Crested Butte South school bus route starts Monday

Picking up and dropping off at Red Mountain Park bus stop

[  By Kendra Walker  ]

CB South families, rejoice! The Gunnison Watershed School District is adding a school bus route between CB South and the Crested Butte Community School starting Monday, December 5. 

The bus will pick up students at the Red Mountain Park RTA bus stop at 7:45 a.m., depart CB South at 7:55 a.m. and get to CBCS at approximately 8:10 a.m. The regularly scheduled RTA bus that comes to CB South at 7:55 a.m. will still be available to pick up any overflow students from the school bus.

“We will prioritize elementary kids on the school bus, and then if needed the overflow bus will take the middle school and high school kids,” said GWSD transportation director Paul Morgan. Morgan said the school bus can legally accommodate 70 students. 

RTA executive director Scott Truex noted the morning RTA bus has typically picked up between 30 to 50 kids.

In the afternoon, the bus will depart CBCS at 3:50 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and drop kids off at the Red Mountain Park bus stop at 4:05 p.m. On Wednesdays for early release, the bus will depart the school at 2:05 p.m. for CB South and arrive at 2:20 p.m.  

“Please take note there will only be one bus from the school coming back in the afternoon as it will not be in conjunction with an RTA bus,” said Morgan. There is an RTA bus that leaves from the Four-Way stop at 2:18, 3:23, 3:53 and 4:23 p.m. for overflow riders. 

The bus route will share two drivers, explained Morgan, with Tee Pleak driving in the morning and Bill Kastning driving in the afternoon. 

“Hopefully this will have great impact on lessening that traffic congestion on Highway 135,” said Morgan, “and hopefully spark some interest with other folks considering driving the bus.”

Morgan notes that CB South used to have three school buses that picked up students around the neighborhood, a goal he hopes the district can eventually get back to achieving.

In the meantime, the one route in CB South is a big improvement from the zero school buses last school year and so far this year. A notice sent out to families on Tuesday read, “We regret we do not have additional drivers to reinstate all our bus routes. However, we appreciate being able to transport at least some of our students from CB South and also take some cars off the highway. We continue to search for more bus driver candidates. Let us know if you’re interested in joining the team!”