Second bus from CB to Front Range starts Saturday

Afternoon departure to complement the 5 a.m. trip

By Mark Reaman 

A second daily Bustang bus running between Crested Butte and Denver will start up sooner than expected. The new Outrider bus service will start this Saturday, February 1, with a trip leaving Crested Butte at 1:15 p.m. That bus will have started in Denver at 6:30 a.m.

After working with the RTA and Chaffee County, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) agreed to a second daily bus trip running between Crested Butte and Denver’s Union Station. Originally, the expectation was that it would begin in May, but CDOT officials said the route is one of its most popular and deserved a second trip.

“Our Crested Butte to Denver route is consistently one of Outrider’s most popular, averaging nearly 800 passengers every month,” said Paul DesRocher, director of CDOT’s Division of Transit and Rail. “After carefully assessing the needs of our riders, and coordinating with our statewide partners, we determined that adding another roundtrip was essential if we were going to provide passengers with the best service possible.”

The partnership includes funding from Gunnison and Chaffee counties, with each one providing an annual cash match, allowing for the second roundtrip.

At the January 10 Gunnison Valley Rural Transportation Authority (RTA) meeting, RTA executive director Scott Truex said Chaffee County officials agreed to split the cost of the local subsidy the state was implementing to run the route. That will be $100,000 each per year. That second route would begin in CB in the afternoon to complement the early morning route now in place.

The original route leaves CB at 5:15 a.m. and arrives at Denver’s Union Station at 11:10 a.m. The return trip would leave Denver at 1:45 p.m. and get to Crested Butte at 7:35 in the evening. This new route leaves CB at 1:15 p.m. getting to Denver at 7 p.m. There will also be a bus leaving Union Station at 6:30 a.m. getting to Crested Butte at 12:30 p.m.

The cost of a ticket between Crested Butte and Denver is $45.

“I think this addition provides a much better schedule for people to get between the Front Range and the Gunnison Valley by bus,” Truex said. “The second bus provides redundancy and should help alleviate some of the issues we’ve heard about where the buses have been full. This should meet more people’s needs and make it much more convenient to make the trip.”

“After hearing from several constituents who were unable to use the Bustang service because buses were already full by the time they reached our local stops, we contacted CDOT about possibly expanding the Outrider service in Chaffee County. That led to an agreement to expand the service,” said Chaffee County commissioner Gina Lucrezi. “Chaffee County is committed to continued advocacy for expanded local and regional transit for our community members and visitors and we are grateful to CDOT for their responsiveness to our region’s transit needs.”

Now, let’s look West!

The RTA board and staff made clear at the January board meeting they are also hoping to soon get a bus running between Crested Butte and Montrose. RTA board member and Gunnison County commissioner Laura Puckett Daniels said assistant county manager for health and human services Joni Reynolds has expressed the need for a bus driving west since there are times many people served by the Health Department have to get to Montrose or Grand Junction for medical appointments. In some cases, the county will pay for a person to take the bus to Denver, stay overnight in a hotel, catch the bus the next day to Montrose for the appointment, return to Denver, spend another night there and get home on the bus the next day. “It is incredibly difficult,” said Puckett Daniels. “It is important to get service between CB and Montrose.”

“We’re happy to help you put together a grassroots effort to petition CDOT for that service,” said Alpine Express owner Landon Ogilvie.

The RTA will continue to request such a route that serves communities west of Gunnison. In the meantime, your bus options to Denver just doubled.