Electric vehicle gets trial at Zion National Park
Zion National Park managers are taking the idea of using an electric vehicle for a test drive this fall in the park's main canyon.
A new Proterra E2 electric bus was added to the Zion fleet this month, operating alongside the rest of the park's liquefied petroleum gas-powered fleet. It's part of three-month pilot program to determine the feasibility of shifting to electric as the park replaces its shuttle buses in the future, although that shift could largely depend on future budget allocations.
The bus will be evaluated on things like passenger comfort, driver efficiency, battery performance and charge time, John Marciano, public information officer at Zion, said in an email.
The shuttle system, established in 2000 to limit vehicle access within the park's main canyon and reduce smog, carries park visitors for free from the Zion Canyon Visitor Center to stops throughout the park's main canyon route, typically leaving every seven to 15 minutes.
It has been lauded as a key cog in trying to maintain the park's environmental integrity in the face of record crowds and increased use.
The pilot program should help determine whether the electric fleet can handle Zion's growing load of riders. The park counted more than 4 million visitors last year, and more than 5.1 million rides were counted on the shuttle system.
The workload for Zion shuttles is extreme, according to RATP Dev, the company picked to operate the pilot program. Park shuttles see an average of 105 riders per service hour, nearly twice the average of 58 per service hour recorded on the New York City transit system. Most of the busy season sees buses operating filled to standing room only.
The three-month evaluation period, which will include busy periods such as the upcoming Labor Day weekend, should help park officials determine whether an electric bus can handle the ridership demands of the park as well as temperatures that sometimes top 110 degrees in the summer.
"We are very excited to see how this new electric unit performs here at the park," Frank Austin, RATP Dev's general manager of the park transit service, said in an email. "Sustainability is a crucial goal here, and an electric bus fleet gives us the ability to continue to protect the park. We trained nine drivers to operate the vehicle, which is longer than the rest of the units in the fleet."
Zion now nation's 5th-busiest park
Comments pour in over Zion area oil and gas leasing
Zion to develop new Visitor Use Management Plan
Tourism in southwest Utah contributes to record year statewide
Austin said the turnaround for shuttles can take some time, with manufacturers requiring about 12 months to build a new unit after it's requested.
Modernizing the shuttle fleet could be a challenge moving forward though, with park budgets still strained since cuts that were implemented during the Great Recession.
Despite seeing nearly 2 million more annual visitors now than it did during the 2000s, Zion has been operating on a budget little changed since a 5-percent sequestration cut in 2012.
In a budget justification "Green Book" from the Interior Department published earlier this year, the park is projected to see its budget cut from $7.8 million this year to $7.3 million next year, part of a proposed 13-percent cut to the NPS included in President Donald Trump's budget recommendation.
Even before the prospect of those cuts were announced, park officials had been struggling to deal with the the record numbers of visitors. They are proposing special permitting and a reservation system as possible steps in the near future to ease overcrowding.
Through June, more than 2.1 million visitors were counted at the park, nearly a 10 percent increase over the same period last year and putting visitation on pace to again set a new record.
There were 4.3 million last year over the full 12 months, and Zion moved past Yellowstone National Park to become the 5th-busiest in the country. Since 2010, visitation has jumped by more than 60 percent.
The seasonal shuttle system is expected to remain in place regardless of any changes, although schedules could be adjusted. Implementing a new system could require some physical changes and new facilities.
When the shuttle system was first established, visitation in the park was at about 2.4 million people annually.
Follow David DeMille on Twitter, @SpectrumDeMille, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SpectrumDeMille. Call him at 435-674-6261.