Park Foundation cries foul on Red Bus deal

An organization of former Glacier Park, Inc. employees is raising concerns about the future of Glacier National Park’s Red Bus fleet.

At issue is a new concessions contract that includes oversight and operation of the fleet. The contract requires that the concessionaire — whether it remains GPI or another entity — to rehabilitate a minimum of 15 of the Red Buses in the first 12 years of the contract. The remaining 18 buses of the fleet of 33 will be replaced by 18 alternative fuel vehicles on a staggered schedule beginning in 2025, the contract states.

The National Park Service contract “encourages the concessioner to consider rehabilitating more than the minimum,” but it doesn’t require rehabilitation.

Therein lies the rub. The Glacier Park Foundation wants to see all the historic Red Buses rehabilitated under the contract, John Hagen, the president of the Foundation said last week.

The Foundation is a non-profit group of former employees of Glacier Park Inc. and its previous owners. Included in its membership are more than 100 Red Bus drivers, known as jammers. The Red Bus fleet has a storied history and is likely the oldest operational fleet of buses in the world.

The reds, as they’re commonly known, were last rehabilitated by the Ford Motor Co. in a $6.5 million project that involved the National Park Service, Glacier Park Inc. and the National Park Foundation.

GPI donated the buses to the National Park Foundation. Ford then took on the task of renovating the ailing fleet, which was decommissioned in 1999 after flaws were found in the frames. They returned to service in 2002 to much fanfare.

NPS took ownership of the rebuilt fleet, and GPI operated them. The value of the restored buses at the time was $7.8 million, or about $237,500 per bus, according to Park documents.

The buses date back to the 1930s and were originally built by the White Motor Co. Ford replaced the frames and the engines, which run on gasoline or propane, but the bodies largely remained true to history.

“The bodies are built like battleships,” Hagen said.

Hagen, who is also an attorney, said the Foundation has sent a letter to NPS asking that it amend the concessions contract to include rehabilitating the entire fleet, not just a portion of it. NPS doesn’t make clear in the contract what it plans to do with the remaining 18 buses.

Hagen notes that NPS requires that at least $4.1 million be spent on rehabilitating the 15 buses. The 18 alternative fuel vehicles can cost no less than $4.025 million, according to the contract. Hagen argues that by the Park’s own admission, replacing the buses costs nearly what it would to rehabilitate the entire fleet.

Glacier Park spokeswoman Denise Germann said NPS is investigating the issues raised by the Foundation. She said the contract was put together by a consultant in Washington, D.C. But she also said the Park Service’s intent is to keep the reds.

“Our intent is to keep the Red Buses. All 33 Red Buses,” Germann said.

The reason for the contract not requiring the rehab of all 33 buses is economics, she said. If a company has to rehab all the buses, they would remain Park Service property. With this contract, 18 buses would become the concessioner’s property.

Germann said the Park Service was trying to maintain a contract that was “economically feasible.”

The remaining fleet rehab could be funded by a different source, such as federal or private funding, Germann noted.

But Hagen said NPS should be forthcoming on its plans and hold public meetings before the issue is laid to rest. He said his organization has questions about the buses, including their current mileage and condition.

In addition, the Foundation has concerns about the buses being used outside of traditional Park routes — GPI currently uses the buses to ferry people at times back and forth to places like Whitefish and Kalispell. NPS has said in the past that it allows that use only on a limited basis.

Hagen said his group is disappointed that NPS crafted this Red Bus plan without consulting the public. Normally a decision like this is brought to public light before a document is finalized, he said. The Foundation is calling for the suspension of the contract until the matter can be further investigated.

“The proper remedy for the situation, we think, is to suspend the bidding,” he said. “The Park Service should make its data and its reasoning public, hold public meetings on the future of the buses, and allow a comment period. It should adopt a Red Bus plan, provide an addendum to the bidding documents on the basis of that plan, and then go forward with the bidding.”

Any decision on whether to suspend the contract or hold public meetings on the reds should come in the next few weeks, Germann said.

As it stands now, the contract will be let later this year, and the deadline for bids is in mid-March.