Solitude, UT Says Parking Reservations Were Successful This Season

Solitude's neighbors—Brighton Resort and the Town of Brighton—adopted similar measures.

Solitude hasn't relied on parking reservations to curtail traffic alone. The resort gave Solitude pass holders and Ikon Pass holders complimentary Utah Transit Authority (UTA) Ski Bus access, encouraging the use of public transportation (this program has existed for several years). The resort funded more than 60,000 guest ski bus rides this winter, although it noted demand for these buses still outpaces supply.

The parking reservation system was a long time coming.

Jeff Carroll, Solitude's VP of Marketing & Guest Experiences, drives to the resort most winter days. Before the parking reservation system, he explained that the drive up Big Cottonwood Canyon to Solitude from the edge of Salt Lake City—which "should take 20 minutes"—could be an hour and a half slog when demand spiked. Traffic-spurred closures of the Canyon weren't uncommon.

"The number one piece of feedback we've been hearing over the last few years has been: 'You have to do something about Canyon traffic,'" said Carroll.

During the 2019-2020 ski season, Solitude first tried to combat the congestion with a paid parking system, hoping that more skiers would take up carpooling.

The move proved controversial among some skiers. "The comments we got online that were most public, social media, responses to our emails, were largely negative," said Carroll. One of the complaints we often got was—and we still get—that [paid] parking is a cash grab."

Paid parking, it turned out, also didn't alleviate Solitude's traffic problem. While vehicle occupancy numbers increased (the more people carpool, the less full the resort's lot is), more than 500 vehicles were still barred from entering the resort's lot on peak days due to a lack of parking.

"It was beyond frustrating for people to spend that much time in their vehicle, get to Solitude, and learn that there was no available parking," Carroll said. Plus, those 500 or so vehicles created more unnecessary Canyon congestion.

According to Solitude, the introduction of reservations, alongside the pre-existing paid parking program, has effectively reduced congestion.

Carroll said that—as long as the road conditions weren't "nasty"—his frequent Solitude commutes weren't longer than 45 minutes this winter. Unlike previous years, the Canyon never closed due to traffic congestion.

The program also allowed the resort to fund further transportation initiatives. Portions of its revenue go towards funding UTA Ski Bus trips for pass holders and bussing options for employees, which Carroll and Solitude cite as a rebuttal to those who view paid parking and reservations as a "cash grab."

Despite some naysayers, a recent Instagram post from the resort—which focused on parking reservations—indicated that the new system had succeeded in the eyes of many local Solitude fans.

"Great choice. The canyon experience was infinitely better this year," read one of the comments shared below the post. Another wrote that having to pay for parking "sucks," but they appreciated the benefits of reservations.

Overall, Carroll believes the community's perception of paid parking and parking reservations has generally improved this season. 

It was the "first time, I think, since 2019 that we've posted anything about parking on our social media feeds [where] the comments have been largely positive," he said, referencing the recent Instagram update.

Next winter, Solitude plans to tweak its traffic-control measures further by increasing the number of season parking passes and reducing the cost of weekday parking, among other changes.

To read Solitude's complete parking reservation wrap-up, click here.