So you wanna to be a Glacier Red Bus Driver? Part 6: West vs East

DISCLAIMER: Everything in this series is solely based on my own personal experience as a Red Bus tour driver in Glacier Park. The metrics from which I derive many of my insights and conclusions are based specifically on my abilities and performance alone. As with driving a car, your mileage WILL vary.

Now, I could go on for hours about the differences between the West side and the East side of Glacier National Park. After all, we are talking about 1,000,000 acres that are basically cut in half by the Continental Divide of the Great Rockies. So many differences in flora, fauna, geology, and even basic weather. But this series is about dissecting what it takes to be a Jammer, and West versus East takes on a whole new meaning.

The West side is more popular and preferred by older and returning drivers. You get to stay in the Coram RV park (in your Class A or palatial travel trailer you brought from home).

This keeps the wife happy. You are close to shopping, grocery stores, movie theaters, and all those nice things that civilization is known for. All while being just ten miles outside the West entrance to the Park.

On the East side, you are a couple of hours from a real grocery store, no entertainment per se, and you have to be pretty self-reliant. Services are VERY limited, as everything is only just seasonal and shuts down after the summer is over. That is why last season all of the East side Jammers (except one) were first-year, younger, and female (to be specific, we had three out of the four female drivers hired last season). Welcome to the Land of Misfit Toys.

Now if you are into the outdoors, be it hiking, climbing, biking, fishing, kayaking, or cycling, etc., etc., there is no comparison between East and West. East is closer to Logan Pass and the more remote parts of the Park. Fewer people and less crowded (if you know where to go). The wildlife is incredible, and the open sweeping views and dry climate is just amazing. Yes, the East side is where you want to be unless you are a hard-core city dweller.

Now from a Jammer perspective, there is a real logistics challenge in getting 33 vintage buses in sync with the target number of 45 drivers (a target not always made nor kept).

This number is critical in creating and maximizing the 2-off 5-on work schedule that will keep these ancient machines cranking out coin seven days a week for four months. When trying to align drivers to this magical formula, the number of course is lucky 7. Multiples of seven are key.

As the West side is more populated, there are more tours, and the target is about 28 drivers. On the East side, it’s a lot leaner, so the target is half of the West at about 14. Then of course there are still some Big Sky Circle Tours that run out of East Glacier Lodge, and they normally get about three drivers down there.

Now, remember, these buses need regular maintenance throughout this season. Like oil changes and other things because we will be putting on them around 10,000 miles each throughout the summer. At the same time, things do break down and need to be fixed. So buses go to the shop fairly frequently.

For West side buses stationed out of the Coram RV park, it’s a quick 10-minute hop down to the shop in Columbia Falls. For those on the East side stationed at a Beargrass RV park, it’s a 140-mile round trip (IF the Going to the Sun Road is open) and it is going to take the better part of a full day to get there and back.

One would think that all of the brand-new buses coming back from the couple hundred thousand dollar refurbishment each spring would go to the East side. The cost of breaking down and getting them serviced is so much higher if they get stranded that far away from the shop than on the West side.

But there is currently a poison pill called the Many Glacier Road. This road has been under construction and rebuilding for the last several years. There is still a patch of 2.3 miles that is some of the worst pot-holed dusty Mad Max gravel you will ever drive.

It beats up the buses so badly that the new refurbs stay on the West side. Thus, the East siders get those that are “less prone to break down.” For some reason, I think that is a purely subjective statement.

Oddball things can happen too. Like when I was in bus 94 last summer. It had just come back from refurbishment with a brand-new engine and transmission and some other nice bits. Who could predict that a fuel rail would come loose and spray gasoline everywhere.? Or that I would have to sit there for three hours while the mechanic drove from the other side of the Continental Divide? Bonus: My tour was canceled because we didn’t have any spare buses. Ouch.

But as a Red Bus Driver, the difference in terrain is important when it comes to your tour narratives. Each side has the half-day Western/Eastern Alpine trip, which goes up to Logan Pass and back. However, from the West side, it will go from as far as Apgar at the bottom of Lake McDonald to the Pass. On the East side, from potentially the Many Glacier Hotel to the Pass.

Although each is a little over 30 miles one way, the West Side is basically all forest until the last six miles after the Loop when you drive The Wall. The East side is open country the entire way, and you take in the grandeur of the Many Glacier Valley, St Mary Valley, and the Eastern Plains of the Blackfeet Nation. Two entirely different narratives. Two incredibly diverse tours.

Both sides of the park share the all-day Crown of the Continent tour, which can stretch from Apgar to Many Glacier for both West and East. Sixty-five miles EACH way can be a long time to spend in a 1930s bus that was designed for shuttling people from hotel to hotel.

Drivers will be the most familiar with the side of the Park they are based, so you can expect some knowledge gaps on these all-day outings. Which always gets to be too long for most people (and more so kids). These tours are popular with those who have limited time and want ‘to do’ the Park in a day.

A fool’s errand. I always suggest that if you want to experience both sides of the park, the half-day tours from each side on separate days are always more rewarding. Match the tour driver to the side of the Park they are based on.

I’ve touched on group tours before. They are all over the board. You might just get one in the AM or PM and have a half day free. You might have to drive to the West empty and bring people back (and vice versa). Most are custom, so that means anywhere from 1.5 to 6ish hours of actual touring time. These tours stop you from getting burned out, and in my experience, even with the BELLGRAT tip baked-in that I wouldn’t see for a couple of weeks, I still came away with cash. And when you get a group that has been traveling together for a week, they can really be FUN.

As I said when talking tips in a past post, I loved these group tours. Some would argue, but I think they are the most profitable and just plain enjoyable given the different textures of the groups.

Although you get more cash tips (sometimes) from the price-per-seat Eastern Alpine or a Crown of the Continent, those are long days. The Alpines are always run as a double (AM/PM) back-to-back. That’s 200 miles of driving and 14 hours once you put the bus to bed at night. The Crown will be a little less at 170 miles and 11-12 hours. Whenever the hours $$ outpace your tips $$, you are on the wrong side of the math.

Touring profitability for the driver is all about volume and tour mix. The West Side gives more tours because there is more population over there. Airports, hotels, towns, civilization. The East Side has little lodging or amenities. Most of the visitors come from the East side as a part of an extended trip FROM the West side.

According to demand, the East only runs in high summer 1 Crown of the Continent per day. The West side runs a whopping 6. The East only runs 1 double Alpine a day. West side runs a crazy 6-8 of those tours.

But to make the math fun, the West sees a LOT fewer group tours. In the East, we got a HUGE number of them dropping down out of Canada as part of a Canadian Rockies Circle Tour thingy. This explains why half of all of my tours were these wonderful group package tours. Keep em coming.

On the East side, I found a standard five-day week would normally of one double Alpine, one Crown, and on average three days of group tours (which can be one or two tours a day). That changes depending on staffing, time of the season, and how many tours were sold.

Although I never worked more than six days straight, I did have a week where I worked three Crowns back-to-back in a row, and another with at least two double Alpine back-to-back. Those were so unbelievably brutal I can’t put them into words. Very high potential for burnout with that schedule.

But for the West siders, with x6 the tour volume and only x2 the staff, a driver can expect to do at LEAST TWO double Alpines and TWO Crowns in a five-day week. Wow. Those drivers hope for maybe one group tour in the mix just to keep their sanity.

So for a Westie, their adjusted cash tip to BELLGRATE ratio would likely be reversed from mine (40/20 vs my 20/40). And I have to think that West side tourists, especially those staying outside the park at more affluent accommodations and potentially different social economic attributes, would probably on the whole tip better that the mostly family groups we see on the East side. Of course, I can’t speak to that directly. Hmmmm. Maybe have to go back another summer and be a Jammer on the West Side.

So, you want to be a Red Bus Driver yet? The best part (or the worst) is coming up next. Time to talk money!!