The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Including summer FirstTracks service and potential budget shortfalls
By Mark Reaman and Kendra Walker
In addition to allocating 2026 funding toward the Late Night Taxi, the Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte town councils last week agreed to additional 2026 funding requests toward the Mountain Express.
In a recent presentation to both councils, Mountains Express managing director Jeremy Herzog asked if either council was willing to help fund potential 2026 budget shortfalls, and/or the $103,000 needed to run summer FirstTracks, the free on-demand service that transports people in north Mt. Crested Butte as far south as the ski base area.
While the winter FirstTracks service has increased ridership in north Mt. Crested Butte and the Mountain Express will most likely use a recently awarded Colorado Department of Transportation grant toward the winter program, the summer service is a different story.
The data showed summer FirstTracks transported 6,098 people for 12 weeks at a cost of $16.23 per passenger. The summer ridership in 2024 was 9,295 for 17 weeks, at a cost of $33.89 per passenger.
“Ridership went down from year one to year two,” said Herzog. “I would love to try it again next summer and shoot for 9,000 riders but I’m skeptical we would get there.”
Herzog said in the summer, 75% of the riders took a ride to the base area to catch the Mountain Express to Crested Butte. That number flips in the winter when 75% of FirstTracks riders stay in Mt. CB.
As for anticipated shortfalls in the Mountain Express budget, Herzog said thanks to a grant acquisition and finding less expensive healthcare costs by switching brokers while maintaining the same benefits, the expected $200,000 budget shortfall is back to even. The Mountain Express is still considering potential budget cuts, including eliminating the elf bus and ambassador programs and reducing summer shuttle services.
The Crested Butte council was lukewarm about funding the summer FirstTracks service. Last year they turned down a request to donate any money for the service.
Herzog too appeared lukewarm about the funding request. “The challenge would be if ridership increased, so would our expenses,” he said.
“Ridership is just not showing up like we want in the summer,” said councilmember Anna Fenerty, who sits on the Mountain Express board.
“It’s not highly used but it keeps people from driving a car into town,” said councilmember Beth Goldstone.
“This is one of those last mile solutions and with 75% of the users coming to Crested Butte, I’d like to be at least a bit supportive of it,” said councilmember Gabi Prochaska.
“One factor could be the success of Mt. Crested Butte’s e-bike subsidy program,” said town manager Dara MacDonald. “That has been fantastic for residents.”
Mayor Ian Billick suggested donating the same amount to Mountain Express in 2026 as they did in 2025, a total of $57,200. The council agreed to maintain the same contribution to Mountain Express as last year, with $42,500 specifically earmarked for the Late Night Taxi and the remaining $12,950 could be budgeted by the Mountain Express board. “It shows support for mass transit and our Mt. CB partners,” noted Billick, also a Mountain Express board member.
The Mt. Crested Butte council unanimously approved funding the $103,000 for the summer FirstTracks service, in addition to $44,250 for the Late Night Taxi.
Councilmember Steve Morris expressed appreciation that the Crested Butte council recognized that the summer service benefits their town as well, with FirstTracks passengers going down the hill from the Mt. CB transit center.
“Seventy-five percent are continuing to town,” he said. “It seems like Crested Butte’s position is that they’re comfortable funding things that have direct impact on their town.”
Councilmember Roman Kolodziej, another member of the Mountain Express board, asked the council to consider exploring additional funding toward the Mountain Express as they work through the town’s 2026 budget over the next couple of months.
