The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Contract is signed, rollout plans to begin
By Kendra Walker
Last month, the Mountain Express announced its plans to implement a new on-demand service for passengers in north Mt. Crested Butte to replace the Columbine, Snodgrass and Summer Condo regular fixed bus routes. In lieu of scheduled bus service, riders in the north Mt. CB geolocation will use a smartphone app or call a number to hail a minivan for transport in Mt. CB. While residents of Paradise Road and surrounding neighborhoods in Mt. Crested Butte have expressed their concerns about the service replacing their bus route, a contract has been signed with the on-demand service provider, Downtowner. Mountain Express is now working with Downtowner to roll out the program and implement a communication plan about how to use the service.
Last week, the topic was discussed at both the Mt. Crested Butte town council meeting and the Mountain Express board of directors meeting. Members of the community have written letters to the editor of the Crested Butte News, town council, and Mountain Express sharing their concerns about the on-demand service not being communicated to the public prior to board approval. A petition with more than 350 signatures requests that Mountain Express engage with the community to gather feedback and complete an analysis on the need for an on-demand service, and asks that the pilot program not affect existing routes in Mt. Crested Butte.
Mountain Express managing director Jeremy Herzog attended the August 15 Mt. Crested Butte town council meeting to present more information about the on-demand service, offer the reasoning behind the switch and answer questions from the council and public.
The discussion began with Mt. CB town attorney Gerald Dahl reminding folks that the Mountain Express is a separate legal entity created by the towns of Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte. “The Mountain Express board of directors is authorized to adopt and maintain a transportation and development plan that includes route changes,” he stated, per the towns’ Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with Mountain Express.
Program overview
Herzog then presented an overview of the on-demand program. “From the beginning, our intent was to improve proximity of transit to people’s homes,” he said.
Herzog explained that Mountain Express worked with a company called Via Mobility to analyze current route productivity and identify which bus lines might be a fit for on-demand service. The Columbine, Snodgrass and Summer Condo routes were identified as underperforming routes. “Those averaged less than two passengers per trip,” he said.
Mountain Express has contracted with Downtowner, which operates in other resort communities like Aspen and Jackson Hole, to provide the service.
The on-demand service will include two six-passenger minivans and one 14-passenger van. The on-demand service is expected to increase capacity to 414 people per day, up from 143 people per day on the bus routes. The average wait time is expected to be 15 minutes or less for 95% of the rides.
Herzog clarified that areas in Mt. CB with bus service, such as Three Seasons, will not have access to the on-demand service, but that anyone can schedule a ride as long as the original address is located in the app’s geotag of the north Mt. CB target area.
The all-wheel-drive vans will have snow tires and racks for ski gear and bikes. Dogs will also be allowed on the vehicles consistent with the Mountain Express dog policy. Herzog said one of the vehicles will have a wheelchair component to accommodate ADA riders.
Herzog said he is working with the Chamber to ensure the phone at the visitor’s center desk at Mountaineer Square can be available to be used by children without phones in need of a ride. He also said he is looking into having a tablet available as well.
He noted that Downtowner plans to hire local drivers and the drivers will not be required to be CDL certified, explaining that CDL requirements often prolong the hiring and onboarding process.
Herzog said Mountain Express will work with Downtowner to monitor peak times and deploy additional services if needed. “Early on if we do see the service getting more demand, we can add vehicles along the way.” He said the minivans could be replaced with more 14 passenger vans, and Downtowner has the capability of running a hybrid fixed route and on demand at the same time “if we do see a consistent demand at a certain time and particular place.”
He addressed the community’s request to add the Paradise Road loop to the Three Seasons route after stopping at the transit center, instead, while providing the on-demand service to the areas that do not currently have a fixed bus route. “Because of how we staff the routes, we can’t add an extension to Paradise Road without adding an additional driver and bus.” He explained that the current Crystal/Castle route turns into the Three Seasons route, giving the driver roughly 3 minutes in the best weather conditions to get a bathroom break. He said the annual cost for an additional driver and bus would be $400,000 and Mountain Express is already understaffed and unlikely to find another driver. “We don’t have the budget to do both.”
Herzog said Mountain Express is planning a public outreach campaign to help guide people through the change, and every rider who uses the service will have the opportunity to fill out a feedback survey.
He concluded, “While this is going to change the way people interact with this service, this is an opportunity for us to test out something new through a one-year pilot program. This has been thought out for two years. If this program is successful there are so many other things we can do…This isn’t about taking away service from Paradise Road. This will give service to Paradise Road at the same time as giving serving to people that don’t have it.”
Public thoughts
During public comment, many residents expressed their concerns about the lack of communication throughout the whole process.
“We were not offered any opportunities to provide input,” said Kim UpChurch. “I understand economics of business and I understand government services have to evolve. But there was a lack of transparency by the Mountain Express board before this decision was finalized. Where is the transparency for the taxpayers who fund these routes?”
“Augmenting operations is something that everybody wanted to be a part of and provide input,” said Tom Rolleczek. “We are relying heavily on this third party for their expertise and their ability to do this in communities similar to ours. But those variables are different from community to community. I’m not in support of this, I think it’s a cool idea to expand service to people. Maybe there’s a happy medium where we keep some bus services. I think it’s a little scary for a lot of people to cancel out what they’re comfortable with.”
Some residents pointed out that it is unfair to compare the usage of Columbine/Snodgrass bus routes with the town shuttle usage, which services the ski area, hotels and larger condominiums. Others noted that there are times during peak season when the internet and cell service doesn’t work. “Trying to use the on-demand service will be very difficult,” said Jodine Pahl.
Kelli Jennings said she had read over 500 consumer reviews of Downtowner. “I only found three out of 500 that were actually from a mountain community. Not one of them mentioned skiing. Two people were going shopping and one was going out to dinner. Every other review was from Savannah or Tampa or California.”
Mike Pahl said he has spoken with friends who live in communities where the Downtowner on-demand service runs, one shared that it was difficult to use the service for quick lunchtime laps and on powder days. “That’s when my friends say, ‘good luck.’
That’s when you’re looking at 90-minute-plus waits.”
“I use the bus year-round for work, I bartend down in town,” said Tommy Schelling. “It’s very hard to park in town. If anyone has ridden the late night shuttle, they know it’s miserable. I rely on Columbine.”
Crested Butte community development director Troy Russ spoke in favor of the new service on behalf of the town of Crested Butte. “We are here to support the pilot project for the on-demand service. The town’s first priority is transit, and we believe this is the right test.” He noted Elk Avenue turning into a one-way street during the pandemic. “We experiment and we listen and learn. We didn’t just stick with the one-way, after public feedback we tweaked it to what we think is working really well now. That’s how we have to look at this pilot program. Nothing is permanent. In the end this is actually an improvement to the town of Mt. Crested Butte and the town of Crested Butte appreciates that.”
Council thoughts
Mayor Nicholas Kempin reiterated that it is not the role of the council or the town to make any changes, and those requests should be directed at the Mountain Express board and staff. But he did recognize the overwhelming feedback they had received from residents concerned with the change.
“I realize Mountain Express felt like outreach was done, but it certainly could have been more robust. That’s my recommendation going forward: more public outreach, more notification,” he told Herzog.
“For me, there’s a little bit of disingenuity of how this was framed,” said councilmember Steve Morris. “It certainly feels like there’s still a lot of conversation that can be had. We haven’t really dived into our IGA and looked at how the town responds to those. I love the service, but I’m not stoked on the rollout and disappointed this many voices didn’t feel heard.”
“I view this personally as an operational change,” said councilmember Roman Kolodziej, who sits on the Mountain Express board. “Our job is to provide transportation. We’re not taking service away from somebody.”
At the end of the meeting when asked by the public, Herzog confirmed that the contract with Downtowner had already been signed. “Yes, the contract has been signed based on direction provided to me at our last Mountain Express board of directors meeting,” he said.
Mountain Express board meeting
During the Mountain Express board meeting on August 17, several Paradise residents provided more public comment.
“Hearing Jeremy had already signed the contract was pretty disappointing,” said Liz Tucker. “It was disconcerting that we were actively trying to engage the community and put forth alternatives. It really undercut any trust that was there. We appreciate the public forum but why did we have it if the contract was already signed?”
“We do have a lot of people who want this to be successful but because of the way it was communicated and handled, there’s very little trust,” said Carl Tucker. He asked the board to communicate a backup plan and offered to help share it with the community. “You’re committed to this, I hope it’s successful. But if it’s not completely knocked out of the park there’s going to be a lot of frustration in the community.”
Kolodziej shared his takeaways from the town council meeting with the Mountain Express board. “It’s obvious it was perceived as disruptive enough that the community wanted to be involved in the process. That’s a lesson learned moving forward.”
Herzog agreed. “A lot of the questions that came up were questions we’ll be working to answer as part of that deployment plan – how people use the app, technical details, etc. There will be a deployment plan with significant communication to help the public learn how to use this service.”
“The shift we have to go through is not if this is happening, it’s how to make it successful, how to get the word out, how to get people to use it,” said board member Alex Gruzen.
“Change is hard,” said board member Anna Fenerty. “We’re trying really hard to provide more service, not less. There’s a balance between introducing things that make things better versus wanting things to be the same.”
“It’s not operating in a vacuum on the cloud,” said operations manager Suzanne Beuoy. “There are actual people boots-on-the-ground working in the transit center with our team, people hired out of our community. There will be a learning curve, there will be an interaction where they’re talking to us, we’re talking to them. While there’s a lot of unknowns as to how an app works here, we know we have people working here who care about our community.”
“We’re going to figure out how to make this a great service for Mt. Crested Butte,” added board member Jason MacMillan.
Herzog shared with the CB News this week that Mountain Express plans to have a kick-off call with Downtowner this week to begin the rollout plan. He said there will be more communication in the next month about the rollout to help deter people’s concerns about using the app. He reiterated that the intent with the program is to do something really positive and good for the community. “Hopefully we can communicate and deploy this service well,” he concluded.
