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By Paul Rogers
The Fresno Bee, March 6, 1998
A historic plan unveiled last November to force people out of their cars while
visiting Yosemite National Park would require construction of the fifth-largest
bus system in California -a fleet of 348 buses, larger then the San Mateo
County Transit District or San Diego Transit.
It would cost a staggering $214 million to set up and run year-round, take at least 12 years to build and require $17 million a year to operate.
Park visitors also would face a 3-hour, round-trip bus ride on mountain roads from the nearby towns of Groveland, Mariposa and Oakhurst.
Those findings, from a new series of transportation studies, are leading many environmentalists, local officials and park planners to a stark conclusion. The most practical solution for reducing traffic in Yosemite Valley probably means scrapping a year-round car ban and providing buses only in busy summer months.
The studies, from Nelson-Nygaard Consulting Associates, will be discussed in detail at a public workshop in San Francisco on Tuesday night. The San Francisco firm has been working with officials from Yosemite and in five surrounding counties for the past year to put a shuttle bus system in place.
"We've learned a lot," Chip Jenkins, Yosemite's chief of strategic planning said Thursday. "Everybody's thinking has benefited from more knowledge. If that means pointing toward a seasonal system, then OK."
Perhaps more succinct is David Brower, the 86 year-old leader of the Sierra Club.
Chainsaw to butter
"This plan is so expensive you'd have to get in touch with Bill Gates to pay for it," Brower said with a chuckle. "Yosemite has the worst traffic jams on the Fourth of July, Labor Day and Memorial Day. They can put restrictions on the peak days and not remodel the entire park. They're cutting butter with a chainsaw."
Brower said he prefers some limits on cars and future studies for a rail system.
Conceding they needed more time to digest the new information, Yosemite officials announced two weeks ago they will take more public comments in about eight weeks on their plan to reduce the human footprint in the valley.
"Reality recently just surfaced," said Jay Watson, California-Nevada director of the Wilderness society. "I think it's pretty clear that everything is headed toward a seasonal system."
A more modest transportation plan would use 110 buses. Under that scenario, shuttle buses would run into the park every half hour during from May to September-when Yosemite gets 66 percent of in visitors. The soonest it could be put in place would be 2002. It would cost $63 million to start up and $2 million a year to operate, according to the consultants' studies.
In the past, park officials have said that if neighboring counties don't come up with a workable shuttle bow system by 2001, they will make day-use visitors park at a new 1,800-space lot to be built at Taft Toe, near El Capitan, and take park buses from there. Jenkins said Yosemite officials now may be willing to move that deadline, given the difficulties setting up a large-scale bus service.
"We're after good solutions, not arbitrary timeliness," said Jenkins.
Traffic jams
Traffic has been a top issue in Yosemite for years.
Last year, 4.1 million people visited the famed Sierra destination. Lured by massive granite walls, breathtaking waterfalls and thick alpine forests, about three-quarters of the visitors drove private automobiles into Yosemite Valley, where the visitor center and most hotels are located.
After several busy summer weekends when traffic clogged roads so badly the park's gates had to be shut, Yosemite officials released a sweeping plan in November to remove about 80 percent of the cars from the valley. Known as the draft Valley Implementation Plan, it called for motorists to leave their cars in large parking lots outside the park if they were only visiting for the day. They would ride shuttle buses into the park. Only visitors with overnight reservations at hotels and campgrounds would be allowed to drive into Yosemite Valley.
The plan also includes removal of 2,300 parking spaces, 310 hotel rooms, 119 campsites and several roads, bridges and other structures by summer 2001. At early public workshops, public comment has been favorable.
But few people knew how much it might cost.
County supervisors in the five counties surrounding Yosemite formed a group to help devise a regional transportation plan. That group known as YARTS, for Yosemite Area Regional Transportation Strategy, includes Yosemite Superintendent Stanley Albright.
It hired Nelson-Nygaard as a consultant to perform detailed studies.
Voluntary system sought
Business and political leaders surrounding the park say they want any system to be voluntary. They worry that if the buses are uncomfortable, overcrowded or late, people won't return to the park.
"I don't think people are adverse to using public transportation," said Jerry Fischer, owner of seven hotels in El Portal, Mariposa and Oakhurst. "But it should be clean, it should be frequent, it should be a quality experience. Half a system is no system at all. We need to do this right."
One other major concern is parking. To run a year-round bus system would require 8,150 parking spaces along Highways 120, 140 and 41 outside the park. Yet there are only about 4,000 spaces in churches, fairgrounds, schools and hotels, the consultants found. And about a quarter of those are in Merced, 80 miles from the park.
If a bus system were run only in the summer months, between 1,475 and 3,400 spaces would be needed. People could be encouraged to ride by giving them cheaper entrance fees, the consultants suggest.
Local leaders hope to set up a small demonstration shuttle bus program next summer, said JohnMcCamman, chief of staff for U.S. Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa. Of the year-round plan: "It was wishful thinking," he said.
The costs would require huge amounts of federal and state highway money. The consultants also suggest potential increases in local sales taxes, hiking hotel taxes and entrance fees for people who drive cars to the park.
While generally well received by surrounding resident, the plan has many people nervous nevertheless, in areas near the park where tourism is a key staple of the economy.
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