With fresh snow on the mountains heading into last weekend, vehicle after vehicle sat along Highway 267.

That large storm meant the highways leading to the area’s larger ski areas like Northstar California Resort and Palisades Tahoe were packed with skiers and riders eager to get on the mountain — several of whom took to social media to vent frustrations about sitting in vehicles for upward of an hour.

While the problem of congestion on Tahoe’s roadways is complex, local public transportation districts are pushing to get some of the vehicles off roadways in an effort to increase ridership during winter months.

---

---

“Skiers never have to worry about parking, drivers don’t have to navigate the ice and snow. Our free services are better for you and for Tahoe,” said Tahoe Transportation District Manager Carl Hasty in a news release. “TakeTahoeTransit is a unifying message that all of our partners at the lake can get behind. There are options when it comes to getting around and we’ll help you find them.”

The district, which operates routes in South Tahoe and the East Shore, on Monday launched its #TahoeTahoeTransit winter campaign to encourage visitors and locals to park their vehicles and make use of the transportation services offered by providers around the Truckee-Tahoe area.

---

---

The Tahoe Transportation District is inviting any businesses and organizations to visit the campaign website and download the free social media toolkit to join in the movement and use the artwork and content on their own social channels. Riders are encouraged to post pictures of their trip on any of Tahoe’s public transportation services to their Facebook or Instagram account with #TakeTahoeTransit.

“We can all do our part to help preserve Tahoe. Using public transit is one of them — and it’s free,” added Hasty.

PROGRAM DETAILS

In Truckee and North Tahoe, Tahoe Truckee Area Regional Transportation will launch its winter park and ride program on Jan 1. Riders can park their vehicles in Truckee at the high school, at the Truckee Tahoe Airport parking lot, or at the Tahoe City Public Transit Center and get free transportation to Northstar or Olympic Valley. The program runs on weekends, and President’s Day, through March 20. Services began at 6:20 a.m. and last until 6:28 p.m., depending on location.

Beginning this month, Tahoe Truckee Area Regional Transportation mainline routes will provide daily, 30-minute service in North Tahoe, hourly service in Incline Village and along the West Shore. Service also includes from Highway 267 to Northstar and Truckee; as well as a connection from Highway 89 to Tahoe City, Olympic Valley, and Truckee.

Additionally, Tahoe Truckee Area Regional Transportation’s winter Connect service in North Tahoe began earlier this month, offering free curb-to-curb services and connections and offers service to Northstar and Olympic Valley.

For more information, visit http://www.tahoetruckeetransit.com.

Justin Scacco is a staff writer with the Sierra Sun. He can be reached at jscacco@sierrasun.com