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Parks Canada saw massive demand when it released the first batch of summer shuttle reservations this week for Lake Louise and Moraine Lake, with about 75,000 people entering the online queue in the first hour.
By the end of the day, roughly 40,000 bookings were made, a substantial jump from the 30,000 bookings made on opening day last year.
There are a few potential reasons for the increase, says Colin DeBaie, a Parks Canada employee who oversees the shuttle program.
“We do expect that the Canada Strong announcement has led to some of this increase,” he said, referring to free admission to national parks this summer, “but we’re hopeful also that the message that we have been working to put out over the last number of years is also gaining more traction.”
Both Moraine Lake and Lake Louise in Banff National Park have seen record-breaking visitation in recent years. Extreme traffic congestion at Moraine Lake led Parks Canada to permanently close vehicle access in 2023, and tourists can now only visit by shuttle, the Roam bus or private tour buses.
Parks Canada released 40 per cent of its shuttle seats to both lakes for the summer on Wednesday at 8 a.m. MT. DeBaie says around 75 per cent of those seats were sold.
People canoe across iconic Lake Louise in the Rocky Mountains in Alberta. (Paul Zizka Photography/Banff & Lake Louise Tourism)
The agency is also in the middle of consultations on its visitor use management for the Lake Louise area, including looking at banning car access to the lake in the summer.
Adding more shuttles to the system is an option being looked at as a part of the review, but no decisions have been made, DeBaie says.
While peak summer dates and times sold out fast, DeBaie says, the system itself worked well.
“I can’t really speak to individuals [getting] their preferred time, but as far as the process goes, it rolled out smoothly. Everything functioned well. Most people were able to find a time,” he says.
Because of the high demand and limited supply, he recommends visitors plan ahead by reviewing the booking system before reservations open and be flexible with travel dates and times.
For the people who weren’t able to book, DeBaie says 60 per cent of the shuttle tickets are released on a rolling basis throughout the summer, two days before a scheduled shuttle ride.
Private operators
Some visitors are hesitant to wait until two days before their travel date to book shuttles, so they turn to private operators instead.
Parks Canada shuttles cost $12.75 per adult, while private operators can charge more than $100 for guaranteed access.
Jesse Kitteridge, the owner of the Moraine Lake Bus Company, says the day Parks Canada opens their shuttle reservation system is his busiest of the year.
“At 8:30 in the morning we start seeing our bookings climb as people are getting into the queue and then not getting the tickets that they wanted,” he says.
He says most of his guests are international tourists, and they are willing to pay more to secure a guaranteed spot.
“So they’ve already booked their flight, their hotel. Seeing Moraine Lake and Lake Louise is a bucket list item,” Kitteridge says. “And so they’re not willing to risk not being able to get tickets later, especially after an experience with being number 50,000 in a queue.”
‘Visitors have a much clearer path to actually visiting’
Parks Canada says there is a reason it holds back 60 per cent of tickets until a few days before the shuttle travels. It used to be the other way around: 60 per cent released early and 40 per cent held back.
“We did start to see an increase in the amount of people making a reservation but then not utilizing that reservation on the day of travel,” DeBaie says.
Now that more tickets are held back until a few days before travel, the number of no-shows has dropped, he says.
Despite hearing complaints from visitors about having to take a shuttle instead of their personal vehicles, Kitteridge says it has improved access overall.
“A few years ago, most people would drive up to Moraine Lake and get turned away. Now, even though it requires some planning, visitors have a much clearer path to actually visiting,” he says.