YARTS bus in Yosemite National Park
Credit: YARTS

June 22, 2020 - MERCED – The summer schedule for YARTS service to Yosemite National Park begins on Monday, June 22, 2020. This includes the routes from Fresno on Highway 41, from Sonora on Highway 120, and from Mammoth Lakes on Highways 395/120 in addition to the Highway 140 route from Merced. Although the Highway 140 service is year-round, service had temporarily terminated in El Portal during the closure of Yosemite due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reservations can be made for YARTS tickets on all four routes and can be booked on the YARTS website at: www.yarts.com starting on Monday. There are no additional charges to get into Yosemite beyond the YARTS fare and passengers do not have to have a day-use permit issued by the National Park Service to ride.

There are some notable changes to the service this year that have been made in response to the outbreak of COVID-19. In addition to increased sanitation measures, all passengers will be required to wear face masks when riding YARTS and offered access to hand sanitizer while on board. In order to promote social distancing, capacity on all buses will be reduced to a maximum of 30 passengers. With most of the 30 seats available to those with reservations, there will be very limited space to accommodate walk-on passengers. Therefore, reservations are highly encouraged.

“We are excited to be offering service into Yosemite once again,” said Transit Manager, Christine Chavez. “Although things will be a little different on YARTS this year, the great rates and quality experience have not changed.”

For more information about YARTS schedules, routes, COVID-19 safety measures, or to reserve tickets, please visit www.yarts.com or call (877) 989-2787.