At the corner of Highways 22 and 390, where skiers used to leave their cars on gravel and wait outside for the bus, there is now a building. It has benches, large windows and two monitors showing schedules for START buses and the Teton Pass shuttles run by the Teton Backcountry Alliance. Jackson Hole Mountain Resort opens on Friday, November 27, 2026. That makes this the first ski season in which the free way to reach Teton Village comes with a roof, restrooms and a heated place to wait.
The center sits inside a pricing system. The four lots in the Village charge by arrival time, by peak date and by how many people are in the car. Once you see how those rules fit together, the cost of a ski day this winter can be anything from zero to $45.79, depending on choices you make before you leave the driveway.
The Gravel Lot Now Has a Waiting Room
The Stilson Transit Center broke ground in April 2025. Buckrail reported that it became the official stop for START buses on August 11, 2026, the day Senator John Barrasso and Congresswoman Harriet Hageman cut the ribbon. At that ceremony, Mark Newcomb, chairman of the Teton County Board of County Commissioners, said the building was finished "under budget, on time, and it's absolutely magnificent," as Buckrail reported.
The Jackson Hole News&Guide describes a 2,100-square-foot facility with a 400-space park-and-ride and covered bike parking. The building also has EV charging and e-bike charging stations. The News&Guide noted that skiers have parked free at Stilson every winter, on what used to be a simple gravel lot, and that officials expect the center to improve bus operations and give Idaho commuters a place to park and catch the bus.
The land itself came from the mountain. Jackson Hole Mountain Resort gave Teton County the 5.4-acre Lot 7 parcel for the transit center as an in-kind donation. The county owns the building and the ground. START, the transit system the Town of Jackson and Teton County share, is run by the Town. The News&Guide reports that the center is one of several projects tied to a federal BUILD grant the county won in 2020, along with the pathway from Stilson to Wilson and park-and-ride upgrades in Driggs.
According to Village Park, the Teton Village Association's parking operation, the START bus is free from the Teton Village Transit Center at Stilson to the Village. A second free option also runs from Stilson. The winter Stilson Employee Shuttle, operated by Mountain Resort Services, is open to Village employees and the general public. Free parking and a free ride from the same spot set the baseline that every other option gets measured against.
What It Costs to Drive Past Stilson
Village Park manages the four lots at the base: Base Village, Mid Village, Upper Village and the Ranch Lot. Payment is by QR code or at solar-powered kiosks. Each transaction carries a $0.79 convenience fee, and no receipt has to be displayed. Here are the published 2026-27 rates set against the free baseline:
| Where and when you park | Regular day | Peak day |
|---|---|---|
| Stilson Transit Center, plus START or the Stilson shuttle | Free | Free |
| Ranch Lot, 4 or more people in the car | Free | Free |
| Ranch Lot, 3 people in the car | $5 | $10 |
| Ranch Lot, standard | $18 | $25 |
| Ranch Lot, arriving after 1 p.m. | Free | Free |
| Mid Village Lot, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. | $10 | $10 |
| Base or Upper Village Lot, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. | $10 | $10 |
| Base, Mid or Upper Village Lot, standard | $35 | $45 |
The table shows two separate discounts. One is for showing up late: after 1 p.m., parking at the Ranch Lot is free, and the closer lots drop to $10. The other is for filling the car: a carload of four parks free at the Ranch Lot all day, and a carload of three pays a small fraction of the posted rate. In the morning, the only free options in the Village are four people in one vehicle or a stop at Stilson first.
For a couple driving alone to the Base Village Lot on a peak Saturday, the gap is $45.79 against nothing at Stilson. Over a season of weekends, that difference adds up fast. Short-term one-hour parking and ADA parking are available throughout Teton Village for quick errands.
Peak Pricing Doesn't Start Until December 26
On the 2026-27 calendar, the first peak day falls a month after the lifts open. The published peak dates are:
- December 26 to 31, 2026
- January 16 to 17, 2027
- February 12 to 15, 2027
- Every weekend from January 2 to March 21, 2027
That means every day from opening day on November 27 through Christmas Day is billed at the regular rate: $35 in the three Village lots and $18 at the Ranch Lot. Once January begins, weekends are peak through March 21, so a Saturday habit costs about 30 percent more per visit in the Village lots and about 40 percent more at the Ranch Lot. February 12 to 15 runs Friday through Monday, which stretches the higher rate across a four-day weekend.
When a Season Pass Makes Sense
The Winter 26-27 Park 'N Pass went on sale September 22, 2026, at 12:30 p.m. MDT. It is digital, tied to a license plate and sold in limited supply. There are four versions:
- All Lot Unrestricted, $2,400
- All Lot Restricted, $1,570
- Ranch Lot Unrestricted, $1,190
- Ranch Lot Restricted, $760
The restricted passes are blacked out December 26 to 31, January 16 to 17 and February 12 to 15. Those are the holiday blocks in the peak calendar above. The other January-to-March weekends carry peak daily rates but are not on the blackout list, so a restricted pass still works on most of the peak days.
Measured against daily rates, the Ranch Lot Unrestricted pass equals about 66 regular-rate mornings at $18. The All Lot Unrestricted pass equals about 68 regular-rate days at $35. Stilson changes that math. A household that is willing to ride the bus is weighing the pass against zero, so the pass buys convenience. A carpool of four is also weighing it against zero, since that car parks free at the Ranch Lot every day.
The Bus Side Runs on Its Fall Schedule Until Opening Day
From Stilson, the free option only works as well as the buses do. START's current schedule is a fall service period running from October 12 to November 26, 2026, and the Town's public notice says some fall service is lower than in past years because of budget reductions. In that notice, weekend Town Shuttle service runs every 20 minutes from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., and START On-Demand runs from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
One change affects anyone riding the Teton Village Local from town. Starting October 12, START suspended Stop #1 at Snow King Resort because of weather- and safety-related incidents and directed riders to Stop #8 Snow King Center or Stop #9 Snow King & Willow instead. Village Park lists the fare from the Town of Jackson to Teton Village at $3. START names its two Village routes the Teton Village Local and the Teton Village Express. Full schedule information is at startbus.com, and the monitors inside the Stilson waiting room are there to display bus schedules.
The fall period ends the day before the lifts start turning. On the morning of November 27, the two free ways in from Stilson will be the START bus and the Mountain Resort Services shuttle. In the Village, every car with four people parks free at the Ranch Lot, and every car that arrives after 1 p.m. parks there free as well.
For owners on the west bank, how far a home sits from the tram, from Stilson or from the Highway 22 and 390 corridor shows up in daily life every winter, and it shows up in value too. If you'd like to know how that access is reflected in what your home is worth this season, The McPeak Group can prepare a current home valuation grounded in Teton Village and Wilson sales.
