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Vail Resorts’ acquisition this summer of the Colorado Mountain Express shuttle service is just one example of how ski resorts are grappling with the prospect of $4-a-gallon gas this winter. All across the country, resorts spent their summer vacations examining public transportation options. For most resorts that means shuttle buses.

“It’s a challenge,” admits Tom Horrocks, communications manager at Killington, Vt. “As a regional destination, we almost lend ourselves to driving.”

Four-dollar gas is also a challenge for fly-to resorts. Skiers still need to take some kind of ground transportation from the airport to the mountain. Which is why Vail shelled out $40.5 million to buy CME. CME runs about 250 vans and luxury SUVs between Denver International Airport and Eagle County Airport to Vail, Aspen, Keystone, Breckenridge, Copper, Frisco and Silverthorne.

Getting cars off I-70 and giving skiers a more cost-effective way to get up to the mountains were the main reasons Vail bought CME, says Rob Katz, chief executive officer at Vail Resorts. “The shuttle is like one big carpool,” he says. “It’s more efficient and less costly for the consumer than driving themselves.”

Katz also notes that the shuttle is the first touchpoint for many skiers visiting Colorado ski resorts. Owning the shuttle enables Vail to control more of a guest’s total experience. “We can take that great service, use our resources and have a way to touch guests from the moment they arrive and start ensuring their entire experience is really outstanding from start to finish,” he adds.


Private shuttles
Other private shuttle services are hunkering down, unsure what to expect this winter. Kevin Ellis, marketing and sales director at Park City Transportation, which hauls about 30,000 skiers every winter, sees high gas prices as an opportunity. He says high prices have already hurt the summer drive market, considerably boosting the company’s summer shuttle business. Looking ahead, he notes that ski-related corporate travel has been on the decline, but has not hurt the shuttle business as much as, say, the lodging business. “Stays are shorter,” Ellis says. “But travelers still need to get up and down the mountain.”

In response to rising costs, Ellis says the company is downsizing its fleet—moving from 10-passenger vans to five-passenger vans—maximizing loads, and switching to biodiesel vehicles whenever possible.

“I think we’ll see more high end, private service,” Ellis says. “That’s who’s traveling. Over the years our shared shuttle service has decreased. I think in a few years, 90 percent of our business will be private shuttles.”

Gary Furin, director of sales and marketing at All Resort Express in Park City, also says shared rides are down. “We’ve started to see a shift into private vehicles, especially families,” Furin says. “Rather than share a ride they hire an SUV or private van.”

All Resort Express, which transports about 150,000 skiers every winter, is budgeting for a normal winter. Furin says the company’s biggest concern right now is controlling costs. Fuel surcharges help but can’t totally offset rising fuel costs.

He predicts many small operators may be forced out of business. “There are many, many little mom and pop shuttles that have two or three cars and operate out of their living room,” he says. “It’s easy for them to get in and out, do snow removal instead of shuttle service.”


Resort-run shuttles
Resort-run shuttles are also unsure what to expect this winter, except, of course, higher costs. Mt. Bachelor, Ore., for example, runs shuttles for both employees and guests from a park and ride lot in Bend, 20 miles away. Over the years, ridership has remained constant, says John McLeod, CFO at Bachelor, but “then we’ve never faced gas prices like these before.” The employee shuttle is free and will stay that way, but the guest shuttle will cost more this winter, he notes.

“It will be interesting to see if carloads take advantage of the shuttle,” McLeod says. “It tends to be better suited to the single rider, kids. Those are our core demographics. It will be interesting to see if whole families show up. It’s a 20 minute drive up to the mountain, so it’s not a huge drive.”

Many resorts, such as Killington, Vt., have put together private/resort/com­munity transit partnerships to get guests and employees up to and around the mountain. At Killington, guests arriving by rail or air in Rutland can book a private shuttle to take them to different properties on the mountain. Killington also contracts with the regional Marble Valley Transit Authority to provide subsidized rides ($2) from Rutland up to the mountain. Once at the mountain guests can ride the free Killington shuttle around the resort.

“As gas prices continue to increase we should see ridership on the Ethan Allen [Amtrak train out of New York] increase,” Horrocks says. “We’re one of the few resorts that’s accessible by rail.”


Charter buses
What will rising fuel prices do to ski bus tours this winter? Good question, says Mike Pickett, manager of group sales at Hunter Mt., N.Y. “People don’t know what prices will be this winter,” he says.

Pickett notes that Hunter deals with two main types of bus groups: the ski shop-sponsored trip and private bus operators. “It’s harder for the private bus operators to run with lower numbers because they have high overhead and don’t have a shop to cover their costs,” Pickett says. He predicts bus operators will likely have more pickup points and delay trips until they have more passengers. Ski shops may even band together to do a trip—“unheard of back in the day,” Pickett says.

Hunter, too, is sharing the cost of increased fuel prices, in a way. It has helped soften the blow of higher fuel prices for bus operators by holding the line on its group rates and doing more cooperative advertising with bus operators. “It’s harder for us to increase our prices because transportation is so much more expensive,” Pickett says.

Bus Leasing Options

On the shuttle supply side, ski resorts may find themselves squeezed out if they don’t act soon. Don Jensen, northwest regional sales manager for Setra USA, a division of Daimler Buses North America, the world’s largest manufacturer of buses and land coaches, says the city and transit side of its business is sold out through 2010. He says that resorts have been calling for quotes, but have to take a place in line. The company’s 16-passenger Sprinter product, a popular shuttle option for resorts and hotels, is sold out through November 2008.

“The biggest challenge for us is filling demand,” he says. “Because city orders take so much effort, the smaller stuff gets pushed back. If resorts get their orders in now we can deliver for this coming winter season. But those spots start to disappear.”

The story is much the same on the hybrid side: demand by city transit systems is gobbling up supply. “We have a 35- and 40-foot resort-size hybrid, but they’re sold out through 2010,” Jensen says. “Municipalities have snapped them up. They’re very hard to get and also very expensive.”

Leasing, particularly large shuttle buses, is a popular option for many areas that only need to transport large numbers of visitors during a few months of the year. But here, too, municipal transit systems are crowding out the resort industry. Peter Mobley, marketing director at Shuttle Bus Leasing in Riverside, Calif., which specializes in leasing large, 25- to 50-passenger buses, says the company is seeing more interest from commuter transit systems than resorts, which typically wait for the snow to fall to place their orders. Mobley says the company’s buses are ideal for large ski areas with multiple locations who need to transport people from parking lots to base lodges and around the resort. Currently, the company services only California, but plans to expand into Washington and Oregon. “We anticipate more overall demand for our buses, not just from the ski resort industry, but overall,” he says.

—L.G.