Busy summer for valley buses

Elk Avenue like running the gauntlet

By Alissa Johnson

It’s no secret that the valley was busy this summer, and area buses were no exception. Both Mountain Express and the Gunnison Valley Rural Transportation Authority (RTA) saw increased ridership this summer, including services to Gothic and Crested Butte South.

“Things have slowed down a bit, but it was pretty intense there in July,” said Chris Larsen, transit manager for Mountain Express. “Elk Avenue was the gauntlet. Trying to get down to Old Town Hall was really difficult, but the drivers did a great job.”

This summer, the shuttle carried 117,500 passengers throughout June, July and the first half of August. That’s up 6 percent from last year, when the shuttle carried 110,700 passengers during the same time period.

That rise in numbers included carrying 6,800 people on July 4. “To put that in perspective, last March we had only one day where we carried more passengers,” Larsen said, explaining that Mountain Express carried more than 8,000 passengers one day in March, but every other day that month ridership amounted to fewer than 6,800.

The Gothic service and the express bus between the Four-way Stop and Mountaineer Square saw increases in use as well. Larsen says ridership to Gothic, which finished for the season on Sunday, August 16, increased 8 percent.

The express bus, which finished up on August 9, also saw more riders. “We’re talking small numbers, but it was still up about 28 percent from last year, when we carried almost 5,700 people,” he said.

“We are still working the bugs out of [the express service],” Larsen continued. “We’re trying to provide a bus every 20 minutes to help us move passengers and bicycles, and the public is still figuring it out too… But overall, it’s working well, and I’m pretty sure we’ll do it again next year and may extend hours during the day and a little into August.”

The RTA buses also saw impressive numbers on their route between Mt. Crested Butte and Gunnison. According to RTA executive director Scott Truex, the service carried 6,755 passengers on 434 one-way bus trips in June; in July, that number rose to 9,071. July ridership was up this year, but Truex said it matched an increase in service.

“In July, we increased service by about 17 percent from last year and ridership increased by 17 percent also,” he said.

Truex indicated that people are also using the late-night bus, particularly from Crested Butte to Gunnison, and more people are using the service to Crested Butte South. In June, 1,219 riders got on or off in Crested Butte South, and during July that number rose to 1,534.

“Crested Butte South riders were up 20 percent this July from last July. I think [that service] is definitely moving in the right direction,” Truex said.

For the late-night buses, an average of 3.4 people rode the 10 p.m. bus from Gunnison to Crested Butte and an average of 13.7 people rode the 11:15 p.m. bus from the north end of the valley to Gunnison.

Overall, summer bus service seems to have gone smoothly. Yet Larsen pointed out that if the number of summer passengers continues to rise, Mountain Express might need to add another bus to its line-up.

“We’ve already added the express bus the last couple years to keep up with ridership of passengers and bicycles, and if it continues to go that way, we would have to add another bus, which is kind of crazy because then we’d be providing more service than in winter.”