I think there are several reasons why the Ashford business community is not more critical of the NPS for these closures. As Andy said, the local patronage mostly covers overhead in the lean winter months, so they could be hurt by any informal boycott by the 150 or so NPS employees, if perceived as hostile or uncooperative by park management. They also rely on recommendations from NPS employees during the summer season. Finally, those businesses between the RMI shuttle-bus station and the park entrance could see reduced traffic in case of future restrictions on private vehicles. Mount Rainier's General Management Plan talks about the perceived need for increasing mass-transit in the future. The pattern in other parks has been for these shuttle systems to become manadatory, and for private vehicles (other than hotel guests) to be banned.
