{"id":801528,"date":"2019-11-19T18:30:45","date_gmt":"2019-11-20T01:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=374712"},"modified":"2019-11-20T07:55:06","modified_gmt":"2019-11-20T14:55:06","slug":"late-night-summit-stage-bus-route-cutbacks-to-cause-pain-for-some-summit-county-workers-this-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/late-night-summit-stage-bus-route-cutbacks-to-cause-pain-for-some-summit-county-workers-this-winter\/","title":{"rendered":"Late night Summit Stage bus route cutbacks to cause pain for some Summit County workers this winter"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A Summit Stage bus picks up passengers Oct. 16 at the Frisco Transfer Center on Meadow Drive. A driver shortage has led to late night route cuts, leading to problems for local workers who have come to rely on the service.<\/strong>
Liz Copan \/ ecopan@summitdaily.com<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

FRISCO \u2014 Impending cuts to the county government-run Summit Stage bus service are leaving some local workers in a bind. The Summit Stage will be cutting late night routes on all of its major lines for the winter, cutting back most hourly routes to every two hours because of a bus driver shortage.<\/p>\n

The Frisco to Breckenridge, Silverthorne to Dillon to Keystone, Boreas Pass Loop, Wildernest Loop, Silverthorne Loop, Silverthorne to Frisco and Copper Mountain routes are seeing late night cuts. While it is unknown how many people will be impacted by the cuts, Summit County Transit Director Curtis Garner said the county targeted relatively low ridership routes, which tend to be running late at night.<\/p>\n

Taylor Godfrey, a chef who works at a restaurant in Keystone, is one local worker being impacted by the cuts. After getting out of work at midnight, she takes the 12:25 a.m. bus from Keystone to Dillon to Silverthorne and then transfers to the 1:15 a.m. bus home to Frisco.<\/p>\n

But starting Sunday, Nov. 24, that 12:25 a.m. route will stop running. The last bus of the night at 1:25 a.m. will continue. But that leaves service workers like Godfrey, who get out of work late and transfer to another route, stranded because there are no buses operating past 1:30 a.m., meaning no bus from Silverthorne to Frisco.<\/p>\n

Godfrey said she has seen full buses of workers and revelers taking the same route home, meaning she is not the only person affected.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure what we\u2019re going to do,\u201d Godfrey said about her and her fiance. \u201cIt\u2019s already expensive to live out here, and the only options we have are to buy a car or taking an Uber for $30 or sleeping at the restaurant. We actually considered doing that, since we can\u2019t afford $30 rides home. It\u2019s causing a lot of stress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Godfrey said they are debating whether to leave Summit County if the situation doesn\u2019t have an easier workaround.<\/p>\n

\u201cJobs around here are already struggling to hire, and that\u2019s just going to get worse if people like us leave,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Garner said that he, the transit board and Summit County government understand that these cuts were painful and that they were not made lightly. But the continuing reality of a lack of skilled workers in the county \u2014 in this case, qualified drivers with a commercial driver\u2019s license or those willing to apply and get trained \u2014 forced the Summit Stage to make the cuts.<\/p>\n

Garner said Summit Stage is experiencing a 13% shortage in staff, which means existing drivers are getting burned out working overtime and stretching their days to meet the existing schedule. That 13% staff shortage, he said, is resulting in a 4% cut in operating hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis problem is not limited to Summit Stage,\u201d Garner said in a nod to statewide shortages, particularly in Denver, where staffing levels are leading to 100 canceled trips daily.<\/a><\/p>\n

Another issue \u2014 unique to Colorado and other states that have legalized recreational marijuana \u2014 is the conflict between federal and state rules regarding marijuana and how they affect which applicants are eligible to become public transit drivers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Colorado, we have really different requirements than other places to recruit workers, and it\u2019s something that needs to be addressed at the federal level,\u201d said Summit County Commissioner Elisabeth Lawrence, who oversees the Summit Stage service. \u201cIt\u2019s also an issue for other states that allow recreational marijuana. We need the feds to pass legislation that allows for states to have their own testing requirements when it comes to marijuana.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless of the staffing issue \u2014 and the cost-of-living issue that is at the root of most social and policy concerns in Summit County \u2014 Lawrence said she acknowledged the problems the cuts were causing people like Godfrey.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was not quiet about my displeasure when we were first presented with this, but I also understand we\u2019re painted into a corner,\u201d Lawrence said.<\/p>\n

As far as solutions to prevent more service cuts or to restore full service, Lawrence admitted she had no immediate solutions to offer. She said county government will continue to work to find one.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to note that we\u2019ve always supported public transit, and it is important to me as commissioner and to the community,\u201d Lawrence said. \u201cWe will continue to work to address this.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Summit Stage bus picks up passengers Oct. 16 at the Frisco Transfer Center on Meadow Drive. A driver shortage has led to late night route cuts, leading to problems for local workers who have come to rely on the service.Liz Copan \/ ecopan@summitdaily.com FRISCO \u2014 Impending cuts to the county government-run Summit Stage bus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-801528","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-02 21:00:18","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=801528"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":801538,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801528\/revisions\/801538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}