Fewer buses force riders to think of alternative forms of transportation

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SUMMIT COUNTY — Chris Kolstedt got onto the bus Thursday morning huffing and puffing after sprinting down the street.

Kolstedt, who rides the Summit Stage to work and around the county, fears planned cutbacks in the free bus routes will force him to rearrange his schedule.

“I ... (almost) missed the bus this morning,” Kolstedt said.

“I don’t think I could get up any earlier ... I think I’ll be walking a lot more.”

Summit Stage officials have proposed paring down the Frisco-to-Breckenridge, Silverthorne-to-Keystone, Silverthorne, Boreas Pass and Wildernest routes — which often have few or no riders for hours — from two buses an hour to one during the day.

Serdar Kucuk of Turkey is spending his summer in Summit County participating in a work-travel program.

He said gas prices are even higher in Turkey now, so he can understand the need for the reductions. It still inconveniences him, however.

“Maybe I’ll buy a bicycle,” he said.

For people with more unpredictable schedules, like Irwin Blanco, who works at the Silverthorne Outlets and leaves work at a different time nearly every day, the prospect of less-frequent buses during midday is worrisome.

Though he sometimes borrows his father’s car, that’s not always an option, and he often must take multiple buses to get to where he’s going.

“If it’s coming once an hour, I’ll have to rearrange my schedule for work,” Blanco said.

“If it comes once an hour and I miss that bus, that will be a problem.”

Tatiana Ustranova of Russia also is participating in a work-travel program.

She was unhappy to hear about the possibility of fares.

“We’re students, and we take the bus every day, two times,” Ustranova said.

“It’s no good for us to pay for the bus.”

Kolstedt said if the Stage started charging, he’d ride the bus less and, depending on the rates, may not ride at all.

“That’s the key thing: you can just hop on,” he said. “If it was under $1, I wouldn’t have a problem with it. Over a buck, though...”


K.J. Hascall can be contacted at (970) 668-4653, or at khascall@summitdaily.com.