit passes and parking Smart Cards will be available Monday through Friday, which coincides with Noel Nite, the holiday shopping spree set to occur Dec. 3.
Noel Nite is a grassroots version of Noel Night, a day for deals and discounts at downtown businesses. Noel Nite was organized by local businesses and supported by the Business Improvement District.
The cards and passes will be available for purchase from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Transit Center customer service window Monday through Friday.
There are a few different deals that will be available starting Monday.
Students in grades K-12 will be able to save $10 on annual transit passes, which will cost $20. Adults seeking annual transit passes can save $120 by purchasing a pass next week for $240.
Monthly transit passes are discounted by $10 and are going for $20 each.
New parking smart cards or reloads for existing cards are discounted by $10; residents can reload $30 onto an existing card for $20.
The parking and transit pass discounts coincide with a couple of downtown shopping events taking place in early December, namely the grassroots Noel Nite scheduled for Friday, Dec. 3, and Local First’s Shop Local for the Holidays.
Local First traditionally hosts a Noel Night of its own, but because of member concerns about COVID-19, the business association opted for an extended holiday shopping campaign with the intent of spreading out downtown pedestrian traffic between Black Friday and New Year’s.
It is possible thousands of shoppers will flock to downtown Durango on Friday for Noel Nite if turnout resembles previous years. Tim Walsworth, executive director of the Business Improvement District, said the downtown area could become quite packed by Friday evening.
The Business Improvement District, in partnership with the Durango Chamber of Commerce, Morehart Murphy Regional Auto Center and Bank of Colorado, is also running a holiday rewards program that started the day after Thanksgiving. Shoppers can save their receipts and turn them in for gift cards to local businesses once the receipts total $100 or more.
Receipts totaling $100 can be exchanged for a $25 gift card. Receipts totaling $300 can be swapped for a $50 gift card. If people spend $500 they can trade their receipts for a $100 gift card.
The holiday rewards program ends Dec. 19 or until all the rewards are claimed, whichever occurs first.
To learn more about the holiday rewards program, visit www.downtowndurango.org/holiday-rewards-program.
cburney@durangoherald.com
