Park City extended the purple bus route in July to begin serving the Bonanza Flat and Bloods Lake trailheads, two popular recreation hubs at the upper elevations of the Wasatch Range.
On average the route has seen over 400 riders daily during weekends this summer. However, just recently on Saturday Sept. 20, there were more than 800 riders, which city staff attributed to the changing fall colors in the area.
Park City Transit Manager Bill DeGroot said that day there was a consistent line of around 25 people for hours waiting to take the trip up.
“We’re seeing a lot of people who are going round trips and kind of using it kind of like a ski lift,” DeGroot told the Park City Council Sept. 25. “Which is the perfect purpose of that type of service — to see how we can have less of a single car use impact and more of a transit impact.”
Park City began charging for parking at Bonanza Flat trailheads for the first time this year. The new transit service was launched in tandem, to provide hikers and bikers a way to enjoy the trails without having to pay parking fees.
Park City issued over 1,200 free parking permits to locals, which account for 3% to 7% of total parking use at Bonanza Flat this year.
Park City Trails and Open Space Coordinator Billy Kurek said roadside parking violations in the area have significantly decreased this year amid the changes.
“Last three summers a huge part of my daily responsibilities as a ranger and in the trails department was writing on-street tickets,” Kurek said. “This season, that just simply has not been the case.”
Going forward, the transit department plans to explore access to Bonanza Flat during the winter.
Under conceptual plans presented to the Park City Council Sept. 25, the purple bus would run to the Mid Mountain trailhead and back. A separate third-party shuttle service could then take cross country skiers and snowshoers to the higher Bonanza Flat trails.
Park City Transit’s purple bus will continue its regular weekend service to Bonanza Flat until the winter. Between Monday and Thursday, the bus runs its traditional route between Old Town and the Montage hotel.
Park City Municipal is a financial supporter of KPCW.
