Mountain Rides (Blaine County, Idaho)

[Buzz2kb]

Blaine County, Idaho is the home of Sun Valley, a well-renowned ski resort.  It is also the home of Mountain Rides Transportation Authority, which operates a really interesting fleet for its size.  The smallest buses in its fleet are Mercedes Benz Sprinter conversions like bus 16.  They are either used on the Blue route in Ketchum or the Ketchum Circulator evening bus.  It has at least five 29ft. Gillig Low Floor's numbered 1-4 and 28,  While older buses 1-2 (featuring frame-less windows) and 3-4 (featuring traditional windows) are normally confined to the Blue route in Spring/Summer, their newest sister bus 28 (The only EPA-2010 bus) can be used on both the Blue and the Valley commuter route linking Sun Valley and Bellevue.  Remarkably, All of buses 1-4 lack rear HVAC vents.

Meanwhile, it has at least 3 IC Bus/Champion Low Floor cutaways that serve as peak hours extra buses on the Valley route during Spring/Summer.  Bus 25 is a normal length version while bus 27 is an extra-long version. 

The agency's 35ft. low floor buses are used only on the Valley route, and it has at least 3 Gillig Low Floor's: bus 5 (pre-EPA-2010 and lack rear HVAC vents). bus 29 (EPA-2010 and single-door) and bus 30 (similar to bus 29 but dual-door).  All have frame-less windows and the last 2 also have rear bike racks.  On my visit, I have only spotted the last one.  Bus 30 and 2017 New Flyer Xcelsior XD35 bus 201 are, in act, the most-used buses on the Valley route.  Bus 201 is also the sole Xcelsior in Idaho and is set to become Idaho's last New Flyer bus provided that Valley Ride in Boise does not replace its C35LF's with XN35's.

Finally, the agency has up to 4 ex-UTA Optima Opus buses like bus 31 spotted on the Hailey town route.  They may also appear on the Blue route as well. All buses except buses 1, 4 and 16 (pictured in downtown Ketchum) are pictured at or near the River & Bullion Park and Ride in Hailey, Idaho.  As the summer and winter season progress, I will keep everyone updated on the operational pictures of the agency's seasonal routes.  

Here is my Mountain Rides gallery in the meantime:

Mountain Rides (Blaine County, Idaho)

[Buzz2kb]

Updated operational notes on Mountain Ride:

1. I've found a bus 202 operating on the Valley route according to the agency's Real-Time bus tracking site.  It is presumed to be another New Flyer Xcelsior XD35 and has possibly replaced Gillig LF bus 5.

2. The Red route is run with Mercedes Sprinter van conversions or similar.  I've found an unknown bus 417 on this service of late.  Can anyone shed any lights on the type/model of buses 202 and 417?  Thanks!

3. The limited-time Galena Ride and Glide service is a cutaway route.  I've just spotted IC Bus low-floor cutaway 25 on it.

4. Finally, the ski-season only Bronze, Gold and Silver routes are operated with either Gillig LF 29ft. or ex-UTA Optima Opus buses.

[Joshuamumble]

I wanted to bump this thread as Mountain Rides recently put four New Flyer XE40s into service (numbered in the 21xx series; one publicized on their Facebook page as 2101) according to the Idaho Mountain Express- each bus cost about $760,000 with charging equipment at $600,000:
Mountain Rides gets e-buses ready to roll | Blaine County | mtexpress.com 

In addition, according to their Facebook page, Mountain Rides has also removed all passenger fares and is testing a non-emergency medical route between St. Luke's Magic Valley Medical in Ketchum and Twin Falls, using a Freightliner high floor cutaway for the service