Jackson ranked 4th in smaller sized cities for green transportation

Jackson has been ranked fourth for green transportation in smaller sized cities in the country.

Jackson’s bus service, START, is big reason why the city achieved this recognition.

“It’s a recognition that we don’t take lightly,” Transit Director Darren Brugmann said.

START originally began as a shuttle to the ski resort in 1987.

“Here were are 30 years later,” Vice Mayor Hailey Morton Levinson said. “That’s almost my whole life or pretty much is. And that’s pretty cool that we’ve made such strides in those years in such a small town.”

“We’re considered a small rural transit system,” Brugmann said. “We transport nearly a million passengers from a variety of services our commuter buses, our local in town as well as our service to the Jackson Hole Ski Resort.”

The commuter bus service running from Jackson to eastern Idaho recently expanded its services. START added a third run to the Victor and Driggs areas because the passenger loads started rapidly increasing. It’s no secret many people who work in Jackson live in these towns. That’s why Brugman said this commuter service is the top priority.

“Trying to eliminate traffic congestion and amount of vehicles traveling to and from Jackson especially across the pass and in the winter months,” he said. “No one likes driving in the snow, so with our professional drivers trained with the vehicles they’re capable of handling that. So the more people we can get on the buses, that eliminates one car for each person.”