The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Some public disappointment that United is canceling spring flights
by Alissa Johnson
Just a week and a half after voters approved a sales tax increase to support the Gunnison Valley Rural Transportation Authority (RTA), the RTA board of directors approved a 2016 budget that promises change for valley transportation next year.
The public will see the launch of a new senior transportation program, expanded bus service between Gunnison and Mt. Crested Butte, and the potential expansion of summer air service to Houston.
The increased sales tax—now 1 percent across the RTA District—is projected to generate an additional $1.25 million, to $2,523,830. While that generates a lot of possibilities for local transportation, some members of the public have expressed frustration that a reduction of spring air service was announced on the heels of the election.
Increased ground transportation
At the November 13 RTA meeting, director Scott Truex told the board of directors that he expects the senior bus service to launch in April or May of 2016.
Funds for the service will most likely be run through the Gunnison County Senior Transportation Program run by Gunnison Valley Health. The RTA is working with partners like the Gunnison Valley Senior Care Center through a senior transportation committee to determine service details.
The plan is to use existing funds to secure capital for senior transportation, such as vehicles, and use sales tax revenues once they are flowing to operate the program seven days a week.
“I’m very excited to be able to do this,” Truex said.
General bus service between Mt. Crested Butte and Gunnison will also expand, including a few small changes to this winter’s schedule. The first morning bus leaving Mt. Crested Butte will leave ten minutes earlier than last winter; some teachers in the Gunnison schools commute from Mt. Crested Butte and were arriving five minutes late for work. Southbound departure times for buses leaving Crested Butte South have also been pushed back five minutes to reflect actual travel times.
For spring, summer and fall service, Truex explained there will be a 31 percent increase in trips next year, including seven round trips a day during spring and fall (up from three) and 11 round trips a day during the summer (up from seven). The late-night bus, which leaves Gunnison at 10:15 p.m. and Mt. Crested Butte at 11:15 p.m., will also run year-round.
“I’m anticipating to be able to expand next winter as well, maybe just by one bus,” Truex said.
The 2016 budget also includes funds for two new “over-the-road” vehicles that resemble Greyhound buses, expected to arrive in the fall of 2016. One bus will be purchased using a Department of Transportation grant, and while the RTA originally hoped to order one vehicle that ran on compressed natural gas (CNG), both will be diesel. Truex said the timing of the purchase, additional costs, and uncertainties about the performance of CNG vehicles all played a role in the decision to steer away from CNG.
Reduction in spring service, expansion during the summer
One dark spot in Gunnison Valley transportation came last week when the RTA announced that United Airlines eliminated spring service between the Gunnison-Crested Butte Regional Airport and Denver. Airline consultant Kent Myers explained that the decision was not a surprise but the timing was.
“When we were in Chicago this summer, [meeting with United Airlines, they] brought up the possibility of looking at the spring service as it relates to cutting it back or eliminating it. When we returned from that meeting we alerted the board that was a possibility,” he said.
At the time, however, Myers asked the airline to provide seven to nine months advance notice so the RTA could come up with alternative services. That didn’t happen.
“My hope was that we were going to get through this spring because the airport will be closed for repairs in 2017 during that timeframe,” Myers continued.
The day before Halloween the airline asked for a conference call during which they said they would cancel the service unless the RTA wanted to pay a revenue guarantee—a figure that came in the Wednesday after the election—for $371,000 for 65 flights.
“Let’s clarify what that means,” Truex said. “We will always pay the cap on the United flight to Denver.”
When travelers book those flights, he explained, they might spend $500 on a ticket from Gunnison to New York but only 10 percent of that purchase counts toward the revenue guarantee to United—the portion of the flight between Gunnison and Denver, or $50 in this example. In addition, spring flights average only 22 people per flight.
Truex and Myers said that replacing the service with a regional carrier would be difficult. Pilot shortages are straining resources, there would be very little time for the airline to set up at the airport this spring, and travelers would have a hard time transferring to other airlines in Denver. They would have to pick up luggage in the baggage claim, recheck it, and go through security again.
“Due to timing, the fact that the cost would be so high and that we don’t have good options, our recommendation is that we don’t take action to secure service this spring but work on spring 2018 to find a solution, if possible,” Truex said.
“Is there an opportunity to look at service that is flying in and out of Montrose and doing some sort of assistance in ground transportation for those eight weeks so we can help with connectivity?” county commissioner Paula Swenson asked.
“Yes,” Truex confirmed.
He and Myers then told the board that even as United eliminated spring service, it offered to increase summer service to Houston. The direct flight runs from late June through Labor Day, and United proposed running daily flights for 45 days starting July 1 and flying Saturdays the rest of the season (last summer, the service ran four days a week during its peak).
Disgruntled business travelers
A handful of business travelers attended the board meeting to express frustration with the cancellation of spring service. Crested Butte resident Jamie Walton found the timing of the announcement suspicious.
“That was a close election and you didn’t share that information with the public so they could vote with that in mind. It sounds like fraud to me,” he said, adding that the information should have been shared immediately and suggesting that the election would have been lost if it had.
Truex pointed out that the airline did not provide the RTA with the details of a potential revenue guarantee until the Wednesday after the election. Mary Burt, executive director of the Gunnison Crested Butte Air Alliance, said she helped run the election campaign and had suspended campaigning by that time, as most people had already voted.
As the discussion grew confrontational, outgoing Crested Butte mayor Aaron Huckstep intervened. “The challenge we’re facing now is exactly why the RTA has been talking about this notion of a tax increase, for how many years now? Two? Three?”
While other travelers expressed interest in ground transportation to Montrose, Mt. Crested Butte resident Jim Sharp implored the RTA not to forget about business travelers.
“I realize that we are a minority vote in this. Back when I was [flying in and out of the local airport], there were maybe a dozen of us that frequented it,” he said. “But I think it would be a mistake to focus exclusively or predominantly on the exterior vacation market. … If you attempt to keep the airport open based only on vacation travelers, it’s only a matter of time. I don’t see how that’s ever going to work.”
For now, the RTA will look into ways to provide support for ground transportation to Montrose this spring and look for a better solution for Denver service for the spring of 2018.
The RTA is also continuing to negotiate the terms of a summer agreement with United for direct service to Houston, including the possibility of daily flights during the peak of the season. It may ask for a Wednesday flight during the off-peak part of the season in addition to the Saturday flight. When it comes to the bigger picture of how to expand the air program, particularly after the sales tax increase, the RTA will go through a strategic air planning process in May.
