By Suzanne Paulman
On a recent trip to the Denver metro area, Colorado Gambler co-owner Sharon Sweeney and I had the wonderful opportunity to visit and talk with some of the Gambler’s most dedicated readers: the casino shuttle bus service employees and their passengers. We spent the day briefly chatting with readers at various shuttle bus service locations such as the CTI station in Aurora and the Coach America stations in Thornton, Arvada, and Howard Johnson’s in Wheat Ridge.
Bus driver Dave
Our first stop was at the CTI shuttle bus station located at 13550 E. Mississippi in Aurora. There we found Rae, Ernestine, Karen and Janet ready to head up the hill to Black Hawk and Central City for a great day of gambling. All of them are avid Gambler readers who truly enjoy reading the newspaper—and doing the crossword puzzle in the paper—while on their way in shuttle bus comfort to the casinos. The ladies all smiled broadly as they boarded the bus and we wished them a cheerful “Good luck.”
Dave, their CTI bus driver, greeted the ladies and other passengers aboard the big bus with a warm welcome. Dave has been a CTI bus driver for over two and a half years and is thoroughly comfortable driving the bus up and down the canyon from the Aurora station to the mountain town casinos. One of his favorite sections of the Gambler is “Trail’s End,” which features articles highlighting Colorado history. As Dave commented about his passengers and the Gambler, it “keeps a lot of people entertained” while they make their way toward their anticipated hours of fun at the casinos.
Thelma and Joseph (Thornton)
Our next stop was the Coach America shuttle bus station at 8800 N. Washington in Thornton. Thelma has been the Coach front desk ticket person for more than 11 years and enjoys seeing her customers, both old and new. She says her customers really love the Gambler. Customers will even drop by to pick up the latest issue to read even if they are not going up to gamble at the casinos. Thelma looks forward to reading each week’s issue. One of her favorite sections is the “Winners Circle” and if she sees someone she knows she joyfully congratulates them on their winning.
Joseph at the Thornton station has been a bus driver for more than 11 years. Joseph and Thelma make sure their passengers on the Coach shuttle busses are well taken care of during their trip to the casinos. Joseph enjoys reading the Gambler too. He says there are always “lots of interesting things to read,” especially around Halloween when he really likes reading the scary ghost stories.
Larry and Ann (Sheridan)
Next on our journey was the Coach America station located at 5250 Sheridan Blvd. in Arvada. Ann is the friendly front desk ticket seller there. She has worked for Coach for more than 16 years at various metro locations and continues to enjoy her job tremendously. Ann knows and treats her customers well.
Ann also knows that her customers are devoted readers of the Gambler, remarking that one customer calls every Monday to see if the new issue of the Gambler has arrived yet. She says the readers enjoy what is in the paper and by Wednesday the Gambler stack of papers will be down to an inch or less in the stand. “They like the blackjack and poker stories.” Ann’s own favorite sections of the paper include reading her horoscope, looking for favorite dishes in the “Culinary Capers” food section, checking out casino coupons, and scanning the winners to see if she recognizes any one of her customers.
Passengers Rae, Ernestine, Karen, Janet
One of Ann’s co-workers at the Coach station, Larry, has been a bus driver for 19 years and states that Coach has a good safety record. Busses run hourly out of the Sheridan station 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Passengers can purchase tickets directly from the bus drivers after the office closes at 8:30 p.m. Larry comments that when customers take the bus they can safely enjoy the ride, the scenery and looking for wildlife.
Larry is also an avid reader of the Gambler and his favorite section is reading about his horoscope. He says that throughout his years of driving a shuttle bus to the casinos, he has heard passengers read sections of the Gambler out loud to each other if there are not enough copies of the paper for everyone to read. That is a demonstration of loyal readership to an entertaining gaming newspaper.
Jim (at Howard Johnson)
The last stop of the day was at the Coach America station located in the Howard Johnson Hotel at 12100 W. 44th Ave. in Wheat Ridge. Jim is the front desk ticket person and has worked at the lobby location for two and a half years. He says on an average day he will handle about 75-100 bus passengers at that location.
Part of Jim’s job is coordinating passenger pick-up with a bus arrival and departure. The bus drivers call Jim in advance before they arrive at the station. Jim makes sure all the passengers are notified and ready for boarding. Jim carries a radio with him and when he gets a call that someone, especially a casino employee, is running a few minutes late, he will hold the bus departure for the late arrival.
As Jim says, “I like my drivers.”
Jim is a huge fan of the Gambler and eagerly anticipates its arrival every week. His favorite parts include the horoscope section and history articles. Jim comments that the paper is “a good source” of gaming information for casino customers. He says “people really like it” and they have told him that they read it “from front to back.”
It was a pleasure to meet loyal Colorado Gambler readers, hearing your touching stories about the paper and letting us publish them. Thank you to the casino shuttle bus employees and passengers for sharing a few moments of your time with us that day.
Look for a feature on our Windsor Gardens fans in next week’s issue.
