Revelstoke’s popular new rideshare service is taking passengers to new heights this month by getting the green light from Parks Canada to reinstate shuttle service up Mount Revelstoke National Park.
Revy Rides, which launched its three-van shuttle fleet last November, has been expanding its rider reach well beyond town with new routes to Martha Creek Provincial Park and the Skunk Cabbage and Giant Cedars boardwalk.
On May 27, the company announced that it would also kick off service up the Meadows in the Sky Parkway to the Mount Revelstoke summit, starting June 1. The service has since been transporting park visitors halfway up the parkway to the Columbia Viewpoint, while snow farther up the road continues to melt.
Revy Rides runs four return trips up the parkway daily, departing from the Parks Canada office at 301 Third St. West and charging $50 per passenger ($25 each direction). Groups of four or more receive a 25 per cent discount.
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To ensure no one wanting a ride is left stranded on the mountain, Revy Rides requires prospective passengers to book ahead online or via its smartphone app, no later than 12 hours in advance. Only about five per cent of its rides in the last seven months were arranged by call, rather than booking.
Once Parks Canada opens the rest of the 26-kilometre parkway for summer, ride service will expand to transport visitors to the Mount Revelstoke summit, where parking is limited and often full. Revy Rides shuttles may skip the line down at the parkway gate, and can also collect passengers from the Snowforest Campground.
It’s not the first time a shuttle service has operated on Mount Revelstoke.
Parks Canada told Black Press Media it previously ran a shuttle along the final kilometre of the parkway between Balsam and Heather lakes until discontinuing in 2020. A Tourism Revelstoke initiative subsequently brought separate shuttle services to the summit from 2021 to 2024 for Revelstoke’s summer wildflower festival.
Now, Parks Canada says it has approved an application from Revy Rides to operate independently in the national park, which includes the parkway, Skunk Cabbage and Giant Cedars.
“The operator is authorized to provide services in accordance with the conditions of its business licence and all applicable Parks Canada regulations,” public relations officer Guylaine St-Gelais said by email.
The idea for the bottom-to-top mountain shuttle service came organically for the Revy Rides team, including chief operating officer Brian Trafford, who used to visit Mount Revelstoke on trips from his previous home of Kelowna.
“Apart from the wildflower festival, they’ve never had a fixed-route, fixed-schedule shuttle all the way to the top,” he said, adding this now adds a nice option for “if I wanted a nice hike (at the summit) but didn’t want to put in 1,500 metres of elevation gain.”
Trafford said Revy Rides is excited for service to start soon, bringing riders all the way to the summit, ensuring equal access for visitors who can’t walk as far to enjoy the wildflower meadows in August.
“It provides some really incredible and accessible alpine hiking, which a lot of national parks can’t provide necessarily,” he added, mentioning that rather than visitors having to hike, bike or drive up the mountain, “it’s really cool to be able to provide an alternative for people.”
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Parkway service will continue until the end of September. For those wanting to hike longer distances or camp, the first morning shuttle up Mount Revelstoke will provide an express trip, whereas subsequent rides will stop for 10 to 15 minutes at each parkway lookout.
“Just so people don’t feel rushed, or like they skip over things,” Trafford explained.
Revy Rides has enjoyed swift uptake during its first winter and spring of operation. Between Nov. 17 and this last resort shoulder season, it drove more than 21,000 people and transported a high of 67 within a single hour.
“The average wait time was about 20 minutes over that period,” Trafford said.
The company operates two 12-seat electric shuttles, and supplements its fleet during peak demand with a 13-seat gas-powered van.
Trafford estimated that his team has carried 15 per cent of Revelstoke’s city and resort bus ridership, while also slashing 500 kilograms of carbon dioxide per 1,000 km on the road.
Along with daily runs up Mount Revelstoke, a shuttle leaves for Skunk Cabbage and Giant Cedars every Saturday at 1 p.m., and for Martha Creek every Sunday at 10 a.m.
To book a ride or learn more, visit revyrides.com/book-online.