Tram begins parking fee "education"

[Perry]

A better one might have been to expand the free parking at the visitor's center, and have a shuttle service between there and the tram station

A shuttle from the visitor center is a GREAT idea! That would also enable access to the tram via public transportation.

-Florian

That's gotta be the best solution to all of this. People would save a little on gas and vehicle wear. It would also make it easier to get an early start on Skyline and get back to the Museum.

[cynthia23]

I agree also that a shuttle from the Visitor's Center is an excellent idea and would make the tram much more accessible to everyone, including those without cars. It would be a very eco-friendly idea. The only problem I can see is 'hiding' the parking lot, which would need to be much larger. It's important that the beautiful vista of the Chino Cone and Albert-Frey-designed visitor's center--the first thing many tourists entering Palm Springs see--not be overwhelmed by the ugly sight of a hundreds of parked cars. But there should be a way to do this.

Norris--alas, the city of Palm Springs does not get a dime from the operation of the tram. If only! The tram is a privately owned corporate concession. I don't know where the headquarters are but nowhere near around here.

Hi Florian--don't want to go off-topic here, but my concern about earthquakes and the tram is not so much about the tram towers (though i wouldn't volunteer to be on them during the Big One!) but post-Big One, when hundreds, perhaps thousands, of tourists will find themselves stranded at the top of the Tram for what could be many days or even weeks. (after a major earthquake, it would be impossible to send people back down on the tram, even if it seemed to operational--it would need to be inspected by engineers first. In the chaotic aftermath of a huge earthquake, that would surely take many days. And it seems quite possible the towers would in fact be damaged.) What scares me is that the Tram DOES NOT have sufficent water, food, or heat to keep several hundred people alive for a week or more. A ranger informally told me that their 'plan' is to 'walk people out to Idyllwild" in an extended emergency. Really? Eight miles? Maybe in the snow? With no gear, food, packs? Grandmas in flip-flops, babies, fat people, the disabled?

Like I said, they HAVE NO PLAN.

[guest]

Hi,
There was only one car ahead of me today, Sat at the PT (parking turd), oh, I mean parking booth around 8am, I was given my Cougar lot slip by security & off I went, (nice gentle rain on & off, low 50's at peak, some wind, 2 deer, plenty of campers, boy scouts, people taking selfies at peak......).

On the way down around 1pm, there were 5 cars, and immediately a dozen more followed to wait. 2 tram operators mentioned the radio were going crazy with problems, questions etc. from PB (parking booth). New parking attendants working PT on way down.

I[i] [i]understand the tram to be a quasi gvmt. agency:[/i]
he Authority was created by the Mount San Jacinto Winter Park Authority
Act Ch.1040 of the Statutes of 1945, as amended by
Ch.70 of the Statutes of 1947 and Ch.1004 of the Statutes of 1951, of the
State of Calif.[/i]

I'm sure the tram has considered the shuttle idea from the bottom, and there must be reasons for not implementing it. For example, they would need many shuttles, since it's a 15+ min. drive for heavier vehicles, plus wear & tear, but also, liability, (a bus has already crashed on the decent).

I've heard that they won't charge pass holders for parking, but we'll see on that.

[Hikin_Jim]

It does seem like they have come up with the worst possible solution to the parking problem. A better one might have been to expand the free parking at the visitor's center, and have a shuttle service between there and the tram station, with a simple fee like a dollar per passenger for the shuttle.

A shuttle from the bottom is a SENSATIONAL, FANTASTIC idea. Here, here!

HJ

[cynthia23]

Yes, it does seem like a really good idea and I hope somebody up there--or down here-further explores it. However, as Guest rightly pointed out, it wouldn't be as simple as it seems. They couldn't use the existing shuttle buses because they're really not at all safe for longer journeys--it would take ten minutes or so from the visitor's center. As Guest reminds us, some years ago there was a horrific bus accident on the tram road with fatalities, and I believe it was a girl scout troup. Safety and liability would be issues. So they'd need to buy some real buses, insure them, hire real bus drivers with licenses, and of course gas them up. Also they'd need to run them fairly frequently. None of this would be cheap. Still, I can't help but think funding could be found from public sources, because this would obviously decrease private driving and increase public access to the park. Right now there is no public transportation up there. I don't understand why this isn't more of a scandal, nor do I understand why a private entity (the tram) is allowed to essentially wholly control access by charging exorbitant fees.

[neverwashasbeen]

Did a small test of my own today. I was dropped off at the lower Tram station this afternoon and then later picked up. No issues.