Sorry if I was a little paranoid, righteous crusader-y earlier....Mornings sometimes do that to me..... And also seems the thread has forgotten all about the post it person. Maybe that was someone from the Dept. of Homeland Security!

A shuttle bus from town wouldn't have to be preserve operated. Taxis drop people off on preserve grounds; so another private business should be able to do so as well. Unless the preserve took issue with there being a sort of designated spot for people to gather. I guess if someone wanted to do such a shuttle, they would look into it. Same as for those questions Dillbag posed. It would be a nice service to have though, and appreciated by the bus people at least. I can see how people with cars would probably not want to pay anything at all for a shuttle when they can just park along the street in front of the overlook.....

Maybe my addled brain is remembering stuff that never happened, but I think I vaguely recall some kind of shuttle in the late 90's. Anyone else? Anyone? Bueller? It lasted two seasons at most and vanished due to lack of ridership.

In Yosemite, the traffic is nuts, it is loud and frustrating.... in comparison, in Zion (no cars allowed), with the shuttle (propane powered) it is quiet, with no traffic, and the shuttles are amazingly efficient & convenient.

Something like Zion perhaps?

Or- people could just take days off during the week and not have to deal with the weekend crowds. Or,not climb at the gunks in peak season. Oh, I forgot, the rock is deteriorating so it's important to climb it before it goes away.

Gardiner should talk to Keene Valley about shuttling. They have successfully and effectively operated a hiker shuttle between Marcy field and the Garden parking lot for several years. But, providing a service to non-residents would be sort of ironic for Gardiner to do.

I got to the West Trapps lot around 9:15 and I had to park below the gatehouse. Of course, they could have fit another 10 cars if people would park closer together. I think it would be better to have another ranger on duty there "helping" people park cars. I mean there's already someone at the steel bridge checking passes, so have him do all the collecting of money and have the ranger direct parking cars instead of just sending them up and allowing them to park with 8' between cars.

As for not going up on weekends, easy to say if you're a local. But for those of us who can only get up there on weekends, skipping a single weekend, especially when the forcast is favorable, really isn't an option.

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But, providing a service to non-residents would be sort of ironic for Gardiner to do.

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It would make complete sense if Gardiner was going to stop all the bitching that the town of NP gets all the cash from visitors while lands [edited to add] and public services in Gardiner get the use, and set up a shuttle location in their town and give people a reason to go there and spend $$ in the private sector

But, providing a service to non-residents would be sort of ironic for Gardiner to do.

If I'm not mistaken, the Gardiner volunteer fire department/rescue squad responds to a high percentage of climbing accidents on the Preserve.

Speaking of parking in the turnout ... we were utterly amazed at the three Vanagon campers that seemed to spend ALL WEEKEND in the "30-minute" parking.

Not only that, but they'd "kitty cornered" a spot. Probably could have fit another car in there, but instead they set up lounge chairs there. Now that's pretty rude.