Skyline Surpassed 185,000 Rides in Fiscal Year 2016 but Struggles to Fund Increasing Demand.

The Big Sky Transportation District announces that its Skyline transportation services provided a total of 185,529 rides in Financial Year 2016, an increase of 7.7 percent over Financial Year 2015’s numbers. June 30, 2016 marks the end of the Big Sky Transportation District’s tenth year operating Skyline. The official 10th Anniversary date for the service is December 1st, as that marks the date when Skyline first began operating in 2006. Since that date, Skyline has provided over 1.4 million rides, and has traveled over 2.5 million miles.


David Kack, Skyline Coordinator, noted, “While local ridership was down 2%, our Link Express ridership was up over 20%, and ridership on our van pool service was up 23%.” Kack went on to say that, “Skyline gave over 13,000 more rides in FY 2016 than FY 2015. This shows that demand is strong for transporta- tion alternatives between Big Sky and Bozeman.” Given the increase in ridership, the Big Sky Transpor- tation District was planning to add additional services to meet the demand, but the District didn’t receive all the funding it requested.

District Board Chairman Ennion Williams noted that, “We requested an increase in funding from many of our partners, and while we are getting more funding from the Big Sky Resort Tax and Madison County, we do not anticipate getting any support from Gallatin County.” In its initial hearing on the Skyline request, Gallatin County Commissioners voted 3 to 0 against supporting the District. Williams went on to say, “We receive support from so many sources, the Resort Tax, Madison County and all of the major employers in Big Sky. It makes no sense to us that Gallatin County will not contribute fund- ing to this vital service.” An on-board survey of riders indicated that 76 percent of those riding the bus are Gallatin County residents, and 59 percent of those people are riding for work related purposes (to and from a job).

The Big Sky Transportation District Board will be meeting during the summer and fall to discuss its budget and potential sources of funding so that it can meet the demand for services. Funding is currently provided by the Federal Transit Administration (funding administered by the Montana Department of Transportation), Big Sky Resort Area District (the local option sales tax/resort tax in Big Sky), Big Sky Owners Association, Big Sky Resort, Madison County, Moonlight Basin, Spanish Peaks Resort, and the Yellowstone Club.