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Park City Council plans to run buses to Richardson Flat every 20 minutes from 6 a.m. - 11 p.m.

Park City
The Richardson Flat route will also service the Park City Heights neighborhood, which currently doesn’t have any transit service.

The Park City Council plans to service the Richardson Flat park and ride this winter along with increasing the frequency of buses around town.

At its meeting Thursday the city council unanimously chose a plan that would enhance the frequency of the red, yellow, green, and blue buses.

The Richardson Flat park and ride, which has over 700 parking spots, will be serviced by buses from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. every 20 minutes. It will run all the way to the Old Town Transit Center. That route will also service the Park City Heights neighborhood, which currently doesn’t have any transit service.

City councilmember Max Doilney said that was key in his decision.

“We’re really trying to serve Park City Heights, that’s the number one goal for me," Doilney said.

"That’s what really got me over the hump. I think we have a community out there that are a part of Park City and they deserve transit service.”

The total cost is a little over $1 million.

Deer Valley Sustainability Manager Victoria Schlaepfer said the resort would commit $100,000 to incentivize employees to use Richardson Flat. She added that the Quinn’s Junction park and ride, which the council voted down in a split vote earlier this year, would make a better fit.

Park City Mountain Director of Base Operations Mike Lewis didn’t mention any monetary contribution, but said they would also encourage workers to use the lot.

The council also approved a five-month micro transit pilot with High Valley Transit. It will operate from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and will focus on serving Park Meadows, Thaynes, Quinn’s Junction, and Royal Street. That will cost the city $850,000 at the most, and they can cancel the service with 30 days' notice.

The city created the bronze route last winter to service Royal Street in upper Deer Valley, but there is no plan to operate that this year.

Leon Gladstone lives in the Ontario Lodge on Royal Street.

“Many of us use the bus to get to and from the resort, and I think that the micro transit does not address any of our needs in the winter,” Gladstone said at the meeting.

Councilmember Max Doilney told KPCW he thinks the micro service, which essentially operates like a free Uber, will be sufficient for Royal Street.

“I think it’s a better service than what they’ve had in the past," Doilney said.

"They came to us I think it was just over a year ago, and we had a pretty robust conversation about fixed route service up there. And we said at that meeting, ‘look we need to see high ridership numbers on that fixed route in order for us to continue running it.’ And frankly those numbers continue to be insufficient for running a service like that up that road.”

The full winter service will go into effect in December.