January 19, 2015 Update: Curious about the drop in the number of buses through the Highway 140 Arch Rock Entrance for 2014 a look through the monthly visitation numbers was in order. Research discovered during the month of March 2014, 0 buses were recorded while in 2013, 327 buses were recorded with 9,569 bus visitors. July 2014 also recorded 0 buses while July 2013 had 708 buses with 24,119 visitors.
The rest of the year (2014) is as follows as far as bus traffic is concerned: January was down 23, February was down 12, April was up 64, May was up 29, June was up 113, August was down 34, September was up 16, October was up 310, November was down 18 and December was down 9.
So apparently the 2014 bus numbers are not correct and there were more visitors using the bus through the 140 entrance than was recorded.
January 15, 2015 - Yosemite National Park was enjoyed by 4,029,414 visitors during 2014. That was an increase of 200,053 visitors over 2013 when the Rim Fire and the Government Shutdown affected the park visitation.
The Arch Rock Entrance (Mariposa - Highway 140) had the most buses through the entrances even with a decrease of 599 buses for the year. 2013 had 5,700 busses while 2014 had 5,101 buses on Highway 140 for a decrease of 10.5%. The South Entrance (Oakhurst - Highway 41) had an increase of 97 buses for the year. From 3,120 during 2013 to 3,217 for 2014 for an increase of 3.1%. The Big Oak Flat Entrance (Groveland - Highway 120) had a gain of 262 buses for the year. 2013 had 1,755 buses while 2014 had 2,017 buses for an increase of 14.9%.
The Highway 140 Arch Rock Entrance had 1,009,405 visitors during 2014 while 2013 had 1,008,666 visitors. That is an increase of 739 visitors. The loss of bus traffic is the leading indicator in the slight increase in number of visitors using this entrance. Visitors by Auto was up 23,743 during 2014 while the bus visitors were down by 23,848 compared to 2013. The El Portal Fire and Dog Rock Fire also may have had an impact on visitors using this entrance.
The South Entrance had 1,327,596 visitors during 2014 while 2013 had 1,259,160 visitors. This was an increase of 68,436 visitors during 2014. Visitors by Auto was up and by Bus were down during 2014.
The Big Oak Flat Entrance had 989,418 visitors during 2014 while 2013 had 912,741 visitors. This was an increase of 76,677 during 2014. Visitors by Auto and by Bus were both up during 2014.
The following information is the December 2014 visitation numbers and year end numbers through the gateway entrances.
The Arch Rock Entrance Station had a increase of visitors by auto of 19.3% compared to December 2013. Year to date numbers show a increase of visitors by auto of 3.0%
The Big Oak Flat Entrance Station had a slight increase of visitors by auto of 0.2% compared to December 2013. Year to date numbers show a increase of visitors by auto of 8.2%
The South Entrance had a very slight decrease of visitors by auto of less than .1% compared to December 2013. Year to date numbers show a increase of visitors by auto of 6.5%
The total visitors by auto to Yosemite National Park for December 2014 was up by 6.8% compared to December 2013. Year to date numbers show a increase of visitors by auto of 6.2%
