Sedona News – On March 24, 2022, the city of Sedona launched the first phase of the Transit Implementation Plan. The new transit system, the Sedona Shuttle, began operation with routes to four of the area’s most popular trailheads: Cathedral Rock, Soldier Pass, Dry Creek and Little Horse.
Beginning service in the midst of the busy spring break season, ridership was high from the first bus out of the lot at 8 a.m. on Thursday morning. In the first four days of service, the system logged over 8,500 boardings, as thousands of hikers discovered the free, easy and eco-friendly way to explore some of Sedona’s favorite trails.
Two days before the launch, the region’s leaders gathered to celebrate the launch of the Sedona Shuttle. Speakers at the ribbon cutting event included Sedona Mayor Sandy Moriarty, City Manager Karen Osburn, U.S. Forest Service Ranger Amy Tinderholt and Sedona Chamber Interim CEO Michelle Conway. They represent the critical partnership which has made the service possible.
“The Sedona Shuttle’s trailhead routes are just the beginning of a plan to provide an array of transit services that will improve mobility for residents and visitors, reduce traffic and parking congestion and help meet the city’s sustainability goals,” said Moriarty.
Osburn stressed the fact that this is only the first step in implementing the Sedona Area Transit Implementation Plan. Service to Mescal trailhead will be added this summer, an app-based demand response service will be launched later this year and additional services are planned for the future.
The trailhead shuttles pick-up from two park and ride lots. Both parking and the shuttle ride are free. A Red Rock Pass is not required at the trailhead.
- Trailhead shuttles serving Cathedral Rock and Little Horse trailheads pick up from the North State Route (SR) 179 park and ride Lot located at 1294 SR 179.
- Service to Soldier Pass and Dry Creek trailheads operates from the Posse Grounds park and ride lot at 20 Carruth Drive in west Sedona. While the permanent lot is currently under construction, parking is available at other lots at the park.
All trailhead shuttles normally run Thursday through Sunday, from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. However, during peak visitation periods, including March 31 – April 17, 2022, the shuttles will run seven days a week. Shuttles will run frequently throughout the day (every 15 to 45 minutes).
During periods when the shuttles are running, the parking lots at the Cathedral Rock and Soldier Pass trailheads will be closed. All visitors are asked to use the shuttle to access these trailheads.
Sedona Shuttle buses are free and open to the general public, will accommodate up to 20 passengers and are wheelchair accessible. Each shuttle has a bike rack for up to three bicycles. All shuttle stops will have restroom and trash facilities. Please note that TSA currently requires that all public transit passengers wear masks while on board the vehicle. If you do not have a mask, the driver will provide one. As the rules evolve, Sedona Shuttle will comply with the latest TSA guidance.
Complete information including maps and schedules is available at www.SedonaShuttle.com. Real-time departure information will be available by downloading the TransLoc App from Google Play or the App Store.
The Sedona Shuttle is a public transit service provided by the city of Sedona.
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3 Comments
Congratulations to the city for finally implementing the start of a program to alleviate some of the traffic issues, and visitor confusion. I am assuming that our transit manager, Mr. Robert Weber had a lot to do with this launch. I had several good conversations with him, and his experience will pay off if council continues to listen to him.
Having two separate routes, South and West, keeping shuttles out of the Tlaquepaque and Cooks Hill nightmare was the only way to go. Let us hope as the system develops that this core philosophy continues.
I do have a couple of questions:
1. Why is it free? I have personalty gone to many places where transportation for tourists costs money. And so has anyone else who has traveled. Whether it is a park, an event, a ski lift for a view or in our case to great hiking trails. People come from all over the country and the world at great expense. When the choice is nowhere to park, no access to trails, or pay some small fee for an “Easy Button” – or day pass like in every major city on a Hop ON Hop OFF bus, people are glad to pay for the convenience.
Why are we giving it away? It is easy to issue a free pass to residents to use our trails and the shuttle system. In Hawaii, if you are a resident, most everything thing tourist or activity related is substantially cheaper. Just show HI driver’s license. This is not rocket science. To pay for or at least offset the operational cost is only common sense, and increases the value of the service. Want to go to the airport overlook? Costs you $3 to park for an all day pass. 100s of cars a day take advantage of the program.
Got to Breckenridge, CO. Street parking, big public lots, all cost something, reasonable, to use. It certainly is not too late to implement a smart program.
2. Why wasn’t the shuttle program put out to bid to local professionals who already have vehicles, drivers and the expertise to do it? What is it with this council that they do not want to support local businesses with this opportunity? If the local business can’t compete, or doesn’t want to bid, be transparent and show the public what you did to get the best deal for the tourists, our residents and the city budget. Note to council: It is not your money.
Recap – Mr Weber and team – nice job. Now if we can just get the walk path under the bridge on SR179 as designed and stop the Tlaquepaque nightmare – on the way to a home run.
C’mon, no one thinks this sounds like a fun day! After driving a couple of hours, eager Sedona visitors get off the 17 freeway and head toward Sedona. Having made the Sedona Cares Pledge, they are happy to drive passed the trailhead, and sit in traffic, all the way to the designated shuttle parking lot. They eventually find a place to park and unload all their gear. After standing around in the sun, they wait up to 45 min for the shuttle to arrive. Once everyone is situated on the shuttle, crammed in with 20 to 30 (hopefully) happy tourists, they’re given a mask to wear while they sit in more traffic, going back the way they just came. At the trailhead, they gather their gear and kids and service animals and disembark from the shuttle – at this point someone realizes they’ve forgotten something very important in the car. After a lot of deliberation regarding the necessity of said item, they head out on the hike, making sure to keep track of the time so they’re back at the shuttle stop before the last ride. Now everyone is exhausted, hot, and sunburned, they’ll be elated about standing around for 15-45 min, waiting for the shuttle. Excitement is no longer the word that best describes the group, as they once again gather everyone and their crap and scramble for a seat on the shuttle. The group on the shuttle, 30 smelly, tired, and hangry tourists, are about to “lose it” because they can’t leave until the lady in the back finds her mask. The shuttle is barely moving on the ride back to the parking lot because the traffic is bad once again. When the visitors finally arrive back at the parking lot, they amble off the shuttle and pack everything in the car, so they can sit in traffic to get out of town!
How is it possible that the geniuses at the City think that this is the magic potion that will solve all our traffic problems?
“In the first four days of service, the system logged over 8,500 boarding’s… the free, easy and eco-friendly…”
What a load of B.S. There’s no way they had 8,500 boarding’s! Using the numbers from the Transit Plan, 4 Shuttles at full capacity in peak season could transport approx. 18,000 passengers over a 4-day period. They want us to believe that in the first 4 days they achieved over 45% ridership. Obviously closing 2 major trails forced visitors to use the shuttles, but it’s ridiculous to quote such high numbers. They have no shame.
It’s not FREE! Someone is paying for these shuttles, drivers (they make $21.75 with full benefits and free training), tires, maintenance, masks, fuel (charging stations or diesel), shuttle parking, land for park and ride sites, City Manager’s salary and other City admins, transit administrator salary, fees to the outside contractors handling maintenance and operations, maintenance facility, and the list goes on! To be fair, the City acquired some funding from the Fed and the County, but oh, that’s right, we pay for that too! Did you all know that they raised sales tax .05% as a transit tax?
Haha, “eco-friendly”! This plan sends more cars closer to the center of town and the shuttles backtrack over the same roads multiple times a day! This is an oxymoron “big shuttle buses” and “eco-friendly”! LOL! Regardless of which type of vehicles, diesel or electric, neither have a smidgeon of Eco about them.
…And shuttles are “easy”? what a joke! See above. Ok, maybe you could stretch and call them easy, but the extra hassle and inconvenience over-ride the ease of use. Just a little clever marketing to fool tourists.
From the Transit Implementation Plan – “Access to local trailheads will improve the options for visitor mobility and access to recreational opportunities. It also may disperse hikers among lesser used trailheads and reduce impacts at some of the more popular hiking areas. There is the potential to reduce the number of cars traveling to these trailheads by 100 to 200 vehicles per day. The most likely users of these trailhead shuttles will be overnight visitors and local residents.”
We’re supposed to be impressed that the City spent millions of dollars to keep cars out of the Y and improve traffic, but as usual, they think we’re all asleep or they were hoping that no one would notice that they did the exact opposite. If you want to hike at Dry Creek or Mescal trails, you go through Cottonwood, to 89A, to Dry Creek Road. There’s no need to drive all the way to Posse Grounds and you definitely don’t have to drive through the Y, so nope, 0 trips minus 0 trips = 0 trips! If you want to hike at Cathedral or Little Horse you take 179 directly to the trailhead. I fail to see any fun in sitting in traffic all the way down to Church of the Red Rocks to park; and that’s another big donut for cars driving through the Y. This brilliant plan actually made the traffic worse on 179, those 100 to 200 vehicles per trail have to make a left turn on Bowstring into the parking lot. Better yet, the Shuttles will each make approx. 20 – 30 left turns there as well. Kudos though for one sensible solution for the Soldiers Pass gridlock, parking at Posse Grounds actually makes sense. It’s hard to justify millions of dollars and increased traffic for better access to one trailhead.
Okay local residents, how many of you are willing to fight traffic to a park and ride, so you can sit around and wait for the shuttle, so you can ride through the traffic, and do the same thing after your hike? Are any of you upset that they’ve closed trailheads to force you to use the shuttles? I realize that generally locals don’t hike (or access) these popular trails but closing parking lots to force tourists to use shuttles is only the beginning of the City’s effort to serve the tourists above the locals. You can also see that the Transportation plan (see quote above) intends to disperse the masses to lesser used trails, so they can simply spread the impact of overuse throughout all of Sedona.
Don’t get me started on the Brewer Rd traffic hub! This is despicable! This will supposedly reduce congestion at the Y! Brewer road IS STILL THE Y!! What are these people smoking?! Do they actually believe this is a good thing?
In conclusion, lest you think that I’m against public transportation and reduction of traffic and the over-use of Sedona, the original plan was to provide visitors with self-park areas at the Ranger Station in the VOC and the Cultural Park. The original plans made perfect sense and would have significantly reduced the number of cars before they enter the city. But since then, the Ranger station is not an option (I have no idea why, it’s a footnote on the transit website) and the City is trying to sell the Cultural Park to a developer, so the parking lots have been moved further into town. The Transit plan was also heavily influenced by certain local businesses, again, making it clear that they don’t give a crap about local citizens. If you read through the Transit Plan, you’ll see they ALWAYS refer to the VISITOR first, then employees and occasionally a reference is made to Residential Quality of Life, but it’s mostly an afterthought. Personally, I’m sick and tired of being treated like the ugly stepchild.
Don’t you find it interesting that the Mayor and Council are voted in by the locals, but as soon as they’re in office, they insist on taking care of the Tourists? There’s only one way to make changes and stop the Idiocracy! Please vote! Get rid of Sandy Moriarty, Scott Jablow and Jon Thompson! They need to be held directly accountable for the mess that our great city is in. They have gifted the Chamber of Commerce MILLIONS of dollars with no accountability. They are lying when they say they don’t give the chamber money to advertise, it’s semantics, they still get a ton of cash to promote tourism sustainability and education. They rarely put capital projects out for bid. Politicians always get amnesia this time of year and pretend they haven’t been creating the chaos; don’t be gullible.
But if you think everything in Sedona is hunky dory; you love sitting in horrific traffic, you don’t mind 13 off-road companies destroying our environment, if you’re all good with over-development, more hotels & resorts, if you believe that the City should be making Real Estate Investments (lying about workforce housing), if you’re willing to give the City control over your Private Property Rights, if you’ve developed your own Evacuation Plans and are prepared for Natural Disasters, and you don’t mind sub-par sewers that occasionally dump 1,000’s of gallons of raw sewage into Oak Creek, or maybe you think the City should continue to over-paying for Real Estate, if you’re happy about closed trailheads and lining up with the tourists for reservations to enjoy the popular places, then by all means, vote for the status quo.
OMG!! You may have hit the proverbial nail on the head. Simply make Sedona the worst experience they have ever had and send them back home with a permanent distaste of Red Rocks, forever on their tongues. People are right now living the scenario you paint in your last paragraph. But are they moved enough by the inconveniences to take action? That’s the big variable. Will getting rid of the incumbents change the course of Sedona? If there is an iceberg waiting ahead for Sedona can we trust the status quo to dodge it?
This election will quite an interesting one as so many are concerned with the way things are going.The candidates had best offer perspectives and solutions that make sense to all voters in the community regardless of political association. Your assessments in your essay give you away as an accomplished individual who knows how to look at things and put them to pen. clearly, and pointed.