Park City uses free shuttles to address traffic issues at well-known trailheads

Park City, Utah — When Stuart and Bianca McArthur managed to park at the Bloods Lake Trailhead on Sunday morning, they felt fortunate.

“This is the first result that comes up when you Google ‘best trails in Park City,'” Stuart remarked. We observed that it is fully occupied. This was at perhaps eleven o’clock, or perhaps ten. After pulling up, we waited for about three or four minutes until someone got in their car and left the trail, allowing us to kind of move in and claim a position.

Park City offers complimentary shuttle service to three distinct trailheads within the Bonanza Flat Conservation Area on Saturdays and Sundays in an attempt to mitigate this issue. It’s included in the city’s “Transit to Trails” initiative.

Billy Kurek, Park City’s trails and open space coordinator, stated, “Bonanza Flat is a beautiful place, and over the years, we’ve seen more and more visitation from folks from the Wasatch front and back, Park City, as well as the world at large.” “We observe cars waiting in line for hours at a time to use the trail system and find a parking spot.”

After summer ends, shuttles will still operate throughout the fall, with the addition of Friday rides beginning in September.

Kurek stated, “Transit to Trails is a really powerful land management tool for us to reduce single occupancy vehicle trips as well as provide folks who want to visit a really high-quality experience.”

He asserted that the city cannot simply increase parking.

Kurek explained, “We have a conservation easement that governs how we manage this land and how we protect it as well because we are in a conservation area.”