CB South bus stop ridership underwhelming up to this point

It’s still about 15% of the passengers

The first reports are in and the new Crested Butte South bus stop hasn’t exactly been a booming success.

The Gunnison Valley Rural Transportation Authority (RTA) made the decision this year to support requests from the subdivision to bring a bus into the neighborhood instead of stopping at the highway. This new route addition started June 28.
For the first nine days with the new route, the bus is averaging about 25 passengers per day getting on or off at Crested Butte South. There are 12 stops per day at the tennis courts at Red Mountain Park in Crested Butte South.
“That’s still about 15 percent of the riders we carried on those days,” said RTA executive director Scott Truex. “We averaged about 175 passengers a day during those particular nine days.”
Last winter, the RTA carried about 383 passengers per day and on average, 13 people got on or off at the Crested Butte South Highway Stop. Last summer, when there were fewer buses running between Mt. Crested Butte and Gunnison, the RTA carried about 124 people per day in July and seven of them got on or off at Crested Butte South.
“It’s really too early to draw any firm conclusions,” said Truex. “I want to see all the data. But I’ve heard a lot of favorable comments from people about the situation. People seem excited about it.”
“Let’s wait and see what happens,” said Truex.
The addition of the Crested Butte South bus stop costs the RTA just over $100 per day. “We’ll keep tracking the numbers carefully and make a recommendation to the board about next summer this fall during the budget process,” concluded Truex.
The program will run until August 10.