Late-night RTA bus funding in the works

Business community looks to raise the dollars

Members of the Crested Butte/Mt. Crested Butte business community are rallying to build financial support for a late-night commuter bus between the upper valley and Gunnison to be operated by the Gunnison Valley Rural Transportation Authority.

  @font-face { font-family: “Cambria Math”; }@font-face { font-family: “Cambria”; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 10pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Cambria; }.MsoChpDefault { font-size: 10pt; font-family: Cambria; }div.WordSection1 { page: WordSection1; }

The bus service, if funded, would serve primarily to move Gunnison residents working in Crested Butte back home after their evening shifts. According to Chris Ladoulis, a primary champion of the late-night bus, the service is necessary because the lack of affordable housing in Crested Butte has resulted in many service workers living in Gunnison while working up-valley.
“The conversation started because we have heard repeatedly about how difficult it is to employ folks from Gunnison,” said Ladoulis, speaking at the RTA’s October meeting. “A lot of the concerns around the need for the bus were originally about moving employees back and forth to work, but now we’re seeing that there is interest in moving people back and forth for a late night out.”
Ladoulis told the RTA about a survey put out through the Crested Butte/Mt. Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce that asked business owners if they would be in favor of the RTA running the late-night service during the busy season. The response was largely favorable.
“With the Marcellina Apartments having closed, the business community is anticipating that large pockets of employees may be living in Gunnison and working on the mountain,” he said. “There needs to be a way for the work force to get to and from their place of employment safely.”
RTA executive director Scott Truex, said the group did not doubt that businesses were in favor of the bus, but it remained to be seen if employees would use a bus, and how exactly it would be paid for.
“I think we understand people want it. The question is, can we fund it?” he said. “We’re a little behind the eight ball here,” in terms of funding the service for the 2014/15 winter.
According to the RTA, a late-night bus for the winter season will cost about $37,500. Of that amount, the town of Mt. Crested Butte has already pledged $20,000 for the service, leaving Crested Butte, possibly Gunnison and private business to come up with the remainder.
Local business owner and strong proponent of the late-night bus Kyleena Falzone was at the meeting, and though she said it was nowhere in her budget she committed $2,000 to the bus.
“We need to keep our businesses running and our employees working,” Falzone told the council.
Crested Butte Mountain Resort vice president Ethan Mueller said that while Kyleena’s and other business owners’ commitments to the bus were admirable, the burden of paying for the service should be placed on the towns.
“I really want to encourage Gunnison and Crested Butte to consider picking up that tab,” he said. “I just think the communities should jump in on that and take the brunt of [the financial commitment] for the experiment.”
While the RTA remained concerned about putting a late-night bus into service this year, Truex told the board that if it proved successful, it would become the RTA’s responsibility to provide the service in future years.
Crested Butte mayor and RTA board person Aaron Huckstep agreed.
“Once we establish the level of service and provide the bus, we are going to have to squeeze it in to the RTA’s budget,” he said.
The RTA told Ladoulis and other interested community members that they would consider implementing the late-night bus if the additional $17,359 needed to pay for the service was secured by October 24.