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Tusayan
Route Shuttle Bus Operations to Begin March 1
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Park and
Ride; We’ll be Your Guide at Grand Canyon National Park
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Grand
Canyon, AZ – February 2018 / Newsmaker Alert / The
National Park Service (NPS) will again offer shuttle bus service between
Grand Canyon National Park and
the neighboring town of Tusayan in 2018. In anticipation of large spring
break crowds, the route will begin service on Thursday, March 1. The Tusayan
Route will run at 20- minute intervals between 8 am and 9:30 pm daily.
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In
2017, Grand Canyon reached an all-time high of more than six million visitors,
and spring break can be one of the busiest times of year in the park. Visitors
can expect to wait an hour or more at the entrance stations between 10
am and 4 pm, parking lots can reach capacity as early as 11 am, and ongoing
road construction in the park can add to the overall vehicle congestion.
Riding the shuttle from Tusayan into the park can help visitors avoid entrance
station lines, parking frustrations, and road construction.
Visitors
must have a valid park pass to board the shuttle in Tusayan. Visitors can
purchase park passes, including lifetime and annual passes, at the IMAX
Theater. RP’s Stage Stop, Canyon Plaza Resort, and Red Feather Lodge also
sell the standard Grand Canyon entrance passes for vehicles, individuals,
and motorcycles. Once visitors have a valid pass, they can park anywhere
in Tusayan, including the Best Western Squire Inn, Grand Hotel, Big E Steakhouse,
IMAX/RP’s Stop, and the park-and-ride lot on the north end of town by the
second roundabout. This lot works especially well for trailers and RVs,
which will have limited parking options inside the park.
The
first bus into the park leaves Tusayan at 8 am daily from the IMAX Theater.
The first bus from the park to Tusayan departs the Grand Canyon Visitor
Center at 8:25 am. The last buses leave IMAX at 9:45 pm and Grand Canyon
Visitor Center at 9:30 pm each night.
Shuttle
buses make the following stops in Tusayan:
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IMAX Theater/RP’s
Stage Stop
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Best Western
Grand Canyon Squire Inn
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the Grand
Hotel
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Big E
Steakhouse and Saloon
After
making those stops in Tusayan, the shuttle bus makes its way to the Grand
Canyon Visitor Center, where visitors can access trails, scenic viewpoints,
park orientation, and the free in-park shuttle bus system. Green stripes
and NPS arrowheads make all Grand Canyon National Park shuttle buses easily
identifiable. Buses are wheelchair accessible, fueled with clean-burning
compressed natural gas, and have bike racks that can hold up to three bicycles.
In
2017, there were approximately 211,000 boardings on the Tusayan Route,
which represents a reduction of about 35,000 vehicles entering the park.
Last year, there were approximately 7.8 million boardings on the park’s
shuttle system, representing a reduction of about 2.6 million short in-park
vehicle trips.
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Grand
Canyon National Park Superintendent Christ Lehnertz said of the service,
“We are pleased to provide this service to park visitors and local residents.
Riding the shuttles helps protect resources, reduces crowding on park roadways,
and reduces our carbon footprint. We hope visitors and residents will continue
to use and enjoy the Tusayan Route this year.”
Additional
shuttle bus information is available online at www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/shuttle-buses.htm.
Find parking and road conditions on Twitter @GrandCanyonNPS.
And for real-time traffic updates, check out the South Entrance Station
webcam at www.nps.gov/grca/learn/photosmultimedia/webcams.htm.
About
the National Park Service
More
than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America’s 417 national
parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local
history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Visit us at
www.NPS.gov,
on Facebook Facebook.com/nationalparkservice,
Twitter Twitter.com/natlparkservice,
and YouTube YouTube.com/nationalparkservice.
Contact:
Emily
Davis (NPS)
928-638-7609 |