The double header of the Sundance Film Festival, and the FIS World Championships right after, was a challenge for the Park City area’s transportation system. But County Transportation Manager Caroline Rodriguez says she feels very good about their performance.
Rodriguez said she feels the system did extremely well, given the thousands of people that poured in for the events.
“We saw a lot of people using the park n ride at Ecker, at Richardson Flats,” Rodriguez said. “We were constantly monitoring all those park n rides, all those people getting on and off the bus. Given the crowds we had, I think it worked extremely well. (Leslie) Do you have numbers for the Ecker Hill park n ride? (Caroline) I had initial numbers just for Ecker. Not for the system as a whole, because I think, with the Sundance without its shuttles, they’re still trying to work that out. But we saw approximately 3800 boardings at Ecker Hill for the ten days of Sundance”
At the same time, KPCW heard complaints about the FIS opening ceremonies at the Canyons Village, with some saying that the buses were moving so slow it was faster to hop off, and walk.
Rodriguez said she understands their frustration, but you have to put it in context.
“Even a system that works 99 percent of the time is not gonna work when you have an 800 percent growth in the number of people using the system for three hours out of the year,” Rodriguez explained. “Again, I totally understand the frustration, and I appreciate that people tried to use the bus. But just with the crowds we had, we can’t plan a year-round system for, potentially, five hours out of the year that are gonna be clogged”
While Sundance and the FIS fades in the rear-view mirror, Summit County is looking ahead to the issue of e-scooters. State legislators are advancing their own proposals on the scooters, while the county is finishing up its own ordinance, and anticipates working with Park City.
“I think Park City Municipal is still trying to decide where they’re going with that, and I know as part of that, we’re going to do a joint survey effort to see what our citizens are thinking about that,” Rodriguez added that they aren’t sure if they’ll be ready to go by Spring. “Y’know, we’re still not really sure. At first, we were pretty nervous that they would make it up here, especially during Sundance. But I don’t think they made any appearance. So, you know, only time will tell. We just want to be prepared in case they do come in without advance notice.”
