There may be no such thing as a free lunch in Rossland but there sure is a free bus.
In the month of January the city’s free transit shuttle from downtown to Red Mountain Resort transported 6,932 people for an average of 224 people per day.
“It has been way more successful than we ever anticipated,” said Tourism Rossland executive director Deanne Steven, who set up and operates the service.
A daily shuttle service from Rossland to Red Mountain Resort and back began in earnest Dec. 14 and will continue until the end of the ski season.
The free shuttle bus runs every 45 minutes (with a one-hour break in the afternoon) looping between downtown Rossland and the Red Mountain neighbourhood every day all winter. The shuttle runs from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.
The shuttle runs every day that Red Mountain is operating for the winter of 2013/14 with a finishing date no later than April 6.
The bus makes loops through downtown and back to the Red Mountain area on a fixed schedule of almost continuous loops, including the Prestige Mountain Resort, Flying Steamshovel/Idgies, Alpine Grind, Seven Summits/Casa Alpina, Rock Cut Pub and Red Mountain.
Full details of the shuttle can be found here: http://www.tourismrossland.com/winter-free-ride-ski-bus including a downloadable schedule.
Survey
Tourism Rossland has created an online survey to gather data on the success of the project and have hired someone to do intercept surveys on the bus.
You can let them know how it has worked for you: http:// fluidsurveys.com/surveys/tourismrossland/shuttle-bus-survey/.