Public Transportation is part of Jackson Hole Ski Culture

In ski towns all around the West, mornings often begin with little cluster of people, holding skis and poles or a snowboard, making small talk, waiting on snowy streetcorners and sidewalks for the bus to take them to the ski hill. In Jackson, it’s no different: the START Bus is part of winter life and tradition, as all around the valley, local residents wait for the bright blue outline of START to roll past. They board the bus gear in hand – and a coffee if they’re talented – say hi to friendly faces, chat snow conditions, make plans, grab a copy of the Jackson Hole Daily left on the seat and peruse the local news. When the bus pulls up to Jackson Hole Mountain Resort – closer to the tram than any parking lot – the riders spill out and get on with another good day in the mountains.

For visitors, if there’s one key component to a memorable adventure, it’s immersion in the culture and daily lifestyle of the people and place you’re visiting. While mountain towns all have unique aspects, they share strong common threads – such as when and how local public transit speaks to navigating mountain town life, values, and is an unexpected hub of integration and connection with the community.

The bus fosters its own version of camaraderie, where young and old alike, families with small children, friends, and solo riders settle in for the ride, whether the destination is the tram, an office, the grocery store, or Nordic skiing on the Snake River dike. This is how you skip staring at taillights in traffic, parking hassles, fuel and parking costs. For visitors, it’s a great realization that a rental isn’t just an unnecessary expense, but the bus is a far more lively, enriching way to immerse into a slice of Jackson’s version of mountain town culture.

It also offers an easy way to help uphold the legacy of environmental stewardship of the wild surroundings around town: the bus is part of the solution in reducing traffic, both for congestion and the fact these roads cut through important wildlife habitat. Fewer cars help wintering moose, elk, mule deer, and others move around more safely.

And it’s not just skiing or grocery runs anymore: the newest, long-awaited route is between town and the airport, a straight, 10 mile shot. For residents, returning home from a trip in the past sometimes involved milling around the baggage claim looking for other local faces to catch a ride to town. (That was in order to avoid the often-tremendous costs of a taxi or rideshare.) But now that the bus runs hourly between town and the airport, such antics are no longer needed: a hundred or so feet from where you lugged your bags off the carousel is the bus to town. Those in the know roll on out and hop on for the straight 10 mile shot into downtown Jackson, where you can get another bus, a (much) cheaper taxi, or discover the START On-Demand ride service to your final destination  – so you can unpack, rest up, and be at the bus stop in the morning – skis, poles, and coffee in hand.

Feel smart, feel local, and welcome to Jackson Hole.