Solitude Ski Resort announced this week that they will start charging for parking this upcoming ski season. Solitude is calling it an "experiment" to see if charging $20 to park a car will reduce traffic up Big Cottonwood Canyon. It is $20 for a car with one or two people, $10 for three, and $5 for four or more. This news has certainly brought up the question as to whether other ski resorts will start charging for parking, including Park City Mountain and Deer Valley Resort. Neither resort has publicly said whether charging for parking is in their future plans, but both resorts have plans to pursue developments on the parking lots at their base areas, and build parking garages to replace those lost spaces.
Solitude's main reason for the move they say is to easy congestion in Big Cottonwood Canyon, and improve air quality in Salt Lake County. Park City officials have been searching for solutions to the traffic issues on S.R. 248 and S.R. 224 for years, which gets only gets worse on powder days. Solitude said it will not profit from the change and will use the revenue it collects from parking and provide incentives to guests who use public transit. It is almost certain that Park City Mountain and Deer Valley Resort along with Park City officials will be eyeing this roll-out of paid parking and seeing if it does get more people to ride transit. What do you think of paid parking at ski resorts in Utah?
