About 95 percent of all riders report seeing grizzly bears through the bus windows. Ranger Lisa Eckert says that other parks occasionally call Denali for advice on shuttle systems. The 9-mile road up Zion Canyon is often choked with cars, all of which have to turn around at the end and backtrack to the visitors center. In addition to traffic, noise, and parking problems, exhaust chokes the canyon with pollution at certain times of the year, roadside vegetation has been killed by inevitable overflow parking and lead levels are now measurable along park roadways. By Memorial Day 2000, a fleet of 10 propane buses will ply the road up the canyon.
Cars stall at high altitudes and parking is very limited.
An optional school bus shuttle to popular Bear Lake has been running for more than 20 summers and the system may be expanded. If you've ever been to the South Rim, you know. By end of 1998, the park will have 17 electric and natural gas buses running shuttle routes along the canyon rim. A parking lot will remain 1,000 feet from the rim at Mather Point with room for 1,225 cars and 60 buses, so some vehicles will always be able to park within walking distance of the rim. Plans are under way for 217 alternative-fuel buses to bring up to 1.4 million people into the valley from hotels and parking lots in the gateway communities.