BEND, Ore. — On busy summer days along the Deschutes River, parking near the put-in has gotten so crowded that a Bend outfitter is shuttling floaters to and from the river in electric golf carts instead.

Sun Country Tours, a Bend, Oregon-based outfitter, offers a $28-per-person shuttle service using street-legal electric golf carts that drives river floaters from the Mt. Bachelor park and ride lot on Columbia Avenue to the put-in at RiverBend Park, then picks them up three hours later at Drake Park. Operational Supervisor Hannah Bolger, known as the “Tube Queen,” runs the service with three carts that each seat five people. Other river shuttle options in Bend include Tumalo Creek Kayak and Canoe Company, which charges the same $28 price, and Cascades East Transit, which charges $5 per day.

“As far as personal vehicles, if you really don’t want to get into a fight with your partner and it’s a family thing, I don’t recommend it. Parking is kind of crazy and it just keeps getting crazier,” said Hannah Bolger with Sun Country Tours.

Try this instead: park your car at the Mt. Bachelor park and ride lot on Columbia Avenue and hop onto a Sun Country Tours street legal electric golf cart with float tubes strapped on top.

“Once they load up here, we take them down to the dirt parking lot on Columbia Street next to the dog park and the bike rentals. Point them to the put-in at Riverbend park and that’s where they launch,” Bolger said.

Drake Park is the primary pick up spot, though guests can request an earlier pickup at McKay Park.

For $28 per person, Sun Country Tours will rent you a tube and shuttle you and your guests to the put-in at RiverBend Park. Three hours later they’ll pick you up at Drake Park and bring you back to your car at the Mt. Bachelor Park and Ride lot on Columbia Avenue a few blocks away from the congestion around the river.

This sounds delightfully simple. I’ll bet there will be a lot of people who will be happy to hear that they don’t have to look for parking and don’t have to fight all the congestion around the river.

“Honestly, it’s been great,” Bolger said. “We can seat five people in each cart. We have three carts. We are hoping to get a couple of more next year, just have a fun, new experience on the river.”

Hannah Bolger’s official title is Operational Supervisor for Sun Country Tours. Unofficially, she’s know as the “Tube Queen.” She’s got years of experience wrangling float tubes for outfitters that have helped thousands of people enjoy floating the river through downtown Bend

“It’s a three-hour rental. Especially with families, they like to lap the whitewater park or watch the surfers, so we give them that time for less stress of three hours. Our wrist bands have our phone number on it so if they do bring a phone, they can call us giving a kind of ETA of when they are going to be down at Drake and we can pick them up. Otherwise, on a slower day, we are doing a consistent rotation, so it’s a 15-minute, maximum 30-minute wait to pick them up.”

For older generations, mentions of a three-hour tour conjure of visions of the guests and crew of the S.S. Minnow getting stranded on a deserted island.

Bolger assured me that’s not the case on a river float through downtown Bend.

“We cover in the safety talk what to do. What not to do. Really home in on what do on the river to have fun and stay safe,” Bolger said.

There are other shuttle services available to the river floating public.

Tumalo Creek Kayak and Canoe Company that operates a bus and trailer service for people who rent their tubes and for the same price as Sun Country Tours. There’s also Cascades East Transit that operates a river shuttle bus and trailer service for people floating with personal tubes. It’s only $5 per day, all day long. Both operate from the big parking lot next to the Pavilion on Simpson Avenue.

“Concert days can be crazy. With the golf carts, you don’t notice it [the congestion] as much. We are much smaller; we don’t have to deal with the tight parking on the side of Columbia where it gets really, really tight. We are able to continue along the path and make it a little easier. It’s the same in Drake Park. We are so tiny we can squeeze in, get our people on the cart and go,” Bolger said.

Kudos to all the river shuttle companies for providing a valuable service that solves the parking challenges and makes a day on the river easier and more enjoyable.