What to Know About New Parking Requirements and the Easiest Ways to Get Around This Winter – NTCA
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What to Know About New Parking Requirements and the Easiest Ways to Get Around This Winter

Sat | Jan 6, 2024

What to Know About New Parking Requirements and the Easiest Ways to Get Around This Winter

Recently, the Mountaineer Celebrated its Fifth Anniversary and Impact and Influence on Lake Tahoe’s Transportation Solutions. The cumulative effort of all Tahoe/Truckee microtransit services lakewide has provided rides to over 1,269,235 passengers (from December 1, 2018 through Nov. 28, 2023).

Learn more about transportation options this winter below.

Whether headed to work, running errands, or going to a favorite place to recreate, sitting in traffic will undoubtedly put a damper on the experience. That’s why public and private entities in North Lake Tahoe are all focused on finding and implementing ways to reduce traffic congestion throughout the region. This winter, new and untested programs, as well as long-standing initiatives will be used to try to help solve our traffic, parking and transportation problems.

For them to work, it will require active use and participation by residents, visitors, local businesses and their employees. Our cumulative efforts to make use of parking reservations, park and ride, carpooling, and free public transportation options has the potential to make a difference for us all.

Here’s what to know about new parking management and reservation requirements and the easiest ways to get around this winter:

Resorts Implement New Parking Reservation Requirements

To help ease traffic congestion on area roadways and elongate the arrival times of resort guests during peak periods, both Northstar California and Palisades Tahoe will require parking reservations on weekends and holidays before 1 p.m. While some are paid, many are free.

Learn more about resort-specific parking plans and be sure to book parking reservations in advance; there are penalties for parking without a reservation when they are required:

Additionally, be aware that Placer County has been contracted to conduct parking enforcement within the Olympic Valley, Alpine Meadows, and Northstar communities to discourage unauthorized parking on residential streets and where parking reservations are required. Vehicles without valid resort parking reservations will be cited, and fine amounts will escalate for each additional violation. Find the fee schedule here.

Free On-Demand Microtransit Services Are Offered Daily

On the North and West Shores from Incline Village to Tahoma, TART Connect offers free, on-demand door-to-door shuttle service daily from 8 a.m. to midnight starting December 14. No transfer is needed in Carnelian Bay to connect to other zones, and shuttles are dog-friendly and have ski racks. Book rides using the TART Connect app or by calling (530) 553-0653.

To get from lakeside communities to Northstar or Palisades Tahoe, TART Connect riders can transfer to mainline TART buses which run routes to the resorts hourly. View route schedules online and download the Transit app for real-time arrival estimates. This is a great way to get to the resorts if you don’t have a parking reservation!

In Olympic Valley and Alpine Meadows, Mountaineer’s free on-demand service will operate with 9-passenger, dog-friendly vans equipped with ski/snowboard racks between December 8, 2023 and April 7, 2024 as follows:

  • Daily in Olympic Valley from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., with service until 2 a.m. during WinterWonderGrass (April 5-7, 2024). Early morning service will also be offered beginning at 5 a.m. for the World Cup, Feb. 22-25, 2024.
  • Thursday through Monday in Alpine Meadows from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., with additional service offered on Tuesday and Wednesdays from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Dec. 19-20, Dec. 26-27, 2023 and Feb. 20–21, 2024.
  • Daily between Olympic Valley and Alpine Meadows from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Passengers can request rides through the Mountaineer app, which is free to download in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. Inter-valley transportation will continue to be provided between the two Palisades Tahoe base areas by the Base to Base Gondola, which operates daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Carpool and Use Free Winter Park & Ride Service

This season, Palisades Tahoe and Northstar California have teamed up with the Truckee North Tahoe Transportation Management Association to offer free Park & Ride shuttles from locations in Truckee and Tahoe City on weekends:

To get to Palisades Tahoe, park at either:

To get to Northstar California, park at:

Choose Park & Ride to avoid parking reservations, cut down on fuel emissions and save some money at the gas pump!

Other Ways to Get Around

Heading to Palisades Tahoe from the West Shore on the weekend? The resort will resume its seasonal Sherwood Shuttle for those traveling to the resort from the West Shore this winter. Set to begin operations on weekends when the Sherwood lift starts spinning on the Alpine side of the resort, guests will be able to park in the Sunnyside lot and catch a free shuttle to the back side of Alpine. Weather and conditions permitting, the first shuttle leaves at 8:30 a.m. and the last shuttle returns at 4 p.m. Ticket, pass, or confirmation of a pre-purchased lift ticket is required to ride. Check here for schedule updates.