Late-night bus service between Gunnison and Crested Butte

The party continues

A late-night, or at least later-night, bus will run Saturdays during the ski season between Crested Butte and Gunnison.

The Crested Butte Town Council agreed to chip in for a late-night bus between Gunnison and Crested Butte during their regular meeting November 16. The $925 came out of the 2009 budget and will help provide a Saturday night bus for the ski season, starting November 28 and running through April 4.
The local RTA (Gunnison Valley Rural Transportation Authority) will run the service. The Saturday night service bus will leave Gunnison at 9 o’clock and get to Mt. Crested Butte at about 10 p.m. It will turn around and take people back down valley starting at 10:15 p.m. Après ski opportunity, everybody!
Gunnison resident and Western State College assistant director of public relations Luke Mehall cited the many benefits of the Saturday night shuttle. “The first obvious benefit is if someone has been up on the mountain and had a few drinks afterwards, having the option to take a bus back to Gunnison might deter them from drinking and driving,” Mehall said.
“Another benefit,” continued Mehall, “is for the many students who work in Crested Butte in the winter and live in Gunnison. I spent many years working at Donita’s while living in Gunnison and going to Western, and driving back after a long-shift was always dreaded, especially in bad weather.”
RTA executive director Scott Truex says, “We’ve asked each town [Gunnison, Crested Butte, Mt. Crested Butte, and Crested Butte South] as well as the county and Western State College’s student government to each contribute $925 to cover the costs of the service.”
RTA board member and Crested Butte councilperson Skip Berkshire said the experiment would be deemed a success if an average of at least 30 people rode the bus each Saturday. If Crested Butte South contributes, the bus would pull into the subdivision on the way back to Gunnison.
As of press time, the town of Crested Butte and Crested Butte South had committed to contributing the $925. “It will be a good litmus test to see what kind of ridership we get,” said Chris Behan, manager of Crested Butte South Property Owners Association. “We’ll give it a whirl.”
“I think it the perfect example of a venture opportunity,” observed councilperson Margot Levy. “It sounds terrific.”
The rest of the council agreed and allocated the needed funds.