PSA: Use Google Maps for busing information instead of the Park City Transit MyStop Mobile App
I still wouldn’t call myself a busing convert, but I had another good experience today. Today I took the Electric Express Bus from the KJ Transit Center to Old Town. There I caught a bus directly to Deer Valley. It probably took 10 more minutes than if I would have driven on my own, but it probably was a wash because the bus dropped me off at Snow Park Lodge (versus walking from the Lot 4 or 5 at DV). The fact the the Electric Express bus comes every 10 minutes makes it work. Without that, there is no way I would be on a bus.
One of the things that became clear, though, is that unless you’re a regular, figuring out which bus to take is a chore. On my way back I ran into a father and son from Boston. They were trying to head back to PCMR from Main Street. They had found their way to the Old Town Transit Center but barely. Four people had given them bad directions on how to get back to PCMR. I pulled out the trusty MyStop Mobile app and found they could take at the red bus or they could hop on the Electric Express Bus. The red bus would take them directly there, but it wasn’t coming for a while (and they would leant to make sure they were catching it on the way back to PCMR and not to Deer Valley). The Electric Express, coming in a minute, would drop them at Freshies and they would have to walk across the street about 3 minutes to PCMR.
The father and son hopped on the Electric Express with me but the bus driver had overheard the conversation. She said they should take Red Bus. They asked when it would arrive and she said in 5-10 minutes. They got off and I presume waited. Three minutes later those of us still on the Electric Express stopped at Fresh Market. They would have probably saved themselves 10 minutes on the express, or maybe more, but overall I hope it worked out.
So, I’m not a bus guy. I don’t know what best in class is in terms of bus timetables. What I do know is that for someone like me, figuring out the bus is hard. I would say that many people I rode with on the bus today would agree that it’s hard to figure out which bus to take. I’ve tried to use the MyStop Mobile app (pushed by Park City Transit) and it is good at showing you where buses are and telling you how late they are. But if you want to figure out which bus to take and when, good luck — at least from my experience.
With that in mind, I would recommend using Google Maps. Plug in your starting point and destination. Choose the public transport icon and it will tell you exactly what buses to take (by number and color). It will even tell you when you will probably arrive. Iif you are trying to figure out “how do I get from here to there,” it seems invaluable. It’ll also tell you what the cost and time would be with Lyft (hopefully similar to local transportation companies), so you can compare.
If you are looking for something to help you figure out how to use the bus effectively, we’d strongly suggest you give Google Maps a try.
Parkrag
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Comments
3 Comments
You are absolutely right about the MyStop app. It focusses on bus routes, but most people don’t care about bus routes – they care about journeys. They want to go from point A to point B, and the particular bus routes are relevant only insofar as they help a person get from A to B. The google maps app is set up exactly the right way, and is far more useful as a result. Over the years, I’ve mastered the PC bus system and find it tolerably convenient. It only comes to my neighborhood 7 months a year, so I am not a full time user.
The electric express is by far the most useful of the routes, as it’s an express and it’s frequent. Those factors – speed and frequency – are the key to successful public transportation. And dedicated bus lanes would allow the bus to be fast no matter what the traffic conditions.
They are working on dedicated bus lanes on both 224 and 248, but that will take a while. UDOT owns both state highways. They need a plan, impact studies and of course, money.
Park City and the county were able to extend the bus use of the shoulders along 224. This winter it goes both directions (which is new) and further into town. That is about the best that can be done without some pretty serious construction, but that is in the works.
It’s been interesting taking the bus over the past few days. It has been a positive experience. Yesterday afternoon I went to Deer Valley and left just after the torchlight parade ended. Getting out of DV on the bus was a nightmare (as it was for everyone)… but after the roundabout it was like the traffic disappeared. I’m not sure if it is the lack of snow and maybe people from SLC are staying away…but the traffic heading out to Jeremy hasn’t seemed as bad as in past years.
That said, I think town needs a traffic solution… and since there isn’t any room for bus lanes (It seems PC basically bottlenecks at key choke points) … something out of the box needs to be done. Maybe that Gondola that Bob Wheaton was talking about a few years ago from Snow Park to Main Street would help? Maybe gondolas everywhere in town? Maybe, shut down all the roads during events (like Zions… and bring in more buses). Or we just accept that traffic sucks.
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