Back in September, it was reported that the Utah Transit Authority (UTA) was planning for reduced ski bus service for the second straight year. While it sounds like this will still be the case, UTA is introducing strategies that should reduce the issues they faced last season.
KSL reports that UTA announced that they’ll be improving their ski bus service for the 2023-24 season. The service will go from Sunday, Nov. 26 to Saturday, Apr. 13. While service will technically be around 40-50% of what it was during the 2021-22 season, they will also have backup buses that will be used during peak periods.
In addition, UTA will be adding vanpool transportation options for employees to ride. At some points, employees take up 50% of the capacity on the ski busses, so this could dramatically improve the experience. Lastly, the Cottonwood Connect will return this winter, which helped bring over 9000 guests up and down the canyon over 12 weeks last season.
Jay Fox, who’s the Executive Director of UTA, described to ABC4 Utah how these changes will improve the guest experience:
“The engagement between UTA and its partners over the past six months has helped UTA to better understand the transit needs in the canyons and to collaborate with all of the impacted stakeholders to look at innovative ways we could work together to expand service…
Across our entire transit network, serving employers by providing a reliable means of getting employees to their workplace is a major focus. Not only will these new and expanded services help employees, but they will also free up seats on our scheduled public transit routes at peak periods.”
This is one of the changes that guests can expect to see this upcoming winter in the Cottonwood Canyons. Brighton will be requiring parking reservations every day, and Parker Malatesta from KPCW reports that Solitude will be requiring parking reservations during peak periods. Fines for erroneous parking on SR-210 and SR-190 will also be increasing.
Image Credits: UDOT Cottonwood Canyons Transportation, Utah Transit Authority
