GETTING THERE: Let a bus driver brave the Ute Pass for you

Good news for the poor souls who commute up and down Ute Pass, braving insane drivers and using $4 a gallon gas: Possibly by October, they can hop on sleek express buses that will run several times a day between Colorado Springs and Woodland Park.

Take that, Sultan of Brunei!

(If you don't know, the Sultan has a personal car collection of 5,000 or so sports and luxury vehicles, all bought on the proceeds from your fill-ups. To see how a rich dude with poor taste spends your gas money, go to http://tinyurl.com/57zmft).

The new bus service, to be called the Ute Pass Express, will be operated by Colorado Springs' transit service, Mountain Metro. It will, in some ways, be modeled after the popular FREX commuter bus service to Denver, said Sherre Ritenour, transit services division manager.

The details of the Ute Pass service have yet to be worked out, in part because Mountain Metro is waiting for the results of a survey that seeks to determine what commuters and employers want.

Ritenour, though, said the initial thinking is that there will be four or five early morning and late afternoon departures from both Colorado Springs and Woodland Park for commuters.

Midday bus runs will be considered, depending on the needs of employers such as the new Wal-Mart in Woodland Park and that city's school district.

The buses would stop in Green Mountain Falls, which contributes to Mountain Metro through the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority. There's also a possibility the express buses could stop in Manitou Springs, also an RTA member, if there's a demand.

The operation costs will be funded for two years with a $1.74 million federal grant designed to combat traffic congestion and poor air quality, the same kind of grant that initially funded the FREX service.

Another federal grant will buy the five, 29-passenger, Wi-Fiequipped buses that will ply the pass. Ritenour said Mountain Metro won't disclose the size of the grant until the buses are purchased to avoid potential sellers knowing how big a pot of money the transit service has.

If the service proves popular after the two-year trial period, participating governments would have to fund it. Woodland Park, of course, would have to be a key contributor because it is not a member of the RTA.

Ritenour said the route also would be funded with fares, which have yet to be determined.

Fares on express commuter routes pay a far greater share of the operational costs than normal inner-city bus service. For example, she said FREX fares pay 47 percent of the cost of that service; fares on normal routes cover just 18 percent to 22 percent of the cost of service.