New Emerald Bay Shuttle Service Begins in July 2025
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Every year, roughly 20 million people visit Lake Tahoe. Of those 20 million people, a significant portion flock to the beautiful sights and shore of Emerald Bay State Park. As such, it’s one of the top areas of the lake to visit.
Due to this, overcrowding and parking availability have plagued the area. Emerald Bay’s parking lot is tiny in comparison to the number of daily visitors it receives and because of its topography, there’s no real way to add more.
This has led to the lot filling quickly during the summer months and causing folks to illegally and dangerously park on the side of the road. Additionally, two popular hikes, Eagle Lake and Cascade Falls, are located along the same road, which has exacerbated the issue.
Emerald Bay Shuttle Service
In response to this, a new shuttle service to Emerald Bay will be launched on July 15, 2025. This service is funded by the Tahoe Fund and Keep Tahoe Blue in an effort to reduce traffic congestion in the area.
The overall goal of this new service is to offer visitors easy, convenient, and environmentally friendly access to Emerald Bay. As we all know, the more traffic you have in an area, the more harmful it is to the environment.
According to Tahoe Fund CEO Amy Berry, “With this new pilot, the hope is we will see reduced traffic congestion, improved safety along the roadside, and it will be easier for people to experience the incredible beauty of Emerald Bay without the hassle of finding a parking spot”.
In 2025, the Emerald Bay shuttle will operate daily from July 15 through October 15, between the hours of 9am and 5pm. These are the times when visitation is typically high at Emerald Bay. Before 9am and after 5pm, parking is generally easy to come by.
Emerald Bay Shuttle Tickets
At launch, fees to ride the Emerald Bay shuttle will be:
$10 for adults
$5 for kids aged 13 and under
This could present an issue and prevent the shuttle from becoming popular with visitors. Currently, it’s only $10 for a one day parking pass at Emerald Bay. This fee is per vehicle, not per person.
That means that a family visiting Emerald Bay will pay at least double that amount for the two adults, and that’s assuming none of the kids in the family are over 13 years old, which would tack on another $10 each.
Then, it’s another $5 for each kid under that age. When you consider the average family size in America is 4 (two adults, two kids), that means that a family will go from paying $10 to anywhere from $30 to $40 (or higher) to visit Emerald Bay.
I typically visit Emerald Bay once or twice every season and mostly go by myself. For me, that $10 is no big deal as I’m going to pay that anyway had I parked there. Families, however, will need to decide whether the convenience of not having to deal with parking hassles is worth the additional expense or not.
Currently, all that’s known is you’ll be able to purchase fares via a simple online reservation system, which will launch sometime in early July. We do not yet know if it’ll be possible to purchase fares on location.
Emerald Bay Shuttle Schedule
Accessing the shuttle will take place at multiple locations in Lake Tahoe and will depend on where you are and what day it is.
Monday - Thursday
Sugar Pine Point State Park (North Shore)
Camp Richardson (South Shore)
Friday - Sunday
Sugar Pine Point State Park (North Shore)
Camp Richardson (South Shore)
South Tahoe “Y” Transit Center (South Shore)
Shuttles from both weekday locations will drop off at the Vikingsholm (Emerald Bay) parking lot and run approximately every 50 minutes. On the weekends, shuttles will run approximately every 30 minutes, with the exception of the transit center shuttle, which will run every 70 minutes.
Is the Emerald Bay Shuttle a Good Thing?
In my opinion, yes, it’s a good thing. Traffic and parking congestion along Emerald Bay road, particularly during the summer months, is bonkers. This presents environmental and safety implications.
When the parking lots at Emerald Bay, Eagle Falls and Cascade Falls fill (which they often do) people start parking (illegally) on the side of the road in both directions. This increases the chance of vehicles being side-swiped or even worse - a pedestrian being hit.
Honestly, something like this has been a long time coming. Last year, reservations finally became a thing at equally popular Sand Harbor Beach State Park. I thought for sure that Emerald Bay would be the next to receive a reservation policy.
Despite them becoming more and more prevalent in national parks and other popular outdoor sites, reservations aren’t popular amongst travelers. Additionally, given the topography, I don’t see how it would be possible.
The shuttle, while expensive for groups, is easier to implement and is a happy medium. It’s optional now but depending on how successful it is, it’s entirely possible for it to become mandatory during specific days and timeframes, much like they do at Zion National Park.
At that point, expanding the shuttle service by adding additional drop-off locations would make sense. These could include nearby D.L Bliss State Park, as well as popular hiking trails like Eagle Lake. Time will tell.
I plan to test out and review the Emerald Bay shuttle once it launches next month. When I do, check back on this post as I’ll be sure to update it with a review of my experience.
