The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“It’s a test run”
The Mountain Express, which oversees the RTA, added a later-night bus back and forth to Gunnison on November 28. Ridership to date isn’t outstanding, but plenty of people are taking advantage of both the 9:15 p.m. bus leaving from Gunnison and the 10:15 p.m. bus that departs from Mt. Crested Butte. It only runs on Saturdays.
It’s great for people looking to return to Gunnison later in the evening, but there’s another big upside—especially for people living in Crested Butte South. The 10:15 actually pulls into Crested Butte South and drops off passengers at the bus stop. Among other things, that means if you extend your après celebrations into the night, you’ve got a designated driver to get you home.
Chris Larsen, Transit Manager for Mountain Express, said a surprising number of people are coming up from Gunnison on the 9:15 p.m. bus—34 total since the route was added November 28. He figured there might be people who were down in Gunnison playing hockey, ice skating and swimming who are using the bus. Larsen said they’ve carried 67 passengers from Mt. Crested Butte on the 10:15 run. So far, they’ve dropped five people off in Crested Butte South at the POA Office stop at 61 Teocalli Rd. en route to Gunnison.
Overall Larsen said it’s “going smooth” and they haven’t had any issues with intoxicated or rowdy passengers one might expect that time of night.
The key to continuing the late bus is maintaining a certain level of ridership. “The RTA had pretty high goals for ridership and we’re not meeting those quite yet,” Larsen said. “It’s a test run and we need to get people taking advantage of it.”
Chris Behan, manager of the Crested Butte South Property Owners Association, said he’s gotten positive feedback on the late bus. “People are really excited. As awareness increases, I think ridership follows.”
