What's the best way to get to and from Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau?

Evergreen charged me $32.20 one way and $33 the other. Must have been a meter. Also paid them $7 for each of us for admission to visitor center. Unless someone is alone, it makes no sense to pay for a $45 shuttle.

Hi, how long ago did you take the taxi to Mendenhall Glacier? I just ordered evergreen taxi today from cruise dock to Mendenhall Glacier. The trip was $36 one way. but I also had to pay $17 entry fee to the glacier. I searched online, someone mentioned the company began to charge commercial vehicle price of $17 on June 1st. Wasn’t happy because the entry fee is $5 according to the national park visitor center

I'm not hubofhockey, but just curious: Was that $17 entry fee just for you? There weren't others in the cab, right? Sounds like a ripoff to me. Here are a couple other cab company phone numbers in case anyone wants them: Glacier Taxi & Tours 907.796.2300, Juneau YellowCab 907.790.4511, Capital 586.2772

I'm not hubofhockey, but just curious: Was that $17 entry fee just for you? There weren't others in the cab, right? Sounds like a ripoff to me. Here are a couple other cab company phone numbers in case anyone wants them: Glacier Taxi & Tours 907.796.2300, Juneau YellowCab 907.790.4511, Capital 586.2772

We have party of 8 using two taxi, every single one of us had to pay $17. I contacted evergreen, they said that’s how much they charge to get in the glacier. I contacted the glacier official, that’s their response:

Good morning – I’m sorry you had to take time out of your cruise vacation to look into this. Do you have the driver’s information from the cab company? As the permit administrator for the Mendenhall, I can assure you that I charge all 28 companies that are permitted to deliver clients to the Mendenhall the same fees. From taxis up to coach buses, they all are billed two fees: a permit fee and a site fee. Their permit fee is around $2.00/client (and the permit fee applies to any company, anywhere they are permitted to deliver clients on the Forest) and the site fee for the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center Unit is $5.00 for clients age 16 and up. So essentially I’m charging them either $7.00 for adults or $2.00 for kids for every client they bring out to the site. I bill them directly for these fees. Understandably, they want to recoup those charges so they add that on to what the meter says for those trips specifically going to the Mendenhall.

This year, I know the taxi companies raised their rates to the Mendenhall as they discovered that if the group was larger than 2 folks, the shuttle buses running back and forth from town had a higher overall charge and the taxis couldn’t keep up with the demand at their lower price point. Also, our commercial use to the Mendenhall is limited based on environmental analysis (we only have so much room in the visitor center, on our trails, in the restrooms and for parking). Each company has a limit as to how many clients they can bring out during the course of the summer. So there is a supply and demand issue. Of course, the federal government doesn’t set pricing for private commercial businesses. The Forest Service handbook only sets what I can charge them for the site fee and permit fee as part of their permit to run their business on the Forest. After that, all the companies from taxis to coach buses, set and regulate their own pricing.

So in a nutshell, of the $17.00/person you were charged above the meter, $7.00 of that goes back to the Federal Government for the permit fee and site fee, and $10.00 is the company’s own additional charge. I’ve heard them refer to it as their “business fee” for having additional staff on in the summer to operate dispatch offices and administer/track use related to their special use permit. FYI, we do require the companies legally permitted to come out to the glacier to collect the site fee/permit fee from their clients for us. With over a half million visitors to the site per summer off the cruise ships, we don’t have the capacity to have each individual client come up and get their day pass. The lines would be unbearable.

I’m not sure how many folks were in your group, but if you had more than two folks, you still paid about the same or even less than if you’d taken the shuttle buses that run from downtown and definitely paid less than a tour package of some sort. If that makes you feel better, I’ve crunched the numbers a few times with folks. Folks have a variety of options to get to the site. From renting a car, taking the city bus and walking down the rest of the way, to shuttle buses/taxies/package tours. They all have their own pros/cons and price points which travelers need to research in advance and decide on their preferred method.

Hope this helps explain things! Please enjoy the rest of your cruise and time in Alaska!

Sincerely, Jessie

Jessica Schalkowski

Special Use Permit Administrator

Tongass National Forest - Admiralty NM/Juneau RD

8510 Mendenhall Loop Rd, Juneau AK 99801

(907) 789-6279

jlschalkowski@fs.fed.us

Thank you for researching and posting that -- interesting, and a very thoughtful response from the Forest Service employee.

I guess with cruising becoming so popular, everyone's prices have gone up, although I'm sure the price of gas factors into that increase as well. It doesn't seem like it was long ago that I was reading that the price that the two shuttle bus companies were charging was a lot less than $45!

We paid $97 (non-refundable) for a rental car to see Mendenhall and a few other places out on the highway, plus paid for a bit of gas and a taxi to the car rental place. It wasn't a bargain cheap day in Juneau, but I'm sure we had more fun and spent less money than if we had simply booked a ship or private excursion.

Evergreen taxi has a 35 fee per car. Google them and call them. One of their vehicles can seat 10.

We used Evergreen last week and would definitely recommend that again. We got lucky and found a couple on our Harv & Marv whale watching tour that was also planning to go to Mendenhall afterwards, and were on the same cruise ship as us, so we invited them to share our taxi and split the cost there and on our way back to the cruise ships.