Over eleven hundred [1,161] people took Park City and Summit County’s park-and-ride survey this past winter.
36% say they use park-and-rides “sometimes” or “often,” and 21% say “rarely.”
But when they do use them, riders’ top reason is there isn’t parking at their destination.
That’s why Park City staff say if more surface parking in and around town gets redeveloped, the area will need more than 1,000 additional park-and-ride spots.
“We have identified that we would need … medium-sized lots at each of those gateway corridors—both at Kimball Junction as well as [state Route] 248—to make sure that we're accommodating future demands,” Park City transportation planner Carl Miller said, presenting the data to Park City and Summit County councilmembers August 5.
He says the second-highest reason riders used park-and-rides was to save time, money or gas.
Third was simply a preference for public transit, and survey respondents are more likely to ride than your average person. High Valley Transit Executive Director Caroline Rodriguez reports her organization is approaching 5% ridership.
That means about 5% of all people traveling in High Valley’s service area are using public transit, on par with a city like Los Angeles, but more than in Salt Lake City.
Salt Lake’s 2017 transit master plan states 2% of all trips were on public transit. In the dense New York City metro area, 41% of travelers are using public transit, 28% drive and 28% walk.
The Park City-area survey didn’t explicitly ask people why they don’t use park-and-rides, some of which are never half full. But, it did ask how the lots could be improved.
Top concerns were inadequate bus routes or frequency and inconvenient lot locations.
“Shelters and restrooms are the top two amenities desired at the park and rides, besides more frequent transit service,” city transportation planner Alex Roy said.
The park-and-ride survey results are still preliminary. Once they are finalized, the transportation planners will use them to make policy recommendations at the next joint meeting of the Park City and Summit County councils, which hasn’t been scheduled.
