Mountain Express adjusting winter schedule with minor cuts

Half-hour service will end the day

With sales tax in Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte in decline, the Mountain Express bus system is looking for ways to increase efficiency. The Mountain Express board recently approved some cuts to the winter schedule but Mountain Express director Chris Larsen says those cuts shouldn’t be noticed too much by the general public.

“We are trying to be more efficient than we have been and we think making these three adjustments will help in that regard without impacting service too much,” said Larsen.
The most noticeable cut will be a reduction in service between 10 p.m. and midnight. Instead of running the town route every 15 minutes, the bus will shuttle between the two towns every half an hour.
“Ridership numbers drop off pretty quickly after 10 o’clock,” said Larsen, “but during the busy times like Christmas we will keep both buses out.”
Larsen said the move would save more than $60 an hour for two hours a day for 107 days, amounting to about $14,400.
A second adjustment approved by the Mountain Express board of directors is eliminating an extra condo bus for the Three Seasons condominiums’ route during traditionally busy times. For the last several years, the bus system ran an extra bus between 8 and 10 a.m. as well as from 3 to 5 p.m. along the Three Season-Chateaux route. But again, those numbers have been in decline and so the extra bus will be eliminated except during busy times.
“That route used to be one of our busiest routes and we needed the extra service,” explained Larsen. “But the numbers aren’t justifying that any more. There will still be the regular 15-minute service, but the extra bus won’t be there. I don’t think people will even notice the difference.”
That adjustment is budgeted to save $25,680.
The other change Larsen doesn’t think will be noticed is running a regular condo loop bus between 10 p.m. and midnight. This winter, there will be a condo bus that will get used like a taxi on the regular routes. “In the past between 11 p.m. and midnight, we had a condo bus that took people where they wanted to go on the routes. Now we will use that system between 10 p.m. and midnight.”
Larsen says that by having the night condo bus start the “taxi” service at 10 p.m. instead of 11 p.m., the system will save $7,860.
Larsen said the three changes should save the Mountain Express about $48,000. “The good news is that we are being more efficient,” he said. “The bad news is that drivers will be losing some hours. But that’s the reality of these economic times. We are still providing pretty much the same service and from what I hear, we are doing better than a lot of the other mountain bus services. In fact, some resorts aren’t starting their full winter schedules until the middle of December.”
Larsen said that given recent sales tax declines in Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte, the Mountain Express received $40,000 less than budgeted through July. Sales tax is the primary revenue source for the bus system. “The decline was mainly April and May. July actually was decent,” he said. “Hopefully August will be good as well.”
But no matter how good August is, there will be fewer bus hours on the road this winter.
Mountain Express will begin running the winter schedule November 25.