Originally Posted by
tandempower
I agree, and when I go to otherwise-wonderful natural preserves and see all the cars parked and all the people walking as if they're at an amusement park, it bothers me; but when I think about what it would be like if there was a train line or direct bus connection, I think it might get even worse. Compare US national parks with touristy parts of, say, Switzerland, where there are trains and cable lifts, etc. Gatlinburg and Pidgeon Forge are touristy, and it's certainly understandable to have some touristy areas like that, but given the way humans behave when they all flock to just about any destination, I wonder if making such places transit accessible isn't even worse than having them easily accessible by driving. I don't know if it's possible to entrust the transit-using public with responsible stewardship of natural areas if they get car-free access to them.
if you barred car access and only allowed train access, and designed pedestrian friendly gondolas and monorails etc, instead of roads to get people to widely scattered sites inside the park, the park could handle a lot more visitors than it can if they come by car, and drive around inside the park. Some interior roads could be reinvented as hiking trails where appropriate, with the right of way narrowed from 50 feet to 6 feet or 3 feet, or whatever, and trees replacing asphalt.
If visitors to a park started to exceed capacity, it would be up to the park stewards to figure out how to limit access while maintaining fairness. by perhaps rationing permits or whatever. That way more people could enjoy the park without the park necessarily sustaining more stress or feeling more crowded. People take up a lot less space than cars.