Go Alpine has announced that it will roll into the upcoming winter season under the new name Steamboat Express, but owner and CEO Landon Ogilvie said the switch is about more than just a new name.

“We are thrilled to take this final step in bringing Go Alpine and Steamboat area transportation services fully in-house with our larger company, resources and systems,” Ogilvie said. “The new Steamboat Express will offer enhanced and progressive operations, and we look forward to working with and serving the needs of all of our community partners.”

The move means the Steamboat operation will become more integrated with the Destination Systems family. That organization operates similar shuttle services in Aspen, Montrose, Telluride, Gunnison, Crested Butte and Denver in Colorado, as well as Mammoth in California

“It allows us access to the total company resources reallocating driver personnel as needed, and it gives us the availability of additional fleets as needed,” Ogilvie said. “We feel like with the management we have in place now, we’re ready to roll ourselves out there as Steamboat Express and offer the same type of quality and service that we have given at all other destinations for the last 10 years.”

The Steamboat shuttle company operated under the name Alpine Taxi through the 1980s and into the 1990s before becoming Go Alpine more recently. The shuttle service was purchased by Destination Systems in 2019, and Ogilvie said the plan has been to rebrand the company as it was brought in line with the other locations, which will help Steamboat Express provide better service to its customers.

“We greatly respect the enterprise that was built by Lisa Adamo in the past,” Ogilvie said. “But with the changing times, we feel like we need to add more resources for our customers.”

He said the company has also been hard at work identifying and locating its fleet, which it has been able to accomplish despite the most recent supply chain issues.

“We have upgraded the fleet,” Ogilvie said. “Most of the fleet now is within three years old, and we’re upgrading the fleet along with the logo.”

He said that Steamboat Express has already started rolling out the logo on a few vehicles that can be seen around town, and that the branding change will become more apparent when the airport shifts into high gear this December.

Steamboat Express has also invested resources into new technology that will improve communications and make it easier for customers to stay better connected.

“We have invested several hundred thousand dollars in new technology for Steamboat Express that will reduce if not eliminate people’s wait time in terms of communicating with us,“ Ogilvie said. “They’ll be able to communicate via chat, text or an additional phone system that allows us to reroute any incoming calls to any available reservation staff at all of our companies. In effect, we are growing a reservation staff by tenfold.”

Earlier this summer, Steamboat Express and its parent Destination Systems came to an agreement with Ski Town Transportation, supporting the operator’s application to the Public Utilities Commission for a second ground transportation license in the area and the ability to take walk-up passengers at the Yampa Valley Regional Airport.

“We’re still working through the terms of that, but I feel confident it will work out,” Ogilvie said. “He’s a great young entrepreneur, and I think we have a responsibility to town, given the growth of the airport, to have a good qualified backup carrier … We have a sense of responsibility and we understand the responsibility that we have to the community, the economic base there and we just always want to do what’s best for the community.”

He stressed that Steamboat Express is ready to shift into the new season when it arrives.

“We’re excited about the new season, and we’re excited to show people what we have,” Ogilvie said.