Glacier shuttle carries record

Glacier National Park’s shuttle system keeps getting more popular.

On Sunday the last buses rolled off Going-to-the-Sun Road until next summer, capping a season that surpassed 200,000 riders for the first time since the free transit service started in 2008.

“We’d never seen anything like this,” said Stephen Smith, Glacier’s transit manager, who oversees a fleet of 33 buses driven by 50 to 60 drivers each summer.

This year was just the second time the park operated a “shoulder season” for the buses, keeping shuttles running up the west side of the Sun Road for two weeks after Labor Day. But by the end of the regular season, the 2010 record of 170,000 riders had been broken by nearly 30,000.

The 2016 season wrapped up with a total of 207,554 riders.

Smith said the east side of the road between St. Mary and Logan Pass was especially hard-hit by high shuttle demand. Throughout the season, wait times averaged 45 minutes to an hour, but at peak hours during the height of the tourist season, visitors reported waiting as long as three hours.

“We’re looking at possible shuttle schedule changes to cut the waiting time, maybe by 15 minutes or so,” he added. “But it all comes down to money. We have a set budget every year that we’re required to abide by.”

The park contracts with Flathead County Eagle Transit to provide the service. Many of the buses are driven by school bus drivers out of work for the summers.

Don McAdam, a retiree who lives in Kalispell, started working as a bus driver in the park nine years ago when the shuttle service was established to relieve congestion while the park completed construction on the Sun Road. Regardless of the bus system, McAdam said he sees a nearly annual increase in west-side traffic, but believes the shuttle riders would simply be driving without alternative transportation.

“We carry a lot of people, but there seems to be more traffic anyway,” McAdam said. “We were busier this year, probably because of the anniversary of the park service, but not entirely.”

Each month from May through August this year, the park set a single-month record for visitation, and the swollen crowds during the peak season were reflected in the number of days that the shuttles approached capacity.

During 2010, there were 12 days on which the shuttles served at least 3,000 people. This year, ridership reached that total on 35 days.

On his west-side route to Logan Pass, McAdam said about 80 percent of the riders were repeat customers, and likely the overall ridership numbers have increased as more park visitors become familiar with the bus schedules. More than half of the riders are headed into the park to hike, he said, but a considerable chunk of the bus riders are simply there for sightseeing.

“We haven’t added more buses per day, so to speak, it’s just people are better adapted to catching them,” McAdam said, adding that the shoulder season in 2010 contributed little to the overall numbers. This year’s shoulder season posted similar totals, and each day attracted less than 900 visitors.

Compounding the record-breaking visitation this summer, the shuttle service faced an unexpected driver shortage and mechanical issues that left the fleet with no backup buses for part of the season.

However, Smith said his drivers rose to the challenge.

“We had a great year. It was challenging, but we look forward to providing this service every year,” he said.

Reporter Sam Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.