Page 1 of 1

disappearing shuttle services

Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 3:47 pm
by paul
I am tryng to find someone to shuttle 2 people from Whitney Portal to Yosemite this summer. Last year I spoke to someone at High Sierra Transportation about it, sounded like they were the way to go. Now I cannot make contact with them by phone or email, and can't find anybody else to do it. I actaully found a Dept. of Transportation website that lists all the licensed transportation companies, and theirs was suspended, othe companies I saw advertising for had licenses that had been revoked, or expired, etc. Anybody have any ideas for me?

Re: disappearing shuttle services

Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:19 am
by jimqpublic
It's not a profitable line of work for the very limited, very seasonal market. To do it legally you need a livery license, commercial insurance, business license, etc.

I think the best bet is hitch to Lone Pine, grab the Crest bus http://www.inyocounty.us/transit/CRESTpage.htm to Mammoth, then YARTS http://www.yarts.com/schedule.html bus to Yosemite. Unfortunately it looks like you would have to overnight at Mammoth (Shady Rest CG or MMRV park are right by the bus stops). Stay at MM RV park in the tent section and get hot showers and a soak in the hot tub.

Hitching from a trailhead to the nearest town usually works pretty well. Going the other way not so easy. Once the season gets going, and the Whitney Portal Store is open check out their forum to see if a transportation operator reappears.

Re: disappearing shuttle services

Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 3:45 pm
by The Other Tom
Check out this website........http://www.climber.org/data/shuttles.html

Re: disappearing shuttle services

Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 12:56 pm
by paul
I looked at that - most of the numbers are for services that are no longer operating.

Re: disappearing shuttle services

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 6:16 pm
by mtwhitneyshuttle
Paul,

The Mt. Whitney Shuttle Service (http://www.mtwhitneyshuttle.com) based in Lone Pine (760-876-1915) will be in operation again this summer. The permit that it has from the Calif. PUC to carry passengers and its commercial insurance will be reactivated in time for the summer season. I'm told that you can see testimonials from some of my customers last summer by doing a search for Bob E. on the whitneyportalstore.com Web site.

You could hire the Mt. Whitney Shuttle Service to take you all the way from the Portal to Sequoia, but that is a very long round trip from Lone Pine, so the fare is somewhat expensive. There are less expensive ways to it if you schedule it right and are willing to deal with a bit of inconvenience to save a lot of money.

One way to do it is to have us pick you up at the Portal and take you to Lone Pine so that you can catch the CREST bus to Ridgecrest on Mon., Wed., or Fri. in order to get an Avis rental car to drive back to Visalia or Sequoia and pick up your other car. If you only have one driver in your group, you can leave the Avis car in Visalia and catch the Sierra Shuttle into the park. If you have two drivers, you can go into the Park and pick up your other car, then drop the Avis car in a nearby town on your way out.

Also, take a look at the twice monthly dates for the shuttle for HST hikers at http://www.sequoiatours.com/

Send me an e-mail soon (rwennis@lonepinetv.com) for a copy of the Portal to Sequoia travel suggestions that I'm putting together for my customers to post on the beginnings of my Web site.

I hope your trip works out well for you.

Re: disappearing shuttle services

Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2008 6:21 pm
by BSquared
Thanks very much for posting, Bob!

Re: disappearing shuttle services

Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 10:49 am
by fishmonger
great to hear this Bob!

I'll be calling you soon for a ride from Whitney Portal to either Mammoth Lakes or somewhere in Yosemite in mid July.

I've been researching my options for the last few months and it seemed like I'd have to do two-day bus relay from Lone Pine to Mammoth to Yosemite to get to the trailheads there.

Peter