Park receives $250,000 for two buses

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood flew across the country Monday to announce that Glacier National Park had received a $250,000 grant to replace two buses in its transit service fleet.

Interim Park superintendent Kym Hall said the grant will be used to replace two Optima buses used on the east side of the Park. The buses haven’t proved as reliable as other buses in the fleet, she noted during a press conference at the Apgar Transit Center.

The grant was one of 29 totaling $12.5 million doled out through the Federal Transit Administration’s Paul S. Sarbanes Transit in Parks program.

LaHood flew from Washington, D.C. earlier in the day and was in the Park before 10 a.m. He left for Denver to announce a similar grant for a Colorado greenway.

The Optima buses will be replaced later this year. The new buses will be fuel-efficient vehicles and completely American made, LaHood said.

FTA administrator Peter Rogoff said Glacier Park had a winning application in what was a “brutal” competition for the grants. With $12.5 million available, applicants sought $63 million. Rogoff claimed the buses were a “win, win, win, win” for the U.S. They provided reliable transportation, jobs, cleaner air and better fuel efficiency.

But using less fuel also has America looking at different ways to fund transportation programs and infrastructure, LaHood noted. Highway and transit projects are funded through gas taxes, but Americans are using less fuel and, in turn, paying less tax. LaHood said the U.S. no longer has the best infrastructure in the world — far from it.

“Frankly, America is one big pothole right now,” he said.

The future challenge will be to find a tax structure that will pay for highway and transit projects, he said.

The National Park Service plowed out the driveway to the transit center to hold the event. The transit center is normally not open in the winter, and seven inches of new snow fell overnight.