Remember the last time you heard somebody say a federal agency did a great job? Not recently, eh? I, too, confess to not saying it often, but I’m saying it today.
Three years ago, I wrote about an innovative new shuttle system getting underway in Glacier National Park. In my first line, I asked, “If we built it, will they come?”
The results are in, and the answer is yes. In 2009, in fact, 157,000 people used shuttle buses instead of driving personal vehicles over the traffic-choked Going-to-the-Sun Road, and according to Glacier’s public affairs manager Amy Vanderbilt, “We will easily exceed that figure this year.”
That means, roughly, somewhere around 50,000 vehicles didn’t go over Logan Pass this year.
“It has been a huge success,” Vanderbilt added. “In some ways it’s too successful, but it’s all good.”
By “too successful,” she refers to the park’s massive challenge of managing the shuttle system with limited funding and staff.
In late August, I took the shuttle from the Apgar Transit Center up to Logan Pass and switched over to the eastside shuttle down to Siyeh Bend. After a wonderful family hike to and from Piegan Pass, we arrived back at the highway just in time to catch the shuttle back up the pass where we waited about 15 minutes to board a westside shuttle back to Apgar.
I suppose all this might have taken 20-to-30 minutes longer than driving our own vehicle, but it was way more enjoyable. Everybody, including the unfortunate person who would have had to drive, enjoyed the scenery, plus some pleasant conversation with other park visitors. Nobody had to worry about accidents or finding a parking spot on Logan Pass, which is almost impossible after 9 a.m. every July and August morning.
The system isn’t perfect. Even with radio communications, the National Park Service (NPS) struggles to manage the seating – how many seats to fill and how many to save for people waiting at stops down the road. This creates a little heat here and there as people are left behind when they can see empty seats on the bus or when people down the road expect to be picked up but there are no empty seats.
“We definitely have some choke points,” Vanderbilt admitted, “but we’re constantly trying to improve on them. The end of the day is the biggest challenge.”
She noted that the park recently hired a new transit manager, Randy Buckley, “and he has some great ideas.”
Funding is also a big issue, she said. What a surprise, eh? Right now, the entire system, about $650,000 per year, is funded with a portion ($7.50/vehicle) of park entrance fees.
There are many ways the shuttle system could be improved and expanded, covering more roads, such as a loop route through St. Mary and East Glacier, over Marias Pass, and back to Apgar, but no money for this. “We don’t have the means to expand the system,” Vanderbilt said.
It seems to me that the shuttle system would be a direct hit for the Obama administration oft-stated emphasis on energy conservation and green energy jobs. Hello, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. Are you reading this? You could score some serious carbon points here.
The Glacier shuttle system has obviously gotten off to a good start, but can we consider it the first step toward the day when there won’t be personal vehicles on Logan Pass? I’m quite sure that day is a long way off politically, but it seems to me that a logical baby step could be testing a new way of dealing with the suffocating mid-day congestion on the Sun Road.
Consequently, the Going-to-the-Sun Road is so stuffed with vehicles, moving so slowly, that you might be able to walk up there faster. Should we consider restricting personal vehicles during prime time (around 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) during July and August? Perhaps just test it for one week to see how it goes?
Don’t have a coronary. It’s only an idea that deserves some discussion. The NPS, it should be noted, has no such plans, although the subject frequently came up during public input over the current park management plan.
Driving your personal vehicle to Logan Pass might seem like fundamental freedom to some people – that’s why they built the road in the first place, to allow more people an opportunity to see the marvelous scenery in the park’s interior. But the shuttle system also gives us the same opportunity.
It reminds me of the day I had to face the unpleasant reality of going backpacking and not having a campfire and not camping on a scenic lakeshore and not drinking directly out of mountain streams. I hated making those changes and felt like the federal government had stripped away my freedom, but I got over it. I still enjoy backpacking as much as ever, almost. I looked at in perspective instead of focusing on my personal bias, and it all made sense.
The same goes for driving over Logan Pass. We might resent having to take the shuttle at first, but we’ll get over it and enjoy the park just as much. Maybe more.