Drivers who have indulged in a few too many libations this New Year’s Eve may want to consider calling a cab.

It is good advice anytime, but especially on New Year’s Eve when law enforcement will be on high alert for drunken drivers. The only problem: finding a cab can often be tricky for late night revelers in downtown Durango.

High demand and a shortage of drivers across transportation and ride-share services makes finding late night transportation difficult even on a mundane Saturday evening.

On a holiday when many patrons are expected to be downtown and the main celebration unfolds at midnight, the mark of the new year, it would be especially prescient to call a cab well in advance. Local taxi services advise riders to do just that on their websites during the late evening hours.

Durango used to offer a late night public transportation service called the Buzz Bus that provided rides to people who worked after dark, bar patrons and others who needed a lift out of downtown after hours. But in 2018, Durango’s Transportation Department was smacked with a hefty cut to grant funding, and the Buzz Bus service fizzled out of existence.

The Buzz Bus left a transportation vacuum in its wake. Even in the presence of several local cab companies and ride-share apps such as Uber and Lyft, it can be difficult to hitch a ride after dark.

Durango Cab and Buck Horn Limousine, two of three area transportation companies, feature notices on their websites referencing limited staff and overwhelming demand.

Durango Cab asks customers to call its main office between midnight and 5 a.m. to check for driver availability. Buck Horn Limousine’s notice says that because drivers are “incredibly busy,” basic rides to the airport might combine multiple parties.

The issue of late night transportation is on the city of Durango’s radar, said Transportation Director Sarah Hill. But David Galus, owner of Buck Horn Limousine, said the lack of late night transportation is an issue that’s persisted for years.

Galus said the state of late night transportation is what motivated him to start his private business 17 years ago.

Buck Horn Limousine is the oldest private transportation business in town, he said. It’s a limo company featuring luxury fleets of Mercedes Benz and Ford Transits. Whether you need to get to Durango-La Plata County Airport, Pagosa Springs or South Fork, Buck Horn Limousine can take you there.

But be sure to schedule the trip in advance. Galus said the company is operating with just four to seven drivers who work 12-hour shifts.

“Call in advance, and then you’re not waiting in the cold, you’re not stranded,” he said.

The private transportation business has been hit by the same worker shortage trending across industries.

“This summer, we turned down more business than we’d ever had because we’re shorthanded,” Galus said.

Buck Horn Limousine offers steady work, drivers are well-paid and get to drive in a Mercedez Benz, he said. But business is restricted by how many vehicles can deploy at once.

Galus has had to reduce the number of late night vehicles, and it has only gotten worse since ride-share services such as Uber entered the scene.

He theorized that young people moving to the Durango area are more inclined to use ride-share services. But from what he’s experienced secondhand, individual Uber drivers don’t often stick to the gig for very long.

The hours can be rough on drivers, whether they’re with Uber, a cab service or Buck Horn Limousine. Late night customers aren’t always on their best behavior either, Galus said.

Even before Galus started Buck Horn Limousine, back when he was a taxi cab driver for Durango Transportation (the only taxi company in town then), fights were all too common.

Late night passengers, often intoxicated, would start fights with other passengers in his taxi. Fights would also break out between passengers and pedestrians as his cab was pulling up.

Galus started Buck Horn Limousine in 2004. For the first seven years, his business provided only late night transportation. Demand for rides to the airport was so strong that he eventually branched out to fulfill those needs, he said.

Galus said he wishes the city would bring back the Buzz Bus.

“I think it’s a necessary service,” he said. “We’re not worried about competition at night. We want everybody to get home safe.”

In 2018, the amount of funding the city received from federal grants was reduced, Hill said. Before that reduction, the transit department received about $2 million annually.

The city of Durango sustained about a 47% reduction in its annual transit grants that year.

The state had developed a new formula to equitably distribute funding to transit agencies, which were starting to become more common across Colorado, Hill said.

Durango was nearly 80% reliant on transit grants for operation in 2018, she said. When the grant funding was reduced, the city had to make service reductions by 30% to balance its budget. The result? Bye-bye, Buzz Bus.

Hill said the transit department is well aware of how used and loved the Buzz Bus route was. The city has frequently heard pleas to extend existing public transit hours further into the evening to help people working in the hospitality industry get home after their shifts.

cburney@durangoherald.com