Tips to help you get around Park City during the Sundance Film Festival

PARK CITY, Utah (ABC4 News) – The Sundance Film Festival officially kicks off Thursday night in Park City. The event brings in approximately 124,000 visitors, which can make getting around difficult. Here are some tips to make your commute easier.

The best way to get around is to use Park City’s free public transit system.

“This is my first time at Sundance and I think they have a great transit system,” said Kostas Poulakidas, who is visiting from Canada. “There’s just not a lot of parking spaces available and it’s hard to find.”

Transportation Director Alfred Knotts said bus drivers put in long hours this time of year to help ease the congestion on the roads. He recommends utilizing one of their six free park-and-lots in the area.

“I would call it a Utah Mardi Gras almost,” said Knotts. “There’s a lot of activity. It goes long into the evening and into the night and starts early as well. On those first few days, it can be rather congested all the way down to Park Avenue, which goes all the way down to Deer Valley Drive.”

If you decide to drive, the price to park your car in nearby parking lots is $40. Knotts recommends carpooling if you must drive.

“We base it on essentially a supply and demand model. The $40 price will drop down on Monday to $5 an hour with a maximum of $25 per day. That is to encourage people who may not be going to Sundance Festival that really want to go back to Main Street to go shopping and go to the restaurants,” said Knotts.

City officials will also have traffic control to keep non-resident drivers from going through or parking in their smaller neighborhood roads.

“What we are trying to do is mitigate the impacts of the Old Town residents,” said Knotts. “That means keeping people on the primary roads because we’ve had a lot of snow the past couple of days and some of them still need to be cleared.”

You can also sign up for Park City’s alert system to receive more information about any emergencies, transportation alerts, or other critical information texting FILMFEST to 888777.

For more information, click here.