Bustang Outrider second daily bus costs escalating

No reservations, no Montrose service and estimate almost tripled

By Katherine Nettles

A popular bus service between Crested Butte and Denver that expanded this year is now under scrutiny as costs have almost tripled for funding stakeholders like the Gunnison Valley Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) and Chaffee County.  

RTA executive director Scott Truex updated the RTA board on September 26 that he had received a draft scope of work contract from the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) with a surprise increase for their cost share of a second daily Bustang Outrider bus between Crested Butte and Denver. 

The board budgeted about $71,000 for the service in 2025 and Truex said the plan was to budget about $106,000 for next year. The service began last spring but without a formal contract the RTA has not yet contributed anything toward the service. 

“For some reason, the contract came in at $286,000 per year for us,” said Truex. He said he had inquired with CDOT about the drastic increase and was told the Bustang fares cover about half the cost of the program, and the remaining half was divided between Gunnison and Chaffee County. He said CDOT explained that their original estimates were based on fare samples from last year on the route that proved inadequate.

Truex said it seems likely there will not be a contract in place this year, which means the RTA will not pay anything for the service until 2026, and the RTA could therefore roll the $71,000 allotted for 2025 into 2026. 

Truex said he also asked CDOT if Chaffee County had agreed to the higher cost but had not heard back. “I think the best way to move forward is probably to request a meeting of the original group, which would include Chaffee County and the director of the [state] Department of Transit and Rail because it’s such a different number than what we had before.” 

The board weighed in that they are not excited to see the first CDOT budget request at almost three times the initial estimates. 

They also asked how the second daily bus has performed, and RTA staff reported that the second bus has been moving about 900 people per month, and ridership has been steadily increasing each month since that service started in early spring.  Board member Liz Smith said it is one of, if not the most successful Bustang Outrider services in the state. 

Board member Laura Puckett Daniels noted that originally CDOT had offered to add the second Bustang bus at no charge, and Smith added they were also originally promised Bustang service to Montrose before CDOT recently reported that the distance between Montrose and Gunnison was not large enough to warrant the Outrider service intended to bridge rural areas.

“We’ve talked extensively about this, how there is no public transportation method to get west and how difficult that is for folks for passport renewals, for healthcare, for social security, for any of the federal connections we need,” said Puckett Daniels. “And for [CDOT] to say that it’s not viable because Gunnison and Montrose are too close to each other is just really insulting. Look at what happened when Highway 50 was closed.”

Board members asked if other communities along the route could also contribute to the costs of the service, but Truex said more than 90% of riders are coming from Chaffee and Gunnison counties. Board member Anna Fenerty said she believes people come from other areas such as Pueblo to ride from Chaffee County to Denver, which would be difficult to track. 

There were also several comments about needed improvements to the system, particularly the inability to make reservations. The bus is first-come, first-serve and it sometimes fills up in Gunnison County and cannot accommodate anyone in the subsequent stops along Salida, Buena Vista and Fairplay. 

Truex said these were good points and he would bring them to the meeting. He also asked if there is a cap on what the RTA board would be willing to approve in the contract.

Board member Ian Billick said he was concerned about the state budget and the program’s viability if there were cuts to CDOT as well; he asked if they could explore how to run service between Montrose and Gunnison through a different service, such as Alpine Express and if there was a more cost-effective way to run the Denver service as well. Puckett Daniels asked if they could explore even twice weekly buses to Montrose.

“We would need to change our whole philosophy by running outside of our district,” said Truex, and he expressed hesitation to mess with the success of Bustang Outrider when it is clearly meeting a major local need. He said he would also prefer that Bustang Outrider do the Montrose route, but if they are not going to, he would be open to looking at alternative contracts.

Recognizing that the RTA’s 2026 draft plan calls for more financial reserves than is required, the board also discussed many capital projects coming up and a sense of ever-increasing rates.  

The board ultimately agreed that they would need more information before accepting the latest increase to $286,000 and directed Truex to learn more about Chaffee County’s response and request a more formal report from CDOT showing their costs and revenues associated with the service.