The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Downtowner expanding beyond north Mt. CB
By Mark Reaman
The Mountain Express board of directors have chosen Downtowner, the business overseeing the FirstTracks operation in Mt. Crested Butte, to take over the Late Night Taxi service. Downtowner will take over the service from Alpine Express, which has operated the service for the last several years.
Mountain Express managing director Jeremy Herzog had received three bids to operate the service. Downtowner bid $203,000 to operate the Late Night Taxi for 300 days a year from 10 p.m. until 3 a.m. There will be a reduction in service during the spring and fall off-seasons. Black Canyon Limo had submitted a bid of $206,000, while Alpine Express had come in with a bid of $151,440 for the same time periods.
In a presentation to the board on October 17, Herzog made clear there were “significant concerns” about the reliability of existing operations, given the last several months of operations that sometimes resulted in no service for people looking for the late night ride home. “The operator is not able to implement improvements during the course of the existing contract, that we are asking for again in this contract. Will they deliver?” Herzog asked.
While Herzog said Black Canyon Limo was a local business that had demonstrated a passion for the service and he felt it would offer a quality product, he expressed concern that Black Canyon Limo had no direct experience with the proposed technology used to operate the service. The low bid for Black Canyon was also more than Downtowner’s bid for the same amount of service.
Herzog said Downtowner’s advantage came with its experience with FirstTracks where turnkey, on-demand service was already in place with the user-friendly app. He said the ability to share vehicles across the Late Night Taxi and FirstTracks services was also a plus as was the fact that drivers and managers came from the local worker pool.
“Downtowner gives us the best opportunity to operate our services to the highest level of performance, as well as a good value,” Herzog told the board in his presentation.
The current contract with Alpine Express ends December 31.
Herzog said that pending a collaborative conversation with both Downtowner and Alpine Express, Downtowner will take over the Late Night Taxi service starting sometime around December 15. The contract will run for one year, commensurate with the current funding commitments of the towns.
Both the town of Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte will contribute $57,200 each, while the RTA will contribute $28,600. Fare revenue will fund the rest, but Mountain Express will cover any gaps if fare revenue is below expectations. Fares will be raised to $25 per rider for communities like CB South and Meridian Lake that are a further drive, while it will be $15 for Mt. CB trips that originate in Crested Butte.
“I am appreciative of Alpine Express for their years of dutiful execution of the service, they got a lot of people home safely over the years,” said Herzog. “Looking forward though, I am stoked about what Downtowner will hopefully bring to the table. With their expertise, they are going to provide a heightened user experience for the community and raise the bar on what the service can be. I look forward to working with local business owners in a collaborative partnership and making sure the extensive local government subsidy is put to good use for the North Valley. “
The board voted unanimously to award the contract to Downtowner.
