HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.19740910Study Session Aspen City Council September 10, 1974
The meeting was called by Jim Adams of the Transportation Department to discuss with Council
the survey on light rail transit feasibility conducted by Tri-Co's Larry Becker. Along witk
Mr. Becker were Mr. Howard Ross and Mr. Carl England, technical consultants brought in by
the Aspen Skiing Corporation. Tri-Co's survey had been mainly concerned with charting out
an alignment to be used exclusively for a light rail transit system whereas the Halperin
Study had used Highway 82 up to Owl Creek Road. Mr. Becker explained the two routes he had
outlined on his maps: lower route would encompass Rubey Park to Durant Street then crossing
Castle Creek to the Aspen Highlands, splitting behind Buttermilk to the Airport and the "yai
The high route would go from Buttermilk to Owl Creek Road by way of a straighter route to
Snowmass Conoco and Lift 11. He noted that the grades to Owl Creek Road were no problem
but that they had encountered a maximum of a five per cent grade most of the way up to West
Village. He estimated that the time taken to make a trip up to the Village would be from
a half hour to forty-five minutes depending on the equipment and the route. The planned
stops for the light rail transit would be at the School park area, Highlands Ski area, Tie-
hack (lower terminal), Buttermilk, Airport and then to West Village. It was questioned by
Tom Sardy whether the track wouldn't cut across ski trails and it was affirmed that they
would but that there would be no danger involved and trails would be diverted.
Misters Ross and England were interested in getting some feedback from the community on what
they wanted and could afford. Mr. Ross explained that buses were less expensive but that
with traffic snareups and icy conditions, the buses would lose their efficiency in winter.
Mr. Adams stated that even if the rail options were to be put aside now, it would eventuall
have to come back to rail system of some sort if they were to alleviate congestion in the
future. Mr. Ross suggested buying some older European (Malmo cars) equipment which use
~lectrical current for power on cativaries, or, although much more expensive, modern light
rail cars. He quoted prices on the older Malmo cars as being around $200,000 for 11 power
and 9 trail cars as opposed to new cars which cost $400,000 a piece but which are larger
and would have to be remodeled less to accomodate ski racks, etc. He advised not rushing
into anything without going into what he called "system engineering": consider the route
alighnment first, determine what the speed needs are, what the realistic costs of the syste
would be, estimate the patronage expected, the power useage and then the appropriateness of
the equipment for the job.
Some of the other problems brought up during the meeting were weather conditions which could
deter efficient service, the steepness of the slopes slowing the trains down, the cost of
project, and whether the planned stops were necessary at this point. A proponent of this
last point was County Commissioner Joe Edwards, who felt that the main idea would be to get
the most patronage by making the fastest, most efficient system so that they would pick the
train before the car or bus. He stated that maybe the lower route of the Halperin Study
would be wiser since it had less steep grades, would require less maintenance since snow
would be less of a problem and it would be a straight shot to West Village from Aspen. It
was noted that the other stops could always be added later after the trains had become
successfully established although most felt that the airport was an important stop to have.
It was asked what constituted good service and it was determined that every 15 minutes with
four express trains and Adams said that with the buses they had been able to load 45 people
on in 3% minutes including time taken to load skis.
The questions of using Federal Funds to help defray the costs and it was noted that the
Government might look favorably upon the project as an experiment in light rail transit sin(
it has been used so successfully in Europe but not been tried in the United States. The
only drawbacks would be loss of time and that government consultants would have to be given
a lot of leeway but that it was definately to be considered an option.
Stations were also brought up and a timer system was mentioned by Mr. England for crowd
control. Adams said that a maze had worked out best for them so far. He also stated that
they had calculated that the farthest walking distance to the central terminal in Rubey
Park would be 1800 feet which worked out better than having the buses pick up people along
the route. It was estimated that they had about 50,000 people use the bus last year and
could triple that figure by next year. He noted that the current ratio of people in cars
to buses was 3 to 1 and that public transportation was the only answer, to the problem.
Misters Ross and England are to get some facts and figures in the next day while in Aspen
and then work out a plan for Aspen using their extensive knowledge of transit systems.
Deputy Ci{y~Clerk~