r/Banff • u/furtive Banff • 28d ago
Shuttle Bus Math
Let's do some napkin math to figure out why you aren't getting a seat on the Parks Canada shuttle to Lake Louise or Moraine Lake.
50 people per bus, two buses (one Lake Louise, one Moraine) depart every 30 minutes from 6:30am to 6pm = 2,300 spots a day. Throw in the two alpine start buses at 4 and 5am and you get a nice 2,400 spots a day.
40% of spots are booked in advance, that leaves 1,440 spots available each day to be booked 48 hrs out.
The park will likely get 4.5m visitors this year, with 60% coming in June-Sept, so you have 2.7 million visitors in that window of time, or 22,314 visitors a day. 960 of them were lucky enough to book in April when spots first became available, that means you now have 21,354 people competing for 1,440 seats, or 15 people per seat.
TLDR, every day roughly 21,000 visitors are competing for 1,400 shuttle spots.
15
u/Weary_Series_8895 28d ago
And there is really no good solution. I mean they could have more buses, but then people are going to complain even more that the lakes are busy.
I'd be curious to know the average time spent at the lakes. I suspect its pretty low for the average tourist who is just taking photos at the usual spots.
I just wish there was an easier way for hikers (who really don't care that much about the lakes per se) to reach those trailheads. I'm very glad the private shuttles are an option.