This makes me think of 2001, when the NPS had gone through a full study and analysis of transportation at the Grand Canyon, and recommended light rail as the best value alternative. But two Arizona Federal politicans put the kabash on the idea, because attendance was flat the previous two years, even though attendance had tripled to around 4.5 million annually over the last 30 years. Attendance is slowly creeping towards the 5 million mark, not to mention the number of staff required to attend to that number who also need transportation in, out and around the park. The Park can't handle the auto and pedestrian traffic, which is effecting the quality of the visit experience and the local climate, and its bleeding money on extra staff and transportation contracts required to keep up with keeping people moving. Decisions like this should be left to the subject matter experts, like transportation experts and, in the Grand Canyon example, Park and NPS staff, and politicans should just keep out of it.
