Tour buses on Nacimiento

UPDATE: As a direct result of this post, and emails I and others sent when they saw this, and to comments posted on social media about this incident, SeeMonterey on FB added a disclaimer to their repost of the Vogue article, citing the dangerousness of Nasty, advising returning on 1 to 68; MoCoOES published the photo below and this:

”Monterey County and Big Sur love our visitors, but we want you to come and go safely.
This tour bus was headed to Nacimiento-Fergusson Road yesterday to cut across to Highway 101. N-F is a road that is a challenge for regular vehicles. Thanks to intervention by locals, disaster was averted.
Please spread the word, N-F is an important access route to Big Sur, but not for all vehicles!”

And Cal Trans just sent me this: “Caltrans has taken out “Nacimiento-Fergusson from it being an alternate route from our website (Ca Hwy Info Network [CHIN], I will also take it out of my updates starting with my next update on Monday, Oct. 30.” Thank you all for hearing our concerns.

**********************************

It almost happened yesterday – the bus driver was confident he could make it and didn’t want to listen to any advice. This thing below just happened to stop at Lucia. An employee asked him where he was going. He replied he was “going to LA over that Naci-something road.” After she laughed in his face, and told his passengers they would be better off taking an extra hour or so to go back than getting stuck up on Naci all night long. Meanwhile, another employee started working on the passengers, describing the perils of the road. The on-board bathroom would be really ripe by morning. Had he actually gone up Naci (he couldn’t possibly have made it) he would have gotten stuck at some point, closing down Nacimiento-Fergusson Rd.

B9B2F4C1-4FB7-428B-BC06-2D811EA8B91D

I think we all need to contact all the local Chambers of Commerce and the Monterey Visitors & Travel Bureau, and anyone else we might think could get the word out. I am sending this photo and description to our County supervisor, MoCo Public Works, and Cal Trans. TOUR BUSES CANNOT MAKE IT ACROSS NACIMIENTO RD.

 

 

 

32 thoughts on “Tour buses on Nacimiento”

  1. OMG. Can’t they post something on either end of N-F saying absolutely no vehicle over a certain length and width and then fine the heck out of them if they even try it?

  3. Kate,

    Is it possible to get to Lucia Lodge? From the north,,, or south?

    Thank you for your reports.

    Trent

  4. I think your being a little hard on the driver Kate. That bus can’t be more than 5 feet over the 30 foot limit. It would be the driver’s first rodeo.

  5. Could’ve gotten stuck, most probably. Could’ve ended in disaster (off the edge and death), quite possible. Bathroom “ripe” indeed…or the side of the road. “We wants what we wants when we wants it”, no matter what and common sense be damned. I feel for y’all.

  9. I would like to hear (possibly watch) what happens when the first two 30 footers meet up – now you’re talking rodeo!

  12. They should also post signs on Carmel Valley Rd between the Village and Arroyo Seco Rd

  14. The village of CBTS has trouble with some of these same bus operators—the big white ones with no identifiable markings—in not following the bus and truck route. They consistently ignore the signage and go off-route. Sometime the tour guides misdirect the driver. Sometimes GPS systems take them astray. And there there are those bus drivers who don’t give a darn about local rules.

  15. This looks suspiciously like the bus that held up traffic between Pt. Lobos and Rio Rd. yesterday afternoon. I got the impression, from 8 or 9 cars back, that the driver was frightened and had never before been on that flat, straight, nothing inherently perilous to be afraid of stretch of highway. I hope someone got the license plate—one hopes that this particular idiot can be deterred from returning… though I must say, better Highway 1 than Nacimiento

  16. Article in Vogue suggesting Nasty, also posted on their web site and “See Monterey” FB page. (see BSK FB page)
    Keep pounding away at the See Monterey site. They are local (Vogue is where?? NY? China?), HOPEFULLY more in tune with the reality of our area… and visitors are more likely to find their site in a search for info than Vogue… Keep at it folks on ALL sites. Every little bit helps. The internet has a life of it’s own – feed it.

  18. “I think your being a little hard on the driver Kate. That bus can’t be more than 5 feet over the 30 foot limit. It would be the driver’s first rodeo.” Sounds like an uneducated comment by someone who’s not driven Nasty. It’s nearly 50′ long, but even if it was only 35′ THAT’S TOO BIG!!!!

  20. AaaAaaand some pinhead at the shell gas station in Big Sur is telling travelers to ‘take the easy and beautiful nacimiento road it easy.’ WTF?!?! Someone go slap some sense into him!

  27. Rose Ranch/Kate,

    Your comment on CVR beyond the village is right on the money and should be added too for sure.

  30. Carmel Valley Road East of the Village …. glad to be alive after encountering a huge bright blue truck with a long empty flat bed behind it, squeezing me in a blind curve, 3 feet in my lane. Wanted to go chase the bastard cause I was so angry … guess I should have been happy I squeezed by staying alive. Thought I would call the works in Cachagua where they are fixing last winter’s slide, completely blocking that road for several months while still in fire season, creating only one way out!

    I marvel continuously at wildlife’s lightness of being on this planet. How gracefully they are …. and how sad when they are lying dead on our roads

  31. Somewhere on that bus is a TCP# and a DOt# legally they have to be there.

    If ever you see a bus in the wrong place, snap a picture of those numbers and send em to me

    We can then track down the Operator, get the authorities involved and maybe even find that these folks are operating outside of their jurisdiction, which is often more times than not= Their permit to operate becomes not valid.

    -weston

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.