The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“The community was not engaged in this process”
By Kendra Walker
Residents of Paradise Road have made it clear they are not happy with the new Mountain Express on-demand pilot program that will replace their fixed route bus system.
As previously reported in the Crested Butte News, the Mountain Express board of directors recently approved an on-demand service to replace the regular fixed routes on the Summer Condo, Columbine and Snodgrass bus routes. Instead of a fixed route system, riders will use a smartphone app to hail a minivan for transport to the main transit center in Mountaineer Square. Mountain Express has contracted with a company called Downtowner to provide this service.
However, residents of Paradise Road are unhappy to lose the bus. Several folks attended the August 1 Mt. Crested Butte town council meeting to voice their concerns regarding the shift in service.
“Everybody on Paradise was blindsided by the fact that the bus routes are getting cancelled, and everybody on Paradise wants the bus, we don’t want the vans,” said Mike Jennings. “The public outreach was insufficient and ineffective. We feel blindsided that this happened without letting anybody know and giving people a chance to say something about it.”
“We are all for a plan that provides transit to all of Mt. CB. So, add the vans. But, not at the expense of the existing bus routes,” said Kelli Jennings. “Bus riders and the community should have been given a say about this tax-funded service. It was sold as an expansion…however, deceptively omitting information like the bus route cancellation is the same as lying. The support I’m told has been gathered for the new plan was gathered on this lie.”
“I’m concerned with the lack of transparency in the process,” agreed Liz Tucker. “We were never asked specifically about removing bus service. The community did not say they wanted to remove bus service. The new plan has the highest negative impact on the most local street in town without taking local voice into consideration.”
The residents explained why the current bus service works for them, and why the on-demand van service does not.
“It’s being sold as an ‘improvement’ in wait time,” said Kelli. “For anyone on or near any fixed bus route, there’s zero wait time. This is why it works. People all over Mt. CB and the Town know when the bus is coming and go get on. Fixed schedules are not waits.”
“We currently don’t wait. We walk to the curb when we know the bus is coming,” agreed Tucker. “We know it’s a luxury, but a reason we specifically chose to live on this road.”
Both Tucker and Jennings explained their concerns regarding their children using the van service. “We don’t have school buses in Mt CB. The Mountain Express has filled the gap. Mt. CB kids use the buses extensively to get to work, after school and to/from the mountain,” said Kelli. “Downtowners’ Terms of Service state: ‘Our Service is not directed to or intended for use by children under the age of 18.’ It makes no sense.”
“We have children old enough to ride independently, but they’re young enough to not have cell phones. This removes scheduled, safe and reliable transportation,” said Tucker. “There is no circumstance where I will put my children in a van with unknown drivers with strangers on an unfixed route.”
Tom Rolleczek, who lives on Cinnamon Mountain Road, also spoke during public comment on the issue. “I think there’s other roads that are going to lose some convenience or service from that as well,” he said. “We’re doing a lot of development up here and increasing the density of housing. What’s the message we’re sending if we’re cutting back on public transport? I really like it, but I would suggest moving at a slower pace – augmenting the routes and bringing in vans and perhaps cutting some of the route frequency. Perhaps there’s a way to test out the theory a little bit more.”
The Paradise residents urged the council to keep buses on Paradise Road. Many of the folks who spoke mentioned that they don’t ride the bus past 6 p.m. or in the summer, and said they’d be willing to compromise on cutting back some of the current bus service. They proposed adding the Paradise Road loop to the Three Seasons route that will remain.
“Add back these bus routes. If that’s not viable, add the Cinnamon Mountain stop and Paradise Road loop to the Three Seasons route,” said Kelli. “It’ll add less than a mile to this route. Do it only in the winter, and only until 6 p.m. It’s a compromise on both sides.”
“At a minimum I think people on our street and other streets would appreciate a different level of compromise. Driving it slowly takes two-and-a-half minutes to add our street,” said Carl Tucker. “With that being said, I have asked [Mountain Express] for details around how we could do this and was told it is not feasible. I have not received any details on why that’s viewed as not feasible. I urge the council to influence Mountain Express and put a pause on current plans so we can collaborate on something that’s constructive for the community moving forward.”
At the end of the meeting, there was some miscommunication between council members Dwayne Lehnertz and Roman Kolodziej, who both serve on the Mountain Express board, regarding the board’s vote to discontinue bus service for Paradise Road.
“I attended the last board meeting and I missed that we were stopping service for Paradise Road. How did that decision get made?” asked Lehnertz.
“You’d like me to remember the meeting for you that you were at? You can’t remember the voting?” said Kolodziej.
“Not about discontinuing the bus loop around Paradise,” said Lehnertz.
Mayor Nicholas Kempin stopped the discussion and shared that the council will revisit the issue at the next council meeting on August 15. Mountain Express director Jeremy Herzog also confirmed with the Crested Butte News that he will present at the August 15 meeting and will wait to make any public statements until the presentation has been given publicly.
