Seventy-three transit workers for the city of Colorado Springs were told Thursday that they will lose their jobs Dec. 31, as the city’s bus system girds for massive cuts in service in 2010, the Colorado Springs Gazette reports.

The employees given their pink slips work for bus operator First Transit, which is contracted by the city to operate its Mountain Metropolitan Transit, said Ryan Hiatt, general manager of Mountain Metropolitan South.

First Transit executes two separate contracts for the city — one contract (the “south garage”) is funded by city general fund money, the other contract (the “north garage”) gets its money from the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority.

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