Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Yellowstone National Park. We drove a lot outside the park, unavoidably. From the airport in Bozeman to the town of West Yellowstone, and to the park entrance every day. We also drove many miles daily in the park. There, we might be able to do better for our visitors (and it is our park) and the park itself.
When we talk about public transit locally, a perennial question is of ridership volume: when do we cross the tipping point where the transit service becomes financially viable and practical for users, even preferential to riding in a car? Yellowstone may be there. Its crowds and traffic are the cost of its success, but a bus system could mitigate these, opening the park to more people while preserving its navigability. And a car-free Yellowstone would be better for the flora and fauna as well.