The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“Let’s meet at the Donita’s, I mean Museum Stop…”
A working group will get together soon to study the feasibility of trying a new bus stop at Fourth and Elk in front of the Crested Butte Heritage Museum.
Museum board member Don Cook has come before the Town Council several times in an attempt to convince them of the benefits of such a bus stop. This time the council agreed to study the proposal with Cook and staff from the Mountain Express bus system.
“This may seem like déjà vu since I have been here before,” Cook told the council at the September 19 council meeting. “But I am trying to reintroduce the idea of the bus stop in front of the museum. I am a board member of the museum and the board feels it is important to have more presence. This helps accomplish that. We want to hear people say they’ll meet at the ‘museum stop’ instead of the Four-way. Having a bus stop in the middle of the business district is a benefit for the whole town. I presented a petition with more than 100 signatures of people who felt the same. There are a lot of positives about having a bus stop on the main street. Crested Butte is the only town in the mountain west that doesn’t do this.”
Mayor Leah Williams said that in the past, safety and timing concerns have been cited by the Mountain Express as reasons not to do it. She produced a memo from Mountain Express director Chris Larsen written in December 2010. It cites cost of implementing a bus pull in, snow issues, a route timing crunch and safety as impediments to the idea. Larsen’s memo stated passengers generally don’t pay attention to traffic when getting on or off a bus and on a busy street like Elk Avenue, that could be dangerous.
“I believe the process should be for the council to entertain a recommendation from the Mountain Express after they look at all the issues,” Williams told Cook.
“In my meetings with Chris and Mountain Express managers, they put it back on you,” said Cook. “They said they would do whatever the council asked.”
“I share the concerns that Chris brought up in his memo, but maybe they can all be addressed adequately,” suggested Councilperson Dan Escalante.
“We tried this a few years ago but only for a day or two,” said Councilperson Jim Schmidt. “People bolted across the street but that happens at every stop. But we are in the customer satisfaction business so I think this is worth trying with more effort than last time. It seems like we should see if this could work. It may not be perfect but we should try it for a year. And it would be good to start soon before the winter season.”
“Is it more of a service to have more drop-offs or have the bus run more frequently?” asked Councilperson John Wirsing. “It appears we can’t have both. Putting in that stop costs time.”
“That can be timed pretty easily to see if it really does make the route that much longer,” said Councilperson Roland Mason. “And as far as cost, maybe the businesses that signed the petition would be willing to help pay for the increased costs. That’s just a thought.”
“This is a way to help businesses that are feeling the pinch right now,” said Cook. “It’s a change and I understand the Mountain Express doesn’t want to change, but this is way overdue.”
“Let’s move ahead with the process and have the group get together to explore this,” said Councilperson Reed Betz. “Maybe you can come up with solutions to the problems.”
A dozen business and citizen representatives attended the meeting or sent a letter supporting Cook’s proposal. Town Manager Susan Parker will set up a meeting between town staff, Mountain Express officials and Cook to move forward.
“Just so you know, I’m not going away,” Cook told the council.
