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Environmental

SNOWBIRD RIDE PROGRAM:

IMPROVING AIR QUALITY

ONE PERSON AT A TIME

BY RACHEL WALKER

AMERICANS MIGHT LOVE THEIR CARS, but ski bums might Battling the Red Snake
just love the prospect of an early lift ride even more than they Renowned for deep cold powder, the resorts in Little
love driving. So it seems at Utah’s Snowbird Ski and Summer and Big Cottonwood canyons are bucket list destina-
Resort, where a new program designed to reward people for tions for skiers and riders of every stripe. But the “red
carpooling and taking public transit, has had impressive results. snake,” i.e., the bumper-to-bumper traffic that can crawl
RIDE (Reducing Individual Driving for the up the canyons from Salt Lake City, threatens not only
Environment) has gained a lot of traction since Snowbird to undermine the winter experience but also exacerbate
launched the program this past season, and the chance to the pollution problem in the region. Salt Lake’s winter air
win prizes—including an “Early-Up” ride on the Gadzoom quality, attributed mostly to vehicle emissions and weather
chair 45 minutes before the resort opens—has undoubtedly patterns that trap polluted air in the valley, is so poor at
contributed to its success. But while visions of first tracks times that it garners national attention.
and other rewards certainly have their allure, there’s another Over the years, long-term options identified in Utah’s
compelling incentive: helping to reduce traffic congestion Unified Transportation Plan to reduce traffic congestion
and keep the air cleaner in and around one of the country’s in Little Cottonwood Canyon have included bus transit
most popular, and pristine, ski resort environments. improvements and possible train transit options, tunnels,
So far, with word spreading at the resort, on social media, rideshare programs, and paid parking, to name a few.
and through employees explaining the program to Snowbird Arens and her team decided to focus on what changes
visitors, RIDE has exceeded all expectations, said Hilary Arens, they could help make, hence the idea for RIDE... and
the resort’s director of Water Resources and Environmental not a moment too soon. With skier visits in Utah sky-
Programs. Neighboring ski areas in both Little Cottonwood rocketing (Ski Utah, an industry trade group, estimates
Canyon and Big Cottonwood Canyon have joined in the effort the state’s skier visits at 4 million annually), Snowbird
too, each with their own customized incentives. was motivated to help make a change in people’s driving
That collective effort has made for a considerable reduc- habits, Arens said.
tion in traffic congestion and emissions in and around “We want to educate our guests and employees, improve
Salt Lake City and the canyons, said Arens, the architect air quality, and work to reduce traffic, and people can agree
of RIDE. As of the end of March, the program has helped that these are important things to tackle,” she said.
prevent about 840,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from Geraldine Link, NSAA’s director of public policy, says
releasing into the atmosphere this season. That’s the equiv- that Snowbird’s RIDE program is unprecedented given its
alent of not consuming 43,000 gallons of gasoline, or the comprehensive nature. “RIDE will serve as an excellent
same amount of energy to power 40 houses for a year. model for other resorts for many years to come,” Link said.
“I feel like we are changing the air quality one carpooler “This program can be scalable to fit the needs and specifica-
and one bus rider at a time,” Arens said. tions of other ski areas.”

6 | NSAA JOURNAL | CONVENTION 2017