CU Ski Bus - Campus Transit Service to Keystone, Breckenridge, Arapahoe Basin, Beaver Creek, and Vail

Frequently Asked Questions

Please select a question from the list below, or you may scroll down to view all of the questions.

Do I have to be a CU student or employee to ride the Ski Bus?
Will trips ever get cancelled due to weather?
Will the bus destination ever change due to weather?
What is your refund policy if a trip gets cancelled due to weather?
What is your refund policy if I have to cancel my ticket?
Am I allowed to give my Ski Bus ticket to a friend?
Do I need my Herd membership number or card to buy Herd tickets?
Can I buy tickets in person?
What time does the bus leave campus?
Where do I get on the bus on campus in the morning?
What time does the bus leave the resorts?
What time should I expect to get back from the resort?
Can I ride the bus one-way only?
Can I leave items on the bus during the day?
What kind of bus will I be in?
What on-bus amenities are offered?
Why don't you run more buses?
Why don't you run buses to other resorts, including Loveland, Copper, or Winter Park?

1. Do I have to be a CU student or employee to ride the Ski Bus?
Yes. The Ski Bus is a University-subsidized program for current CU students, faculty, and staff only. A current BuffOne card is required to board the bus on the day of the trip. However, current students, faculty, and staff may buy one regular ticket for a non-student guest in addition to their own ticket. No non-student guests may buy Herd tickets. Alternative ways to the mountains for non-university affiliates include Co-Jitney, another charter bus service, and skicarpool.com, which can help connect people to carpool to the mountains.

2. Will trips ever get cancelled due to weather?
Hopefully trips will never be cancelled due to weather. In fact, we have had no weather-related cancellations in the past two years! However, in the event that Interstate 70 is closed on the day of the trip, the bus will be cancelled, with only a few exceptions (see question 3). Call 303-900-2761 with questions about cancellations. The cancellation decision will generally be made by 10:00 pm the night before each trip, but it is possible that a trip may be cancelled the morning of the trip. In this situation, a customer service representative will visit each bus pickup location in the morning to inform passengers of the cancellation and about our refund policy (see question 4).

3. Will the bus destination ever change due to weather?
It is possible. Here are the list of scenarios that will result in a destination change due to weather:
- If Vail Pass (I-70) is closed or has the chain law in effect, the bus destination will change from Vail or Beaver Creek to Breckenridge.
- If Loveland Pass and the Eisenhower Tunnel (I-70) and are closed, but Kenosha Pass (US highway 285) and Hoosier Pass (CO highway 9) are open, the bus destination may change from Vail, Beaver Creek, or Keystone/A-Basin to Breckenridge.
** All destination changes are at the bus manager's discretion. Even if US highway 285 and CO highway 9 are open, the bus may still be cancelled due to severe weather, for the safety of the passengers and the driver.

4. What is your refund policy if a trip gets cancelled due to weather?
In the event that the program cancels a bus trip, all tickets for that bus are fully refundable. Tickets may be refunded to the credit card it was billed on or transferred to another bus trip.

5. What is your refund policy if I have to cancel my ticket?
Our refund policy depends on how much time is left until your bus trip. In most cases, it is easier to find a friend who can use your ticket than to request a refund or date change from the program (see question 6).

Up until seven days before your trip:
- All name change requests will be honored.
- All date change requests will be honored.
- Refund requests will be honored only if your ticket resells before your original trip date.
Please request a name change, date change, or a refund using this form or by clicking the "Change your Ticket" link in the site menu.

Up until two days before your trip:
- All name change requests will be honored.
- Date change requests will be honored only if your ticket resells before your original trip date.
- Refund requests will be honored only if your ticket resells before your original trip date.
Please request a name change, date change or a refund using this form or by clicking the "Change your Ticket" link in the site menu.

Less than two days until your trip:
- All name change requests will be honored.
- No date change requests or cancellation requests will be accepted for any reason.
Please request a name change by calling us at 303-900-2761.

6. Can I give my Ski Bus ticket to a friend?
Yes. All Ski Bus tickets are transferrable so long as you inform us of the change, and that the new person is eligible to use your ticket. You should inform us of the name change using this form or by clicking the "Change your Ticket" link in the site menu, unless it is within two days of your trip date. In that case, please call us at 303-900-2761 to request a name change. The new person must be eligible to use your ticket, meaning that if you bought a Herd ($5) ticket, they must be a Herd member as well. If you bought a Regular ($15) ticket, they must be a CU-Boulder student, faculty, or staff member as well.

7. Do I need my Herd membership number or card to buy Herd tickets?
No; you do not need your Herd membership number or card to buy your ticket. However, your membership card will be checked on the day of your trip, so make sure you bring it on that day, along with your BuffOne Card. If you forget your Herd card on the day of the trip, you will be charged an additional $10 to upgrade your ticket to a regular ticket.

8. Can I buy tickets in person?
Yes. However, you must fill out this form in advance of buying tickets in person and receive authorization to buy tickets; otherwise you will be unable to purchase tickets. After you receive authorization to buy tickets in person, please visit the UMC accounting office in UMC 231 during their business hours (9-4:30 M-F) and pay for your tickets. You must do this within 48 hours of receiving authorization to buy the tickets; otherwise you will lose your authorization and will have to request them again. Our accepted forms of payment for in-person purchases are cash and check. No credit card payments will be accepted.

9. What time does the bus leave campus?
The bus has three pickups on campus, at the following locations and times:
- Williams Village at main bus stop on 30th St: 5:45 - 6:00 am
- Regent Dr. at Kittredge Loop Rd: 6:05 - 6:15 am
- Farrand Field at Farrand Hall: 6:20 - 6:30 am

10. Where do I get on the bus on campus in the morning?
We have pickups in front of Williams Village at the main bus stop on 30th St, on Regent Dr at the intersection with Kittredge Loop Rd, and on Farrand Field in front of Farrand Hall. The bus stops at every pickup on all bus trips. You may view a map of our pickup locations on campus by clicking here.

11. What time does the bus leave the resorts?
The bus leaves the resorts promptly at the following locations and times:
- Arapahoe Basin in front of the Guest Services building: 3:30 pm
- Keystone at the Mountain House base area: 4:00 pm
- Breckenridge at the base of the Beaver Run SuperChair: 4:00 pm
- Vail on the top level of the Lionshead Parking Structure: 4:00 pm
- Beaver Creek at a location TBD: 4:00 pm

12. What time should I expect to get back from the resort?
Due to heavy and variable traffic on Interstate 70, the bus will likely to get back between 6:00 pm and 8:00 pm, but we cannot say any more specifically than that. Traffic is generally worse on Sunday evenings than Saturday evenings.

13. Can I ride the bus one-way only?
Yes. You are more than welcome to ride the bus one-way only. We cannot offer any discounted tickets in this case, however. If you are riding the bus on the return trip only, you MUST inform us by 9:00 pm the night before the bus trip so that your seat is not sold to a standby passenger on the morning of the trip. You do not need to notify us if you are riding the bus only in the morning.

14. Can I leave items on the bus during the day?
Yes, but you will not be able to access the items at all during the day. Additionally, we encourage you to not leave things in the luggage compartments during the day, as it can often be difficult to retrieve them in the afternoon. You are encouraged to store everything in the seats or overhead compartments of the bus during the day.

15. What kind of bus will I be in?
We use 56-passenger charter buses for our bus trips, complete with padded seats, on-bus restroom, reading lights, and air conditioning/heater. A movie will be shown on the return trip.

16. What on-bus amenities are offered?
On the bus, the following complimentary amenities are offered: Clif bars or Mojo bars on the morning trip, loaner pillows and blankets for the morning and evening trips, a movie showing on the return trip, trail maps to whichever resort(s) the bus is running to on that day on the morning trip, and official Ski Bus stickers on the return trip. We are looking into the possibility of offering additional amenities; check back later for more information.

17. Why don't you run more buses?
At the present time, the program loses money on each bus trip. As such, we cannot afford under our current budget to run buses on more days or schedule additional buses when one day sells out. We are currently looking into ways to make more money without raising ticket prices. If we are successful, we may be able to run more buses than we currently do.

18. Why don't you run buses to other resorts, including Loveland, Copper, or Winter Park?
Given the limited budget that we have, we can only run buses to the resorts that we are sure we can sell out the bus for. We have evaluated the potential demand for buses to those resorts to not be significant enough to warrant scheduling a bus at this time.

Service hosted and managed by the Environmental Center.