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Winter Transportation Options

Avoid the parking and traffic hassle, while doing your part to Keep Tahoe Blue

Tahoe Region

As long as Tahoe attracts big crowds, the Lake is threatened by traffic impacts.

Stormwater pollution from roads and urban areas is the biggest threats to Lake Tahoe’s clarity. Auto emissions fuel climate change which is driving longer droughts and more extreme wildfires, destabilizing the Lake’s natural ecology, and making room for harmful invasive species to move in. Tires are likely to be a significant source of microplastic pollution in our Lake.

Do your part to Keep Tahoe Blue by using alternative forms of transportation to get to and around the Lake. The League to Save Lake Tahoe is leading the charge to improve alternative transportation in Tahoe. Please donate to support our work.

We encourage you to:

  • Organize your own carpool.
  • Come early (Thursday, not Friday) and stay late (Monday, not Sunday) to avoid congestion.
  • Remove your tire chains and cables when they’re not needed. They create debris that pollutes the Lake.

TAHOE REGION

  • Linking Tahoe should be your first stop when determining how to get to, from and around Tahoe without your car.
  • If you’re feeling brisk, this Tahoe bike path map shows which of the Lake’s many paths are plowed during the winter.
Your first stop for Tahoe Transportation - Linking Tahoe


SOUTH SHORE

  • Lake Link is a free, on-demand ride service serving a wide swath of the south shore. Download the app and request for a free ride 7am – 9pm Monday – Thursday, and 7am-10pm Friday and Saturday.
  • The Tahoe Transportation District offers bus service from the South Lake Tahoe “Y” to Carson City and across the South Shore. Pair it with a ride on Lake Link to get just about anywhere in South Tahoe you need to go.
  • Heavenly Mountain Resort and Kirkwood Mountain Resort offer free shuttles from their parking areas. This season, a reservation-based parking system is in place at Kirkwood and Heavenly’s California Lodge on weekends and holidays. Read up to understand the rules and plan for a smooth trip to the mountain.
  • The South Shore Transportation Management Association has trip planning tools, current road conditions and live webcams.
  • The Tahoe Backcountry Alliance will again offer a free ski shuttle to popular backcountry ski areas on the south and north shores. This year, they’re running 12 days of rides: Saturday, January 6 through Saturday, March 23. Space is limited.
Tahoe Transportation District bus


NORTH SHORE

  • TART Connect is a free, on-demand, app-based shuttle service spanning Tahoe’s north and west shores, from Incline Village to Tahoma, as well within the Town of Truckee. Winter service runs from December 14, 2023 through April 7, 2024. Shuttles shuttles are dog-friendly and have ski racks. Download the app, request a ride and keep the car parked.
  • Mountaineer is just like TART Connect – offering free, on-demand rides – but it caters specifically to Olympic Valley and Alpine Meadows. The service runs through April 7, 2024.
  • Tahoe Truckee Area Regional Transit (TART) buses provide regular service to Palisades, Northstar and locations across the north and west shores. Check here for TART’s winter travel schedule.
  • TART’s free park and ride service is operating on weekends to Palisades Tahoe and Northstar this winter. Park your car at designated lots, hop on a bus, and get dropped at the front door of your favorite resort.
  • Northstar operates shuttle services around the resort throughout the winter. Parking at the resort requires using their reservation-based system on weekends and during peak periods. Read up to understand the rules.
  • Palisades Tahoe has also added a parking reservation system on weekends and select holidays. The full details are available here. The resort offers free shuttle service from Tahoe’s West Shore to the back side of Alpine Meadows on weekends.
  • Diamond Peak has a free local shuttle running daily during the winter.
  • The Tahoe Backcountry Alliance will again offer a free ski shuttle to popular backcountry ski areas on the south and north shores. This year, they’re running 12 days of rides: Saturday, January 6 through Saturday, March 23. Space is limited.


BAY AREA

  • SnowPals is a grassroots ridesharing organization that connects Bay Area skiers and snowboarders looking for rides to and from Lake Tahoe. The costs of the carpool are shared among riders.
  • The Sports Basement Ski Bus offers buses to Palisades Tahoe, Kirkwood, Sierra-at-Tahoe, Sugar Bowl and Northstar from several Bay Area locations.
  • Tahoe Ski Trips offers bus service from multiple Bay Area locations to resorts around the Tahoe Basin.
Buses shuttle skiers and riders from the Bay Area to several Tahoe resorts.

RENO

  • The South Tahoe Airporter will pick you up terminal-side at Reno-Tahoe International Airport and drop you at a number of south shore hotels with multiple daily routes.
  • North Lake Tahoe Express offers scheduled service between Reno-Tahoe International Airport and the North Lake Tahoe/Truckee region with local transit connections. Stops include Incline Village, Tahoe Vista, Truckee, Northstar, Olympic Valley, Alpine Meadows and Tahoe City.

SACRAMENTO

  • Alpine Adventures has round-trip bus service to a rotating selection of Tahoe ski areas. Check their website for schedule updates.

If you operate or know of a group transportation option running to or around Lake Tahoe this winter, please contact us to be added here - media@keeptahoeblue.org.