Providing Alternative Transportation at Joshua Tree National Park

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The MBTA is a joint powers authority and serves ten communities in the Morongo Basin. The MBTA and the NPS possess in common the powers to plan, operate, manage, and evaluate transportation improvements within and among their respective jurisdictions in and around Joshua Tree National Park (JOTR).Since 1980, annual visitation at JOTR has climbed from over 545,000 visitors to nearly 2,023,000 visitors in 2015, according to NPS visitor statistics. Increased visitation has resulted in impacts to both visitor services, in the form of increased traffic and lack of parking capacity, and to JOTR's resources. Due to JOTR's location in the Coachella Valley and Los Angeles air basins, which have experienced increased population growth and development activity since 1980, the Environmental Protection Agency has noted that air within JOTR's boundaries exceed acceptable ozone concentration levels. As a response to similar challenges, several NPS units have explored and implemented alternative transit systems in an effort to reduce negative impacts to the unit's resources and to the visitor experience. To date, NPS has partnered with local and regional partners in and around Grand Canyon National Park, Muir Woods National Monument, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, Yosemite National Park, and Zion National Park for alternative transit systems.In March 2012, JOTR and the MBTA met to begin conversations about a possible partnership to build a shuttle program for visitors coming to JOTR. In December 2012, a Business Plan Project request was made to the NPS Business Management group, knowing that this was an analysis that needed to be done. In the fall of 2013, JOTR partnered with the University of California at Irvine ("UCI") to coordinate research and create an Alternative Transportation Analysis.With the information gained from the Transportation Feasibility study from UCI, the MBTA and NPS agreed to jointly explore options to identify, administer and implement the work necessary to make a park visitor shuttle a reality.

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