What This Test Would Cost:
Ridership:
Let's start with the closest ski resorts: A-Basin, Beaver Creek, Copper Mountain, Eldora, Keystone, Loveland, Vail, and Winter Park. If we multiply these eight resorts times 20 motor coaches each, we get a daily total of 160 motor coaches.
Each motor coach carries an average of 50 passengers on each trip. If we assume it takes two hours from midpoint Denver to midpoint Summit county, then each motor coach can make three round-trips in a 12-hour period and carry up to 150 riders.
160 motor coaches times 150 riders comes out to an amazing 24,000 riders!
Timeframe:
Two months would give a good idea of how well trains might work, since some people may try it once at the beginning and not return. Eight weekends times two days each equals 16 days of point-to-point transportation and a noticeable reduction in highway use.
Dollars and Cents:
Calls to several privately-owned charter companies obtained very similar rates. Using a test case of 50 people departing from the Heritage Square parking lot and driving directly to Keystone Resort yielded a per-person, round-trip fare of just $25.
24,000 people at $25 each equals $600,000 per day.
16 days at $600,000 each equals $9,600,000. Add another $400,000 at the state end for management and bureaucratic overhead and we come to a total cost of just Ten Million Dollars in real-world, "today" money.
I invite anyone reading this to check the math for themselves. Drag out the yellow pages and start calling Denver-area bus and coach rental companies. Ask how much it costs to charter a 50-passenger motor coach from Heritage Square to Keystone Ski Resort, and the rest is pretty easy. The numbers don't lie. Competitive bidding could possibly drive the number even lower.
By Comparison:
Mountains to Plains Transportation Solutions has a website here which does not list a price for their elevated train. Their explanation for this lack is "...CDOT set an arbitrary capitol cost of $4 Billion and priced rail alternatives above that level..." What we must assume is their price was above $4 Billion or we'd see it included with CDOT's wish list.
An article in the Rocky Mountain News on January 2, 2007 featured an interview with Bob Briggs with Rocky Mountain Rail Authority, who at the time was seeking state and federal money to start a feasibility study for a "Ranger Xpress" train into the mountains. A rough estimate of $9 Billion was listed, but no details regarding construction or timeframes.
Both of these groups are promoting fixed-rail trains which would mainly serve skiers and the occasional mountain town visitors. Summer hikers and campers would hardly be served by trains which don't go to trailheads or campgrounds.
The Free Ski Bus Experiment's Total Cost:
Two months of free transit at $10 Million is a mere 0.1% (one tenth of one percent) of the Rocky Mountain Rail Authority $9 Billion rough estimate and just 0.25% (one quarter of one percent) of the Mountain to Plains Transportation Systems unreachable $4 Billion estimate.
Can't we spend one quarter of one percent just to see if the train idea really works?