Yosemite Bus Plan Remains on Road by Charles Mcarthy August 6, 1999 - The Fresno Bee MERCED - An ambitious bus-transportation plan for Yosemite National Park remains on track for a May 2000 start, a spokeswoman for the project said Thursday. An agreement this week has set the stage for a joint powers agreement among remaining participants in the Yosemite Area Regional Transportation Strategy, spokeswoman Jami Massey said. "We're expecting to select a vendor by the end of the year," Massey said. As now envisioned, YARTS would involve the counties of Merced, Mariposa and Mono in cooperation with the National Park Service, which regulates Yosemite. Bus fares and public funding would pay the way. Beginning in May 2000 and continuing for two years, privately owned contract buses would carry visitors to and from Yosemite Valley along Highway 140 from Merced through Mariposa. A second summer route would bring visitors into Yosemite from Mono County over Tioga Pass on Highway 120 East, Massey said. "This is entirely voluntary service," Massey said. The goal of YARTS would be to persuade people already staying in so-called gateway communities to leave their cars in motel parking lots and catch a bus to Yosemite. "They've already parked their cars at the lodging facility," Massey said. "They won't have to get back into their cars to get into the park." YARTS planning as presently stated would let the level of ridership determine the number of buses involved. Service levels would vary according to the season of the year. Opponents say YARTS is a ruse to allow the National Park Service to control the number of visitors to Yosemite. They say that after the two-year test period, the Park Service would pressure participants to make busing mandatory for day visitors. "It's a chance to find out if the concept will work," Massey said of the test period. Earlier this year, Madera and Tuolumne counties opted out of participation in YARTS. The Madera County Board of Supervisors voted against supporting the busing plan after protests from residents in gateway communities along Highway 41, such as Oakhurst and Fish Camp.