The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Intent to evolve into a more robust service
By Kendra Walker
The town of Mt. Crested Butte has agreed to contribute $57,200 to the Late Night Taxi for 2025, in addition to the town’s annual budget contribution to the Mountain Express. During a September 17 work session, Mountain Express managing director Jeremy Herzog presented the Mountain Express board’s recommendation to continue the on-demand Late Night Taxi for an estimated total cost of $120,000 and streamline the service to run 300 days a year.
Earlier this month, the town of Crested Butte agreed to also contribute $57,200 in addition to its annual 95% share of the town’s 1% sales tax for transportation services. Herzog confirmed that the RTA has agreed to contribute $28,600 on behalf of the unincorporated Gunnison County service zones, and Mountain Express estimates an additional $63,000 toward the service from fare revenue generation.
Mt. Crested Butte has allocated 35% of the proceeds of the town’s 4% admissions tax to go to the Mountain Express. The additional $57,200 will also come from the town’s admissions tax designated for transportation purposes.
The Late Night Taxi on-demand zones include Mt. Crested Butte, Meridian Lake, Crested Butte, Riverland, Skyland, Buckhorn and CB South. Herzog said that currently, 75% of the Late Night Taxi ridership ends up in Mt. Crested Butte.
Fares will increase from the current $10 per person charge to a range of $15-25 per person, depending on the passenger’s location destination. For example, fares are proposed to be $15 per passenger to Mt. CB and $25 per passenger to other unincorporated locations within the service area. Currently, Alpine Express uses one 14-passenger van to run the Late Night Taxi and it is currently available from 10 p.m.–2:30 a.m. Herzog confirmed that the same hours will apply next year.
Herzog reiterated that the Late Night Taxi is an expensive service to continue running; however, the Mountain Express board views it as a form of public safety. Herzog told the Crested Butte News this week that the service saw about 1,700 riders last winter. “The ridership certainly fluctuates with overall economic activity in the north valley. February saw 488 riders, whereas May had just 60,” he said. “This year, we expect about 3,700 riders.”
“What do you think raising the fee will do to ridership?” asked mayor Nicholas Kempin.
“We’ve been surveying the community. Some responders have said they would go up to $25 to get to CB South. Looking at prices of Ubers and cabs across the country, I think it’s fair,” said Herzog.
“To me there’s a real value in trying to keep that as cost effective as possible,” said councilmember Steve Morris, noting that some employees use the service after work to get home. “With that in mind, I would prefer more subsidy to keep the fares lower.”
“I think when the Mountain Express board evaluates the different vendors and we start getting great data, we can make the service better and tweak things,” he said, noting that fares could be adjusted in the core Mt. CB area where more employees live versus the northern end of town where more second homeowners live.
“I’m all in,” said Morris. “I’m bummed to see it go down to 300 days, especially since we’re on the verge of seeing these new developments in the north end come online. I’d rather see it funded and operating as much as possible. But I think we’re talking about 300 days at this point because that’s where our partners are at, and I’d like to see the intent of that to evolve to a more robust service.”
“The reason we pursued 300 days of service was there was concern from the town of Crested Butte and spiraling costs and being mindful,” said Herzog. “I talked to (the bar owners in town) and asked what it would mean if we went down to 300 days. We agreed it felt reasonable that we could still operate for 300 days a year without impacting safety in the valley.”
Mike Knoll of Kochevar’s agreed, adding, “At some point this needs to be funded 365 days a year. We need to make sure people get home safely, that’s the key. We’re very thankful you are on board with this and see this as a necessity that the towns need.”
Mountain Express plans to run a formal Request for Proposals to select a qualified vendor. “It will be really important to have a good partnership between Mountain Express, the operating vendor and business community to make sure the service is communicated to the community,” said Herzog.
“Having someone local that we can communicate with is a benefit, and essential,” added Talk of the Town owner Mary Boddington.
Herzog also said they plan to gather better data that they have not been able to get from the current operator, such as wait times. “For next year, we are mandating use of an app for booking, and this improved system will help us learn more about the overall Late Night Taxi service.”
The council gave staff direction to incorporate Mountain Express’s funding request into the town’s 2025 budget.
“Especially with the support of Crested Butte, I’m certainly willing to continue our funding for another year and when we reconvene at this time next year, we’ll have better data and a better idea for how to move forward,” said Kempin.
