Late night transportation presents challenge to town

Looking at how to get people home when the bars close…

The Crested Butte Marshal’s Department had a relatively busy but controlled holiday period. Chief Marshal Tom Martin told the Town Council at their meeting on January 4 that the Christmas and New Year’s season had seen a lot of people in town… and some of those people frequented the bars until closing time.

“We had more than a few fender benders and arrested six people in DUI [driving under the influence] incidents, which is more than typical,” he explained. “But overall it was a pretty smooth couple of weeks.”
Martin said there were a few late nights when the town was overwhelmed after the bars closed. For example, when Leftover Salmon played at the Eldo on Monday, December 28, people stayed out and partied until 2 a.m. “We got caught short and there were a lot of people looking for a ride home. The Late Night Taxi only had one person driving, so people had to wait a while. It wasn’t a good scene.”
Martin said his department would meet soon with representatives of the local bartender’s association,  Mountain Express and Alpine Express to see if late night service can be expanded during certain periods. “New Year’s Eve wasn’t a problem because everyone was ready for it,” he said. “It’s when something unexpected happens that we need a contingency plan.”
Alpine Express runs the Late Night Taxi service. One van can handle only about 15 passengers, and many times there are several dozen people hoping for a ride home after a night out. If the majority is heading to the mountain, the person hoping to get a ride to Crested Butte South has to wait. “We had two cars reported stolen and found them both,” Martin said. “One was in town and one on the mountain. Both were probably people who used them to get home late at night after they were finished downtown in the bars.”
Councilperson and bar owner Phoebe Wilson agreed something needed to be done to provide better service. “I’ve talked to some other bar owners about perhaps putting a voluntary 1 percent surcharge at the bars to fund a late night service,” she said.
“There’s a lot of options out there and as a bar owner, it is certainly something I want to see fixed,” said Wilson.
Martin said Wilson would be invited to the meeting with the bus service representatives. The Crested Butte Bartenders Association will also take part in the gathering to discuss solutions to the problem.
Mountain Express Manager Chris Larsen said the bus system is amenable to running late if they know the buses will be used. “There are certain events that we run late for without question, such as New Year’s Eve, Mardi Gras, St. Patrick’s Day,” he said. “Some events we’ll run late for if asked, like the college kids who are in town this week. We can’t charge extra for late service so we just absorb the costs with the hope we’ll get it back in sales tax.
 “If people riding the bus are spending money we get some of it,” continued Larsen. “Last Monday for example, we hauled 218 people back up the mountain after midnight. Hopefully they spent some money downtown and since the Mountain Express is funded primarily with sales tax, it hopefully all works out.”
Larsen said there is an official policy set up for late-night requests and extended service. “On the night Leftover Salmon played, if someone had asked we probably would have run a late bus, but they have to ask.”
Bus driver and councilperson Jim Schmidt said he has driven late nights and it isn’t much fun. “As a driver, it can be awful,” he said. “You are dealing with drunks obviously and if you go to Crested Butte South, it takes longer than you think to get there and back.”
Martin said the group would be looking at different options to better accommodate late night service. He hopes the meeting will take place in the middle of the month.