The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
$99,000 for reduced scope
By Kendra Walker
The Mt. Crested Butte town council has agreed to contribute the $99,000 needed to fund next year’s summer service of the Mountain Express’ on-demand FirstTracks program.
In September, the Mountain Express board unanimously approved the winter FirstTracks service that will cost the Mountain Express $450,000; however, was split on whether to operate the summer service which did not perform as well as the winter service during the pilot run. Representatives from the town of Crested Butte have made it clear they had other funding priorities and would not support the idea of funding the summer FirstTracks service.
Mountain Express managing director Jeremy Herzog approached the Mt. Crested Butte town council at the October 15 meeting with a request that the town financially support the summer FirstTracks service. “If the summer service is to continue, Mt. Crested Butte town council would need to fund ($99,000) the service in its entirety,” he wrote in a memo to the council.
He proposed a reduced scope of the summer service, running from June 15 to September 2. Approximately 7,000 riders were recorded on FirstTracks during that time frame in 2024. FirstTracks would have one van available from 7:30 a.m. to midnight with an additional van available at peak times if needed.
In 2024, the summer service cost approximately $36.48 per rider. The new scope for 2025 would cost approximately $18.27 per rider. FirstTracks saw 49,214 riders over last winter season for a cost of $7.82 per rider.
Council member Janet Farmer expressed her disappointment with the time frame and preferred running the service only during the peak summer months to save on operating costs.
“The vendor (Downtowner) felt this was the most realistic time period to hire people for the season,” explained Herzog.
The council asked if it was possible to charge users for the service to help offset costs.
“Even though it’s technically possible I think we’d see a significant decline in ridership. I don’t think we’d make much revenue on it,” said Herzog, explaining that all the Mountain Express summer routes see fewer riders in general.
Herzog noted that the Mountain Express still anticipates being able to take over the FirstTracks service in the future, which would also save money.
“I’m all for this,” said council member Steve Morris. “We gave it one summer and I think that’s way too small of a sample set. We need to give this more of an opportunity to be successful. I think this ties in with building a foundation for a lot of those programs that we will really need in the coming years, we’ve got a lot of growth coming.”
Council member Roman Kolodziej agreed and noted the evolution of the FirstTracks pilot program and service so far. “There were lessons learned, even before it started, and over the season we’ve improved the service and responded to issues,” he said. “I view this as the next step of tweaking the service and trying something else. It’s unfortunate that it’s dependent upon us to make this decision because the Mountain Express budget cannot support it, but I’m grateful we were able to delay the decision by the (Mountain Express) board so we could get in front of the councils.”
Each year, the towns of Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte contribute a portion of their sales tax and admissions tax to the Mountain Express. Currently, Mt. Crested Butte reserves 35% of its admissions tax for the Mountain Express, and funding the summer FirstTracks service would be an additional cost, as was the $57,000 the council recently agreed to contribute to the Late Night Taxi service.
Town manager Carlos Velado told the council that the funds would be pulled from the town’s transportation portion of its admissions tax. “That’s on top of what we’ve already allocated for admissions tax winter and summer grants and other miscellaneous transportation,” he said. “Those funds are available.”
“I have no qualms with the ask of Mt. Crested Butte given that it is a service that’s provided to our citizens,” said council member Dwayne Lehnertz. “Given the enthusiastic acceptance of the new system, I think it’s a good spend.”
“This is something I think we don’t have enough data on. I’m skeptical but I see some potential for the future,” said mayor Nicholas Kempin. “We’ve talked about maybe Mountain Express taking it over in the future and possible synergies with the Late Night Taxi, and so my vote is to give it more time and see how it goes.”
The council voted 4-1 to allocate $99,000 to fund the summer FirstTracks service. Farmer voted against, and council members Michael Bacani and Alec Lindeman were not at the meeting.
