Hitchin' a ride
Kent and Kersten Wuebben, front, of Grafton, Wis., and Ruediger Riehl, left, 12-year-old Ave Riehl, center, and wife Barbara Riehl of Neuss, Germany take in the scenery while riding a shuttle bus up Going-to-the-Sun Road early Thursday morning in Glacier National Park. The 12-seat “sprinter” buses are part of the new transportation system that offers free trips to destinations throughout the park. Jennifer DeMonte/Daily Inter Lake
nching around the winding twists and turns of Going-to-the-Sun Road, a line of cars, bumper to bumper, slowly climbs to the summit of Logan Pass - and it's only 8 a.m.
In the other lane a shuttle bus breezes back down the pass having already dropped off a load of passengers. Fifteen minutes behind it another bus follows.
The small "sprinter" buses are a small portion of the newly unveiled fleet of 30 shuttles that make up Glacier National Park's new transportation system. The system does not offer tours, but transportation only.
Barely a week old, the 12-passenger shuttle buses have become a hot commodity among park visitors. At the 16 available stops along the historic highway, passengers wait in lines that sometimes reach 20 people deep.
Shuttle driver Michael Golembeski said that aside from the occasional complaint about long lines, most of his passengers have been content sitting back and enjoying the scenic ride.
Kersten and Kent Wuebben hopped on Golembeski's bus at Sprague Creek, where they had been camping.
The pair from Wisconsin said they had used the buses all week to get to their day-hike destinations.
Kersten Wuebben said, "I think it's great if it gets cars off the road. And it's convenient, it just takes a little planning."
Practically pros at navigating the shuttle system, the Wuebbens jumped off the blue-line shuttle at Logan Pass and onto an east-bound red-line bus to reach their destination at St. Mary Falls.
After having checked out the scenery atop the pass, Terry Bomkamp and his son Eric loaded back onto a shuttle for an easy ride back down.
Terry said taking the shuttle gave him an opportunity to rest before driving back home to Illinois.
"And it's free," he added.
Despite its popularity the shuttle system has some wrinkles yet to be ironed out.
Shuttle system manager Ray Tinkey said that scheduling the shuttles has been the biggest problem. Since July 1, both eastern and western transit hubs have each seen more than 1,000 riders every day.
Trying to accommodate the large number of riders, Tinkey has been adding buses to the system every day.
"In a perfect world the shuttles would arrive every 30 minutes. Bing, bing, bing," he said. "But sometimes people are going to have to wait a while for a bus that's not full."
Reporter Amy May can be reached at 758-4459 or by e-mail at amay@dailyinterlake.com
*Frank suggested a sidebar with this info
Guided tours of Going-to-the-Sun Road.
Glacier Park Inc. offers scenic tours of the park from the historic red "jammer" buses. For more information call (406) 892-2525.
Sun Tours offers tours of the park with a Blackfeet Indian perspective. For more information call 1-800-786-9220.