US national parks to offer look at green-friendly transit
Visitors could see self-driving buses, more charging stations
Americans may soon get a better glimpse into a future of green-friendly transportation by visiting a U.S. national park.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg signed a joint pledge Wednesday to test some of the newest and most innovative travel technologies on public lands and improve visitors’ tourism experience.
Under multimillion-dollar pilot programs made available by the $1 trillion infrastructure law and other federal spending, visitors to national parks could see self-driving shuttle buses, along with electric scooter or bike stations and electric charging stations for zero-emission cars.
New real-time information under development via app would notify visitors about road closures and parking space availability, or provide a step-by-step guide to bus locations or rideshare for those wanting to leave their cars behind.
Yellowstone National Park, which has had a record number of visitors this year, is expected to see some of the most immediate changes, with other sites to follow.
“As we celebrate our public lands and the vast infrastructure that sustains them, we also recommit our future endeavors to the goals of job creation, sustainability and innovation,” Haaland said. “Through these new initiatives, our teams will become global leaders at the intersection of transportation innovations and access to public spaces.”
Her department said it was striving to replace its 20-year-old National Park Service shuttle fleet with electric vehicles, a process begun earlier this year. In February, for instance, park officials said it would seek to add 26 electric shuttles and 27 charging stations at Zion National Park in Utah with the help of a $33 million transportation grant.