Vote for Utah ski bus

[snoseek]

bc there is no penalty whatsoever to booking. i only do reserve now pay later + free cancellation til the last minute. so i just need to remember to cancel. and i do. i make calendar reminders in my work calendar.

i book the days inn in rutland every summer for every weekend in the winter and just cancel it every Thursday if i am not going to use it. i lock in like $100/night when the price shoots up to like $200 a night or more as it gets closer.[

and to clarify, I'm talking about booking truckee, summit county, slc, and banff all for the same dates so i can just lock in cheap hotels and then book flights and make final decisions when we are much closer in time

Ok damn this is some next level stuff I never thought about that angle.

 

[jaytrem]

I do similar stuff. If there's even a slight possibility of a trip I book the cancelable stuff WAY in advance. Basically hotel and rental cars. Then I keep an eye on the prices and rebook if they drop. I tend to commit to specific trips earlier than Krusty though. I just like checking out different places, so don't really care who has the most snow. When using miles you can often get the flight cheapest when they first schedule them. In the past I've noticed United would usually have 4 seats available for 12,500 (one way) when booking is initially available.

Playing the credit card game also saves crap loads of money. I typically get a new card every 6 months, and cancel around a year in before any fees arrive. More frequently than that and it could mess with your credit score (or so I've been told). Can also do the same for your spouse and double the amount of tax free free money. Note: don't get a card for you spouse on your account and vice versa, a few years ago they started looking at that and rejecting applications more frequently. Anyway, if you have the ability to be organized, I highly recommend it. I've been doing it for over 25 years, no reason to stop now.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

yea i wouldnt be opening and closing credit accounts that can be really bad for your credit

and agreed re: rebooking - i booked my car for my Idaho trip way in advance for like $700 and it dropped to $500 as the trip got closer. just gotta stay on top of it.

 

[jaytrem]

yea i wouldnt be opening and closing credit accounts that can be really bad for your credit

My credit score is ALWAYS well above 800. As I said, been doing this for 25 years. Just gotta do it right, no more than 1 card every 6 months. It's not for everyone, but if you can be organized it's free $$$. Also, it can actually increase your credit score. Just need to understand how credit scores work, but I'm not going to get into that.

 

[jimk]

Pro-gondola mailings come regularly to my son's mailbox here in SLC. Latest one says this about buses in LCC:

- data suggests most who prefer buses also have no intention of using them
- proposed bus solution is just more of what we have now
- the cost to taxpayers to operate a bus system is more than the gondola operations
- road widening plans will permanently destroy 50 acres in the canyon, gondola will displace 2 acres
- bus solution requires 48 buses in the canyon passing every 75 seconds
- resorts are the destination of more than 86% of LCC traffic year-round (annual avgs. 2018-2020)
- gondola solution would not require widening Wasatch Blvd or LCC road

While there seems to be a lot of local, grassroots opposition to the gondola in Utah, I'm told that some of the politicos and local power brokers are for it. So we shall see?

 

[thetrailboss]

Pro-gondola mailings come regularly to my son's mailbox here in SLC. Latest one says this about buses in LCC:

- data suggests most who prefer buses also have no intention of using them
- proposed bus solution is just more of what we have now
- the cost to taxpayers to operate a bus system is more than the gondola operations
- road widening plans will permanently destroy 50 acres in the canyon, gondola will displace 2 acres
- bus solution requires 48 buses in the canyon passing every 75 seconds
- resorts are the destination of more than 86% of LCC traffic year-round (annual avgs. 2018-2020)
- gondola solution would not require widening Wasatch Blvd or LCC road

While there seems to be a lot of local, grassroots opposition to the gondola in Utah, I'm told that some of the politicos and local power brokers are for it. So we shall see?

I imagine that this material was paid for by Mr. McCandless. Is he going to donate the land at LaCaille towards this noble cause? I didn't think so.

 

[raisingarizona]

Who pays for added lanes or a train? The ski resorts? User fees like a toll? I cant see the taxpayers in Utah being onboard with a giant project that most of them don't use

Well you could look at this in two different ways. One would be no way would I want my tax dollars going towards helping rich white people go recreate (skiing) up in the mountains or another way it's part of an effort to reduce emissions in a valley that is clearly struggling with them, create a better environment for residents and future generations and increase the overall quality of life and probably even increase property values.

A train system shouldn't stop in the Canyons imho, have it connect the city, airport, etc. and begin to chisel away at the car culture and need to even have one.

The smog is real in SLC and it's going to have to be addressed and dealt with at some point.

 

[ss20]

Well you could look at this in two different ways. One would be no way would I want my tax dollars going towards helping rich white people go recreate (skiing) up in the mountains or another way it's part of an effort to reduce emissions in a valley that is clearly struggling with them, create a better environment for residents and future generations and increase the overall quality of life and probably even increase property values.

A train system shouldn't stop in the Canyons imho, have it connect the city, airport, etc. and begin to chisel away at the car culture and need to even have one.

The smog is real in SLC and it's going to have to be addressed and dealt with at some point.

Funny you mention the car culture. The light rail/street car system here is clean, modern, cheap, and efficient. I take it into SLC whenever there's a big event or I'm planning on having more than a couple drinks on a night out. That said.... the system is MASSIVELY underutilized. I frequent one of the "hub" stations.... train to slc and ski bus stop there. I have never seen the parking lot more than 10% full. Weekend, weekday, AM, PM.... just hundreds of surface lots sitting unused. The next station is even less utilized... to the point where I just noticed the UTA is using it to stage piles of gravel/dirt for whatever they're doing. Honestly it is pretty painful to see this public good go so unused. I love it and for $2.50/way vs gas pushing $4.40/gallon here it's probably cheaper than if I were to drive my car into downtown.

And the train does connect to the SLC airport, and you could take it to connect to the ski busses.

 

[jimk]

Never tried the SLC light rail/street car system, but see it often running. Don't know its usage history. But I used to use the subway in Wash DC a lot. I know the pandemic crushed its ridership numbers. Could take decades to get back to the volume of riders it used to have!

 

[ss20]

Never tried the SLC light rail/street car system, but see it often running. Don't know its usage history. But I used to use the subway in Wash DC a lot. I know the pandemic crushed its ridership numbers. Could take decades to get back to the volume of riders it used to have!

I'm sure covid has reduced ridership.... but all the Metro-North stops (nyc commuter rail) were back at near-normal volume by the time I left CT in November 2021. Which means overflowing street parking by 9am on a weekday at some of the busier stations. Even my local station of Bethel, CT which I drove by most of my work days was 30-40% full... pretty similar to what it was pre-Covid (it's an awful 2.25 hour train ride to NYC from there...hence the low ridership... the main line 20 minutes away is where you'll see street parking and overflowing lots).

 

[ss20]

Never tried the SLC light rail/street car system, but see it often running. Don't know its usage history. But I used to use the subway in Wash DC a lot. I know the pandemic crushed its ridership numbers. Could take decades to get back to the volume of riders it used to have!

Interestingly enough Google has yielded some open data on the UTA and ridership. https://rideuta.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/43fc692872714c418a83343f481c2e99

November averaged 160,000 riders systemwide for non-covid years. It was 95k in 2021. March averages 150k riders no Covid... back to 102k now. So you are correct Covid certainly has had an effect, but it seems like the system was still way over-capacity pre-covid given the conditions I see now, even if ridership is 60-70% of what it once was.

 

[raisingarizona]

NYC is a completely different scene than SLC as far as using mas transit vs. personal autos.

 

[thetrailboss]

Officials blast Little Cottonwood gondola as ‘boondoggle,’ call on UDOT to start over with canyon plan

Local Salt Lake County leaders raise serious misgivings about a gondola proposed for Little Cottonwood Canyon that would ferry skiers up the ever-congested canyon to Alta and Snowbird.

www.sltrib.com

 

[ss20]

Officials blast Little Cottonwood gondola as ‘boondoggle,’ call on UDOT to start over with canyon plan

Local Salt Lake County leaders raise serious misgivings about a gondola proposed for Little Cottonwood Canyon that would ferry skiers up the ever-congested canyon to Alta and Snowbird.

www.sltrib.com

I'm pretty sure we'll still be debating this 10 years down the road with nothing done. I too, would like UDOT to restart. I think just adding a center lane that can run uphill during the AM and be switched to downhill in the PM would've cost half as much as the other proposals and be a viable solution.

“Rather than rip up the canyon with a half-a-billion-dollar price tag, let’s invest in common-sense solutions. Parking hubs in the valley, electric busing with regular routes, carpooling and tolling, reservations, common-sense solutions that are fiscally sound. Gondolas and wider roads are going to be built around the world, but God will not create any more canyons for us.”

This is pretty much where I'm at. With parking reservations we're close to a solution with little steps. More busses that are cheaper, an Alta Express bus, traffic lights at Snowbird entries 1 and 2 akin to those on highway ramps that limit merging, and better staging on avi road closure mornings.

I should just copy/paste this post from now on lol. I feel like I've written this a dozen times over and still dozens more to go.

 

[thetrailboss]

How much will UDOT’s Little Cottonwood traffic solutions really cost?

Opponents say maintenance, inflation, a Superfund site and earthquake mitigation could turn the estimated $592 million gondola into a $1 billion project.

www.deseret.com

 

[raisingarizona]

How much will UDOT’s Little Cottonwood traffic solutions really cost?

Opponents say maintenance, inflation, a Superfund site and earthquake mitigation could turn the estimated $592 million gondola into a $1 billion project.

www.deseret.com

I wonder what the costs will be if nothing is accomplished? It goes beyond the price tags of managing the problems, looking the other way is not going to work either. But shoot, if that lake dries up the experts are predicting that simply living in that city will no longer be tolerable or safe for people and the skiing or snowfall totals will never be like they used to be. Locals there are still getting bummed about 400 or 350 inch winters. I wouldn't be surprised if 250-350 becomes the new normal for the Wasatch in another ten or 15 years. 250 inch season are really going to shrink the skiable acreage in the resorts boundary footprints.

Get it while you still can ladies and gents. Things are not looking good if you want it to remain like the good ole days.

 

[ss20]

To me, more surprising in the article was the expected fares. $15 for a gondola ticket!?!?!????? If people already don't ride the bus for $5 each way why would they pay $15 for a roundtrip ticket on the gondola?? And $25-$30 for a private vehicle up the road? Sheesh. We need to decrease road demand a bit...slightly...this seems draconian to me. $30 to take a car up LCC on a random Tuesday in March is bullshit, as is $60 in gondola tickets everyday for a family of 4.

 

[thetrailboss]

Who owns the land for the proposed Little Cottonwood Canyon gondola station?

In September, Snowbird quietly bought 5 acres of land at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon where state officials proposed a base station could be built for a gondola to take riders to the legendary ski resort and neighboring Alta.

www.sltrib.com

Spoiler alert

In September, Snowbird quietly bought 5 acres of land at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon where state officials proposed a base station could be built for a gondola to take riders to the legendary ski resort and neighboring Alta.

 

[raisingarizona]

Is it a shady self serving move or a conservation effort to help alleviate pressures on the Canyon and positive visitor experience?

Personally it doesn't bother me at all and the article could be written in different ways depending on the journalists opinions or goals for reader reaction.

 

[drjeff]

Or maybe some thinking down the road if SLC gets awarded another Winter Olympics.... We'll let you lease the land for the gondola base terminal, if inturn we (Snowbird) gets to host the premiere Alpine Speed events for the games, like they were originally supposed to do for the 2002 games before various environmental groups put forth enough legal challenges that the organizing committee made the choice to move the speed events to Snowbasin, which without a doubt was a GREAT thing for Snowbasin and made them a resort people want to go to with all of the infrastrcuture that was put in for the games.