New Buses Mean Quieter Yosemite Valley
There’s something new in the Valley and it’s a good thing for all concerned.
Stockton Record: “A noisy bus engine is about the last thing an exhausted camper wants to hear after crawling into a sleeping bag.Yet, that’s just what many a camper has heard over the years at Yosemite National Park’s Upper Pines campground. There, some campsites are just a stone’s throw from the road between Curry Village and Happy Isles — and clearly within earshot of the lumbering old diesel shuttle buses that roam Yosemite Valley as late as 10 on some nights.
Park officials say campers won’t have to deal with that noise nuisance much longer, thanks to the arrival of a new fleet of ultra-quiet hybrid-powered shuttle buses.
The new diesel-electric hybrids will be phased in over the next two months to replace the old diesel buses. When all the hybrid buses arrive, supposedly by mid-June, Yosemite will be the only national park with an all-hybrid shuttle fleet.
A few of the new buses, which cost about $500,000 each, already are being used, and visitors like what they see and hear, park officials say.”
I, for one, can say I’m excited by the new buses. The old, smoke belchers seem totally out of place in the Valley.
For a little over 30 years now I've enjoyed hiking, backpacking, fishing, photographing and exploring Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. Yosemite Blog presents me with the opportunity to share, with you, the beauty and the grandeur of Yosemite and the High Sierra. Read the 
April 25th, 2005 09:39
The hybrids should help to clear the air in the valley. Maybe in a few years most of the cars entering the valley will be either hybrids or use some other alternative power.
April 26th, 2005 21:38
I couldn’t agree more. I’ve always like the idea of restoring the steam engine from Mariposa or Briceburg into the Valley. Even a light rail system to just inside the Valley would be awesome.