Xanterra, red buses coming to C-Falls

Glacier National Park’s red bus fleet will eventually have a home in Columbia Falls, according to Marc Ducharme, general manager for Xanterra Parks and Resorts Glacier Division.

Initially Xanterra will house the fleet of 33 historic buses in a rented hangar at Glacier Jet Center, at Glacier Park International Airport.

But eventually the company plans to build a state-of-the-art storage facility and garage in the Columbia Falls area where it can maintain the buses.

Xanterra won the bid for the 16-year contract to run Glacier Park’s big lodges and red bus service earlier this year, beating out Glacier Park Inc. for the contract.

The red buses were housed in a facility in East Glacier for the past 32 years, when GPI had the contract.

In addition to the red buses, Xanterra is also looking at converting the former Pamida buildings on U.S. 2 in Columbia Falls into offices, a warehouse and a laundry.

The larger building would be used as a warehouse and laundry, and the smaller building would be used for offices. Both facilities would mean 35 full-time jobs in the city, which has a host of vacant commercial buildings.

Ducharme, who lives in Columbia Falls and is a member of the Columbia Falls Rotary Club, said Xanterra was attracted to the city because of its quality of life and amenities for current and prospective employees.

Xanterra will lay out its plans for the Pamida property to city leaders after the holidays, and if all goes well will finalize the sale and start working on the property in February.

“We don’t want to move forward without (the city’s) full support,” Ducharme said.

Xanterra is currently renting rooms at Meadow Lake Resort for office space, as it hasn’t had much time to prepare for the Glacier Park contract.

Awarded in August, the contract won’t be signed until after the first of the year, Park spokeswoman Denise Germann said. The contract was slated for signing by Jan.1, but the two-week government shutdown in October contributed to the delay, Germann said.

Xanterra is no stranger to running concessions in national parks. It holds the concession contracts for Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, Crater Lake and the Grand Canyon, as well as several other national parks or monuments.