Posted by Mike Swasey | Jan 21, 2022 | Featured Stories, News | 0

Skagway has a new municipal transit operator to run its seasonal shuttles. The owners of the Skagway-based tour company Klondike Tours were awarded the SMARTbus contract on January 20th and are working to set up operations in time for this year’s cruise ship season.

Greg and Billi Clem have owned Klondike Tours for 22 years, and have now been awarded the contract to take over the municipal transit system called SMARTbus. The couple submitted the only bid that was offered, and the assembly approved it unanimously.

The first change of note for riders will be a fare increase. Greg Clem says that the rate hasn’t changed much in about 20 years.

“The downtown Ship to Shore is $3 for one way, $5 for all day,” said Clem. That’s a 50% increase over fares from the past several years for a one-way ride. But the all-day pass rate stays the same.

Another change riders can expect is a more accessible on-demand service.

“In the past years, they had what they called the long route. They went out to the dredge and to the cemetery and that kind of stuff. Well, that’s history. We don’t do that anymore. The on-demand shuttle has taken over that portion. So if somebody wants to go to the cemetery they take the on-demand shuttle out there,” said Clem.

He says that on-demand service will be available year-round as well. The rates for that will be $5 in town as far as the Pat Moore Bridge, $10 for as far as Liarsville, and $15 to get to Dyea.

Clem says the buses will mostly be the same as they were in 2019.

“I’ll be buying all the buses that will qualify for the contract from Stuart. So most of the buses that we have had out there will be the same and the names will stay the same and it’ll look exactly the same as it has in the past,” said Clem.

Stuart Brown was the previous operator, but he didn’t submit a bid for this contract. The typical route for the shuttles won’t change much. The buses will pick up riders from each of the docks then go as far north as 7th Avenue, with various stops along the way.

Clem says he expects to have at least a dozen people working for him, and he wants to hire locally before looking for people from out of town. That is at least partially because of the shortage of available seasonal housing in Skagway.

“I’ve got housing for about half of that at this point. So I’m really hoping to get some locals that have housing already,” said Clem.

Another issue is mechanic services. Clem says if he can’t partner with a local mechanic, or find one that will move to Skagway, he’ll have to bring his vehicles to Whitehorse in Canada’s Yukon Territory for service.

“The last-ditch effort is Whitehorse. So in the past, all of my buses have gone up to Whitehorse to do all mechanical. If it doesn’t run and they send a tow truck and I pay for the tow truck,” said Clem.

The contract with the municipality is structured differently than in previous years. In the past there was a fixed rate paid to the municipality and the operator could keep any earnings over that amount. But now, as the pandemic has basically shut down the service for the bulk of the last two years, municipal officials wanted a change.

Clem will pay the municipality 3% of gross sales over the next five years. He’ll stagger payments so that he pays the bill gradually over the term of the contract. He’ll pay 1% in the first year, 3% in years two through four, and 5% in the fifth. That way, he says, he can recoup some of his startup costs earlier rather than later.

“If COVID hits or something like this hits, again, the vendor, me, would not be tied to a $100,000 payment to the city with no income,” said Clem.

Is he excited about the opportunity?

“Well, yes and no. If we don’t have the tourists, I still have to lay out all the money for the buses expecting the tourists to be here. I still have to hire all the drivers. It’s an unknown for me. And I can’t just not have enough drivers. So it’s very scary for at least this year,” said Clem.

The first cruise ship of the season is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday, April 26.

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