The Ride On Park City program started in 2019 with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and congestion on Park City’s roadways by encouraging people to replace their “ride alone” trips with group trips.
Through an online platform, Ride On Park City will match people to nearby neighbors and co-workers who share similar commutes. There, they can find others to carpool with or even take transit, walk or bike together.
Hannah Pack, transportation planner with Park City Municipal, explained how it works.
“It'll match you to people and it'll show you a list and a map with general areas of where people are,” Pack said. “And then you just reach out to them and say, ‘Hey, it looks like we both live in Salt Lake and work on Main Street. Do you want to carpool?’ And then you arrange it yourself.”
To get started, commuters need to create an account at rideonparkcity.org. Then join a network. From there users can route their trips and find someone, or a group, to commute together.
Trips can be one-way, round-trip, occur only once - like for those who are just coming up to ski - or happen every day of the week.
Last year, about 1,000 people registered for the program but only 126 actually participated. This year new incentives have been added to encourage more participation.
Every time someone logs a trip they earn points. The person who earns the most points from Dec. 1 to March 31 will win $1,500. Second prize is $1,000 cash.
“I think this is a really great way to change your commute and make a difference in the community,” Pack said. “It's not just walking or biking, it's transit, it's our vanpools. So I think it's a really great way to make a difference and help everybody get around a little bit easier.”
Through the program, the Park City community has reduced 99.9 tons of Co2 from the air.
Ride On Park City is sponsored by Park City Municipal, the Park City Chamber of Commerce, Deer Valley Resort, Park City Mountain Resort and Canyons Village Management Association.
