Zion National Park officials are trying to figure out how to replace their aged fleet of shuttle buses/Kurt Repanshek file

After 19 years driving up and down Zion Canyon, it should be a surprise that the shuttle bus fleet at Zion National Park is beyond its expected life. What also shouldn't be surprising is that replacement parts for the fleet are getting harder to find, and funding to replace the buses is also hard to come by.

"At some point things need to get replaced, so we’re working on that, but it’s a big price tag," Zion Superintendent Jeff Bradybaugh said. "We’re trying to get funding through various grant sources and things like that.”

The fleet of 39 buses has provided a great service the past two decades for the park and its visitors, navigating the tight and narrow two-lane road that runs up Zion Canyon to the final stop at the Temple of Sinawava, where the Virgin River flows out of a slot canyon. It's taken countless private vehicles off the road, shuttled hikers through the canyon, and allowed visitors to sit back and relax while gazing at the towering sandstone cliffs.

While the contractor that manages the fleet for the park has done an incredible job maintaining the buses so far, said Bradybaugh, there's only so much mechanics can do with the well-aged fleet.

"We’re going to start running into problems," the superintendent predicted during a recent phone call. "For example, wheelchair lifts. We’ve discovered because one or two broke down that those lifts are no longer, that particular lift, is no longer manufacturerd. And there’s not replacement parts. So we have to find something else and retrofit.

"The engine on the propane buses is no longer manufactured, and hasn’t been for quite a while," added Bradybaugh. “By law, the manufacturers have to produce replacement parts for a period of time. That perod is now coming to an end, so we’re scrambling around buying up all the replacement engine parts we can find. It’s just time. They’re well beyond their life cycle for the type of bus that we’re talking about. The life cycle is about 12 years. Obivously, we’re six or seven, eight years beyond that."

A new fleet won't come inexpensively. Bradybaugh said current estimates for 29 new buses run close to $23 million, while installing 10 electric shuttle charging stations would add another $1.5 million to the bill.