Transportation Change
By Marco Zanetti
A fundamental transportation change needs to be made to ensure the future sustainability of our ski mountains. We have all experienced the traffic jams that ensue after a long day of epic skiing, these jams are not only inconvenient for those stuck but it also takes a large toll on the mountain and surrounding environment after years of car transportation. Using buses as the premier method of transportation is the most achievable with the help of resorts, government, and of course - the cooperation of skiers and snowboarders. Implementing more buses as the main mode of transportation into the canyons will get more vehicles off the road, improve air quality, and take pressure off the actual canyon. Save Our Canyons is actively working on a legislation bill for buses to get police escorts during peak traffic times in the canyons to pass by the congestion of vehicles. This is a perk that would incentivize people to take the bus instead of their personal cars as it would be much faster with a police escort. One bus will cost approximately half a million dollars, this may seem expensive, however, compared to its counterparts of trains or gondolas, it is a small price to pay.
Although the bus escort system will not happen right away we can start making a change now. The average vehicular occupancy going up the canyons is less than two people per car. This means that we need to double up more people to one car and make “ski carpool buddies!” Another potential option for example, is to charge one person $20 to drive up the canyon while not even charging a car of four people. The reasoning behind this is to encourage more people to travel together to improve the roads of the canyons. The overall goal is to ultimately remove the car from the equation in order to have an achievable goal with minimal capital cost. Progressing to the bus system would help improve air quality throughout the region, relieve pressure off the canyons, and reduce the need to build new amenities. The Sustainability Squad was very appreciative of Carl Fisher’s message from Save Our Canyons. He inspired us to take action and care for our mountains so that we can see a sustaining, hopeful future for the environment.