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New Arches National Park shuttle is free, beautiful and kind of a mess · Best of: Features

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  New Arches National Park Shuttle is free, beautiful, and kind of a
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  mess. Written by Amanda Height This article is being read by an
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  automated voice generated by Everlett. It's been a long, hot summer in
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  Moab, Utah, the gateway town to Arches National Park and Canyonlands National
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  Park, but this week temperatures finally dipped below eighty five degrees, kick
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  starting an instantaneous and near euphoric need to flee my house and
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  get outside. Gas prices being what they are, though, I've been trying
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  to stick closer to town. That's why I decided to try out
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  a new shuttle offering free rides from Moab into Arches. Now in
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  its fourth week, the pilot program is meant to ease congestion as
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  the park heads into a busy shoulder season. Based on the success
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  of this early trial, it may become a permanent seasonal offering. The
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  project has proven contentious among many Moab locals, who have criticized the
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  effort as being hastily and poorly planned after timed entry was suspended
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  earlier this year, but I pledge to approach it with an open
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  mind. Here's how it went. The first rides of the day kick
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  off at 8 AM, and I left my house around 8 30
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  to walk to the pickup point closest to me. It took me
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  less than ten minutes on foot, but unfortunately, the Shop,
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  I chose had apparently been pulled from the ride schedule. Looking at
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  the live map, it's clear that stop is no longer marked, but
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  on infographics posted online and around town, it’s still listed as an
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  option. No worries, Moab is a small town. It didn't take long
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  to walk to the next stop. Arriving outside the Moab Rock shop,
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  I easily found the sign marking the pickup location. As others have
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  noted, none of the stops have dedicated benches or shade structures. That's
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  fine now that temperatures are dropping, but I can imagine it being
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  far less comfortable when it's still above ninety degrees outside. Scanning the
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  QR code on the sign brought up a live map with estimated
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  wait times, and I'm glad to say it was spot on. Minutes
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  after I showed up, shuttle driver Gina McGuire pulled up beside me,
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  and I flashed my America, the beautiful pass. You'll need either a
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  Parks Pass or an Archist Standard or Annual Pass before hopping aboard.
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  The vans themselves are nice, the seats are comfortable, the AC is
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  strong, and I wrote part of this story using the bus Starlink
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  connection. There's almost no service inside the park, so I actually found
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  this to be a great perk for planning my day. The lack
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  of other passengers surprised me, however. Maguire had already made several stops
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  in town, yet the bus was empty when I boarded. It's really
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  been hit or miss. Maguire, a local who picked up the route
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  as a side gig to ease the boredom of her retirement, told
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  me Sometimes the bus will be full, and a lot of times
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  it just stays empty. Either way, I'm lucky to have one of
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  the most beautiful drives there is. One of the big purported perks
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  of the
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  shuttle is that it allows you to skip the park’s lengthy entry
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  lines. By line AM traffic was already piling up, and signs along
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  the road noted that the wait could top an hour. The shuttles
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  are able to bypass the entry kiosks using employee access roads, but
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  by the time we arrived, traffic had backed up past the entrance
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  to the employee area. This meant sitting in the line for about
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  ten minutes before we were able to take our turn. According to
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  the shuttle website, any trip into the park requires a transfer. A
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  yellow line carries visitors from town to the park's visitor center, while
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  a red line travels into the park. Maguire and I breezed past
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  the visitor center, however, and I felt very much like a celebrity
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  gliding past plebes in my own private vehicle. According to Maguire, the
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  drivers are directed using software similar to what Uber or Lyft uses,
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  meaning their routes sometimes shift in response to demand. Heading into the
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  park I was confronted with one of my biggest gripes, which is
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  that the shuttle only stops at two places. If you're looking to
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  visit the windows area or delicate arch, which, granted, are the most
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  popular destinations, the shuttle is a great option, offering pickups every fifteen
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  minutes or so. But it bypasses many of the park's other attractions,
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  including Balance Rock, Courthouse Towers, the Fiery Furnace and Landscape Arch. It's
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  not really feasible to walk between these destinations, nor is Arches a
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  particularly bike friendly park. Arches was specifically developed back in nineteen twenty
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  nine as an auto touring destination, and the roads lack shoulders even
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  today I. Took the line to its final destination, the Delicate Arch
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  Trailhead, a hike I haven't done since I first moved to Moab
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  in twenty twenty. When we arrived at the trailhead, the parking lot
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  was full, And I was glad I didn't have to deal with
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  finding a spot. Instead, I was able to disembark and head out.
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  Just down the trail, visitors can see petroglyphs and an old homestead
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  called Wolf Ranch, built in eighteen ninety-eight by a sixty-nine year old
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  Civil War veteran seeking a drier climate for a lingering leg injury.
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  Habituated as I am to the surrounding red rock, Delicate Arch still
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  holds the power to impress. Even when surrounded by a crowd, it
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  retains a sense of isolation, towering over the desert even as it's
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  dwarfed by the mountains beyond. If you're up for the three point
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  two mile round trip hike, I'd say it's a must do. And
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  for those who are put off by the steady uphill climb, you
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  can also drive to a nearby lookout. My timing was such that
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  Maguire had just arrived on her next round when I made it
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  back to the trailhead. This time she was carrying a family of
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  five visiting from Phoenix. Diego Costa and his wife, Lisa, had learned
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  about the shuttle only after arriving at the visitors center. Keen to
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  avoid traffic snarls, they decided to take the bus into the park,
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  and didn't seem bothered by the limited number of stops. With young
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  kids, you can only do so much anyways, Costa said, looking past
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  us to the line of cars waiting to access the parking lot.
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  I'm especially glad I don't have to sit through that with the
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  Even so, when we next pulled into the windows on the way
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  back to town, we ended up snagged in a line of dozens
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  of cars looking for spaces. Because there's no dedicated lane for the
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  shuttles, we had to wait along with everyone else, adding another half
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  hour onto the trip. All in all, my outing took me about
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  four point five hours, and travel accounted for the vast majority of
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  that time. That's not all the fault of the shuttle. Arches is
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  a massive park, spanning one nineteen square miles, and it simply takes
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  time to get around. But I find myself wishing the whole thing
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  were a bit more thought out. Here's my final thought. If you're
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  operating on a tight schedule, the shuttle probably isn't for you. Driving
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  yourself likely won't save you much time, but you'll at least have
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  flexibility if you need to cut your day short. And if you're
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  interested in exploring beyond the most popular sites, you'll definitely need your
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  own vehicle. But if you're not so precious with your time, the
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  shuttle can remove some of The hassle of visiting during the busy
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  season. You can can take in the sits without having to worry
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  about other cars on the road, and being able to relax at
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  the end of a long hike was quite nice. It was also
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  nice getting to chat with locals and visitors about their experiences, something
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  that's harder to do when everyone is sandwiched into their own vehicle.
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  Shuttle service is scheduled to continue each day from 8 a.m. To
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  5 p.m. The last shuttle departs Delicate Arch heading back to Moab
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  at four o five p.m. Until the end of October, before pausing
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  until March first, 2027. QR codes inside the shuttles link to a
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  rider survey, and these responses are supposed to help determine whether the
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  shuttle will continue to operate. The County and the ParkServe plan to
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  evaluate the pilot's initial success by november sixteenth, after which they may
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  extend it for two U more one year terms. Having seen the
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  idea of an arch's shuttle floated so many times over the years,
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  there's something surreal about witnessing it in the flesh. At this early
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  stage, I think it's an imperfect solution to the long stand problem
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  of balancing the desire of so many people to visit with the
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  need to provide them with a quality experience. Regardless of the execution,
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  at least the vision is there. I hope more people will use
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  it, and that they can one day use it as a base
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  to explore all that the park has to offer. Speaking with Maguire
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  on the way back into town, I asked her which view was
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  her personal favorite. Oh, it's probably nothing you could see from here,
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  she said, smiling. It's not really a proper visit if you don't
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  get away from the road.