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March 25, 2025 – In an era when parking lots at iconic viewpoints routinely fill before sunrise, a handful of U.S. national parks offer a workaround that the founders of the system might have approved: complete access by public transit. Seven parks in the National Park System now operate dedicated shuttle networks, historic trains, or ferries that whisk visitors from gateway towns directly to trailheads, overlooks, and even remote islands. No rental car, no parking reservation, no idling in a bumper-to-bumper line at the entrance gate.
The concept is not new—Zion National Park banned private vehicles from its scenic canyon drive in 2000—but the infrastructure has expanded and improved. In 2024, Glacier National Park recorded a record 3.3 million visitors, and 62% of those entering via the west entrance used the free shuttle rather than their own car. Acadia’s Island Explorer fleet now runs on 100% propane, cutting emissions by an estimated 80% compared to gasoline. Below, a guide to the seven parks where the journey itself—by rail, bus, or sea—is part of the experience.
From March through November, Utah’s Zion Canyon Scenic Drive is closed to all private vehicles. The only way in is a free, propane-powered shuttle that departs every six to ten minutes during peak hours from the visitor center. It climbs 1,200 feet through a 2,000-foot-deep canyon of Navajo sandstone, passing the Great White Throne, Angel’s Landing trailhead, and the Temple of Sinawava.
Most visitors fly into Las Vegas (120 miles southwest) and take a regional bus or shuttle service to the town of Springdale, where a free town trolley connects directly to the park entrance. The National Park Service recently extended the shuttle season to run from early March through Thanksgiving, citing increased demand for car-free access. In 2024, the shuttle carried 4.2 million passengers—nearly triple the number from a decade ago.
The Grand Canyon Railway has operated since 1901, but today it offers the only direct public transit route to the South Rim. The steam or diesel train departs Williams, Arizona, every morning and arrives at the depot just steps from the rim. Amtrak’s Southwest Chief stops in Flagstaff, 30 miles east; a free shuttle connects Flagstaff to Williams in about 40 minutes.
Once inside the park, a free shuttle system runs four main routes May through September. The Hermit Road route, closed to cars year-round, is served exclusively by shuttle and stops at nine overlooks over seven miles. A 14-mile paved Greenway Trail parallels the rim for cyclists and hikers. The National Park Service recently added an accessible shuttle stop at Mather Point, the most popular viewpoint, complete with a tactile map for visually impaired visitors.
Home to 25 active glaciers and some of the oldest exposed rock in North America (1.6 billion years old), Glacier National Park restricts vehicle access along its signature Going-to-the-Sun Road from July through September. A free hop-on, hop-off shuttle with multiple connector lines runs the full 50-mile route, climbing to 6,646 feet at Logan Pass.
Parking at Logan Pass typically fills by 6 a.m.; the shuttle is the only reliable way for most visitors to reach the alpine meadows where mountain goats and bighorn sheep graze among beargrass in July. Amtrak’s Empire Builder stops at both East Glacier and West Glacier, within a few miles of the park, and a park shuttle meets the train. In 2024, the park added real-time tracking for its shuttle fleet via the NPS app, helping visitors plan connections.
Maine’s Acadia National Park uses the free Island Explorer—a propane-powered fleet that runs from late May through mid-October. Routes connect the park’s granite peaks, Jordan Pond (where the water mirrors the Bubbles peaks), Sand Beach (made of crushed shell and mineral fragments), and the carriage roads.
A separate Cadillac Mountain Shuttle (fare-based, $4 per ride) climbs 3.5 miles to the 1,530-foot summit—the highest point on the North Atlantic seaboard. To reach the park without a car, visitors typically fly into Bangor International Airport and take a bus to Bar Harbor, or use multiple bus connections from Boston. In 2025, the town of Bar Harbor launched a year-round commuter bus that connects to the Island Explorer’s Village Green stop.
No bridge or road connects the five islands of Channel Islands National Park to the mainland. The only public option is the Island Packers ferry, which runs year-round (daily April to early November) from Ventura Harbor to Santa Cruz and Anacapa Islands. Crossings take 1 to 1.5 hours, depending on weather. During peak season, whale-watching is common: blue whales, humpbacks, and dolphins often surface near the boat.
Santa Cruz Island, the largest, features Painted Cave sea caves and the endemic Channel Islands fox. Anacapa has a 40-foot natural stone bridge and a lighthouse built in 1932. The nearest Amtrak stop (Ventura, on the Pacific Surfliner) is about 5 miles from the ferry terminal. A new bike-share program launched in Ventura in 2024 offers electric bikes for the last mile, and a local taxi service provides a $10 flat rate to the harbor—a more practical option than walking the industrial stretch.
Seventy miles west of Key West, Dry Tortugas National Park consists of Fort Jefferson—an unfinished 19th-century fortress surrounded by a sea moat on Garden Key—and 100 square miles of protected waters. The Yankee Freedom III ferry is the sole public transport, departing at 8 a.m. daily. The crossing takes about 2.5 hours.
To reach Key West without a car, FlixBus and Greyhound both serve the island city from Miami and other mainland hubs. The park’s waters contain the third-largest barrier reef system in the world, offering some of the best snorkeling in the Florida Keys. Tropical fish, coral, and sea turtles thrive here, though the National Park Service reports a 50% decline in live coral cover since 2015 due to rising water temperatures. A new coral restoration program, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, planted 10,000 fragments in 2024.
These seven parks prove that the American road trip doesn’t require a road—or a car. As the National Park Service pushes toward net-zero emissions by 2032, expect more parks to follow Zion’s lead: ban the car, improve the transit, and let the landscape speak for itself.
