Alta Ski Resort will be offering preferred parking spots on select days to skiers who carpool up the canyon. The program is part of a study through the University of Utah's Environmental and Sustainability Studies program in partnership with the Alta Environmental Center.
Maura Olivos is the sustainability coordinator and ecologist at the Alta Environmental Center. She says through the study they hope to get better understanding of guests' habits for possible future parking needs.
“We do have a carpool incentive program for our employees that come up here because we really want to reduce the number of cars taken,” says Olivos.
She says the study originated with the internship program at the University’s Social and Behavior Science Department.
“Hopefully, from whatever they find out with both the testing of the carpooling and the survey," says Olivos, "we’ll be able to get a really good view from our customers as to what they like and don’t like.”
Olivos says Alta has appreciated its long standing relationship with the U of U.
The test program is only for the Wildcat Base parking area. It begins next week and runs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays as well as those same days in the first two weeks of March. The student leading the study is Mackenzie Epperson-Valum.
