As Mountain Express fleet ages, new bus barn is priority

“The buses are still in good shape…”

Every time the “Martian” or “Fish” bus runs between the Old Town Hall and the Mountaineer Square, miles and hours are added to the rig. Like any vehicle, this all has an impact on how well it runs. And age is not an asset for buses.

It is standard procedure to replace the engine in a bus after 10,000 hours of work. But the reality is that most of the 15 vehicle Mountain Express fleet are running on engines exceeding that 10,000-hour mark.
Of the 15 buses in the Mountain Express fleet, 90 percent have engines with more than 10,000 hours. The oldest buses still in operation were purchased in 1993, while the “Wildlife” bus has the most miles, with more than 175,000 on the odometer. Many of the other buses are pushing 160,000 miles. The newest bus was purchased in 2005.
“Our fleet is definitely getting old,” says Mountain Express director Chris Larsen. “But the buses are still in really good shape. Still, the goal of the organization has always been to keep a bus for 10 years and then retire it or use it as a spare. Because we are trying to build a new bus barn, our cash has been spent on the building instead of replacing buses, so the average age of the buses and the engines are getting older.”
Larsen explains that there are 10 large and five small buses in the fleet. The large vehicles are used for the town routes, while the small buses get used on the condo loops in Mt. Crested Butte. The bus barn building is still just an idea while Mountain Express waits on some additional steel for the building meant to shore up the roof. Larsen hopes building activity will commence at the end of the month.
“The idea is that once the building is up, we’ll again have the cash to spend on buses and get the fleet rotating to newer vehicles again,” Larsen says.
He says that if the Mountain Express could come up with $58,000, the board could purchase two new large buses, which each cost about $140,000. “But we don’t have the matching funds at the moment,” he explains. “The grant was carried over to 2009 from 2008 and I think we could carry it over again if we need to do that.”
Larsen also says the bus system still owes the town of Crested Butte about $58,000 for affordable housing fees and water-and-sewer tap fees. The town agreed to defer the fees incurred from the bus barn construction until July of this year. “We are obligated to pay the town first,” he says. “But then we should start accumulating money for buses.”
While the Mountain Express is funded primarily through sales tax generated in Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte, and sales tax revenue is generally off from the previous year, Larsen is confident the money will again flow to purchase more vehicles down the line.