Two trails are about to get a lot easier to reach.
Monday through Thursday, the 9 Purple will run normally, stopping at its usual point at Montage Deer Valley from 5:36 a.m.-6:06 p.m. with a 30-minute frequency. No change.
Then, Fridays through Sundays through the fall, the route will extend to Empire Pass and stop at the Bonanza Flat and Blood Lake trailheads from 5:40 a.m.-6:20 p.m. with increased 20-minute frequency.
“It’ll alleviate congestion, get cars off the road, help with the parking problems up here and allow more recreation access for our community to enjoy,” said Park City Council member Jeremy Rubell.
Buses serving the trails are equipped with new bike racks that can carry up to eight bikes, and dogs are allowed as long as they’re muzzled and well behaved. Park City Transit will even provide the muzzle thanks to a pilot project with the city.
Just promise you’ll clean up after them, Rubell said.
With the service comes another big change: paid parking at the Bonanza Flat and Blood Lake trailheads. Council member Bill Ciraco said the city wanted to find a way to encourage recreation in these areas that didn’t also balloon congestion and vehicle emissions.
“We’ve got 1,300 acres up here at Bonanza Flat, quite a bit,” said council member Bill Ciraco. “But the last thing we want to do is have 1,000 or 2,000 parking spots up here.”
Part of the thinking is that Parkites make up only about 8% of the trail usage, according to Ciraco. Seventy to 75 percent comes from the Wasatch Front. Offering free, frequent transit allows residents to access the trails and avoid the cost themselves.
“We have this amazing resource that our community paid for, and it was getting loved to death,” Ciraco said. “It was hard for people in our community to use it and enjoy it.”
Plus, paid parking will ideally cover the extra cost to transit, Ciraco said.
“I’m not going to make any promises, but based on what we’ve seen so far, I’m pretty confident that our parking revenue up here will pay for a good portion of our transit up here,” Ciraco said. “So we’ll be pretty close to it being a net zero.”
Residents can get a parking pass through the city if they want, though, and the city is looking into a season-pass type program for the broader community, Rubell said.
“The city does also recognize that more than folks who live in the city proper have contributed to this conservation effort, and we want to make sure everyone can enjoy the fruits of their labor,” he said.
Utah Open Lands representatives were also at the Bonanza Flat trailhead Thursday for the launch of the service. Park City acquired the Bonanza Flat Conservation Area in 2017 for $38 million, partnering with Utah Open Lands, Mountain Trails Foundation and 11 other nonprofit organizations, as well as several counties.
“We shouldn’t be sitting here with cars idling and fumes going in the air,” Rubell said. “We shouldn’t be running over the vegetation, driving the wildlife out.”
The route’s updated map and timetables can be found below or on the city’s website at parkcity.gov/departments/transit-bus.