We’ve all been frustrated at being caught at the Park gates in a long line-up of people wanting to travel to Jasper. To its credit, Parks is currently working on improving flow-through at the gates, and hopes to decrease wait times by as much as 30 percent.

In last week’s online poll, we asked if there should be a locals-only lane at the Park gates. 60 percent of respondents were in favour of this idea; the relatively large number of respondents suggests that the idea of specially-designated lanes deserves more discussion. 

The 5,000-or-so residents of Jasper are already especially blessed to live in such pristine surroundings, and it is difficult to justify placing their convenience above the discomfort of the millions of other people who wish to visit us, and who are probably as annoyed by line-ups as anyone else. 

Perhaps a fairer solution would be to have all commercial vehicles report to one lane. Or a lane could be designated cash-only, as the use of debit and credit cards significantly slows down the processing of paying visitors. There could be a lane for those planning to stop in Jasper, and another for those just passing through. Or one lane for official-language speakers and another for unintelligible foreigners... a lane devoted to RVs... the list of possible demarkations is virtually endless.

Probably the simplest solution to problems of traffic flow is to eliminate entry fees, and thus the gates, altogether. After all, Jasper is a Canadian National Park - is it not offensive to charge citizens for access to one of their own treasures? Indeed, it could be argued that as a World Heritage Site there should be no impediment to anyone who wishes to experience Jasper National Park.

Envision the uninterrupted pleasure of thousands of visitors as they cruise through our beautiful mountains. Imagine, as a local, the trip from Edmonton to Jasper without the irritation and aggravation of being forced to stop for no good reason - this is obviously why the call for a “locals only” lane has arisen. Quite simply, the benefits of the free flow of traffic to and from Jasper would far outweigh any negative impact on the federal purse as a result of eliminating the gates completely.

Some may argue that income from the gates is necessary to fund the upkeep of infrastructure in the Park, but this is misleading. While obviously it costs money to provide goods and services to visitors of a National Park, there are surely better means of providing the necessary funding than lifting it from the wallets of tourists who might otherwise spend that money on goods and services provided by Jasper’s businesses and their employees. The total spending of the Parks Canada Agency – the body responsible for the funding of our National Parks – amounted to $610.5 million in 2009. One less billion-dollar Harper photo-op in Toronto would more than cover the entire National Parks budget, and surely similar waste could be found annually to eliminate the need for National Parks fees anywhere in Canada.