By Mike Rosso
Mass transportation in Central Colorado? Up until recently that meant piling as many folks as possible into the bed of a pickup for a trip to WalMart.
The last passenger train service around these parts stopped running in July of 1967, according to Ed Quillen. But in the last few years this has changed thanks to an effort by the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) to improve transportation options to rural areas of Colorado.
Back in January, I had to take an open-ended trip to California to help out while my Dad was having surgery so I decided to try an experiment – I would see how easily I could make the trip while leaving my vehicle safely parked at home in Salida. After consulting airline schedules online to pick a flight out of DIA that would work with the arrival time of the daily bus service from Salida, I got up early one Saturday morning and walked the four blocks to the transfer station in Salida, located at 54 Jones Ave., just a block or so from the new high school. The station also serves as the offices of the Chaffee Shuttle, an in-town public transit service. I took my place among some bleary-eyed Western State students, and at 7:50 am got on a very large and comfortable bus, destination Denver.
The bus departed on schedule at 7:55 am and the first stop was the Buena Vista Regional Airport for pick-ups and drop-offs. (Note: the BV airport charges $3 per day or $10 per week for parking). Then it was up and over Trout Creek Pass as the sun began to cast a glow on the piñon trees on that stretch of road. For me, not having to drive across South Park was worth the price of admission. That particular stretch of U.S. 285 has often been the most harrowing winter driving I’ve ever encountered in Colorado, mostly due to ground blizzards and cocky drivers attempting to pass five or more vehicles in a row on a two-lane highway. We stopped in Fairplay for a ten-minute break next to Dino the Dinosaur at the Sinclair station (beware: very thin and weak coffee here) and then proceeded over Kenosha Pass with a flag-stop in Jefferson and Grant. Next was a scheduled stop in Pine Junction before reaching our destination at the Greyhound Bus Station on 19th Street in downtown Denver. From there it is a free transfer to RTD’s “AF” bus to DIA by showing your Black Hills bus ticket to the AF driver. It is important to note that the AF only runs every hour off-peak so keep that in mind when scheduling your flight out of Denver. A taxi from downtown could run $75 or more. The AF bus departs the downtown Denver Greyhound station at 11:31 am and arrives at DIA at 12:27 pm. In my case, I had alerted my friend Jeff Rowe (one of our fine copy editors) that I might be contacting him in case of a late arrival, and sure enough, there he was, waiting with a smile and an offer of a ride to the airport. I gladly took him up on it so we could catch up even though the bus had arrived in plenty of time for the connection. There are also a number of downtown Denver hotels within walking distance of the Greyhound station if one wanted to spend time in Denver.
Another advantage of the bus is not needing to pay parking fees for a vehicle, which can range from $6-10 per day depending on how close you want to park to the airport. The $25 one-way fare from Salida is quickly covered if you are away from 3-4 days at a minimum.
My flight departed DIA on time and I arrived at San Francisco International Airport, boarded the Skytrain for the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) for a trip across the Bay to San Leandro where my sister awaited in her shiny new Honda Civic.
When it was finally time to return home, I did the exact same trip in reverse with the exception that I caught the AF bus at DIA, which takes about an hour to reach the downtown Greyhound station with a few short stops including one at Five-Points in Denver. After a short wait in the station, a bus arrived and the courteous driver entered and announced the arrival of the Salida bus – a welcome declaration that meant I was just one bus ride and a short walk away from home. This bus, a little smaller than the initial one, was about half full, again mostly what appeared to be college students; reading, snoozing, listening to their iPods or staring at their Droids. I read and dozed as the bus retraced the route back to Salida. When I arrived I walked the few block to my home where my car sat, unused for almost three weeks, and a my oversized grey cat welcomed me back with a mew and a nod to his cat bowl.
I will definitely be taking the bus again – it’s worth every penny.
