With 1.6 million passengers coming off cruise ships in Juneau last summer, private tours to popular attractions like the Mendenhall Glacier sold out halfway through the season.
That meant many visitors opted to ride city buses instead. Juneau residents felt the impact of that — when buses were too full, drivers had to pass people by.
Deputy Mayor Michelle Bonnet Hale said she rode a city bus last summer during a busy day to understand the gravity of the situation.
“It was really, really bad, and the drivers felt horrible having to leave locals behind, who are then missing their jobs and coming in late because they couldn’t catch a bus,” she said.
According to data compiled by bus drivers, between early May and late July last year, nearly 400 passengers were left behind at bus stops, seven of which were people in wheelchairs. And that usually happened on days with more ships in town.
At an Assembly committee meeting on Monday, members voted to move forward with a plan to implement a “tripper bus” service for the 2024 summer season. It’s essentially an extra bus that would follow the buses that already go from downtown to the Mendenhall Valley near the glacier.
Juneau tourism manager Alix Pierce says the trippers would run on peak summer days when regular buses are overloaded with visitor passengers. She says the extra service is meant to ensure local passengers aren’t left behind at stops.
“The tripper service is an attempt to solve the problem that is before us. We have too many people riding the city bus in the summer and we’re skipping people at bus stops,” she said.
Pierce said the tripper service would run between May 1 and Oct. 1.
It’s anticipated to cost the city about $900,000 to run it fully, or it can be scaled down. Pierce said the city hopes to pay for it with the money collected annually from cruise ship passengers. That will be up to the Assembly to decide.
Pierce says a more descriptive plan for the service will appear at an upcoming regular Assembly meeting and will be open for public comment before approval.
The Assembly also discussed implementing a circulator bus to distribute visitors more evenly across downtown, but ultimately decided against it after learning about the city’s “Ride Free Zone.” It’s a route for locals and visitors that hits four stops downtown and doesn’t require bus fare. Most Assembly members didn’t know it existed.
