 | |
 Passengers boarding a YARTS bus at theMerced Amtrak station. | |
| Founded | May 2000 (2000-05) |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Merced, California |
| Locale | Yosemite National Park |
| Service type | Intercity bus service |
| Alliance | Amtrak Thruway Greyhound Lines |
| Routes | 4 |
| Fleet | 16MCI D4500 coaches[1] |
| Operator | Merced County Association of Governments andFirst Transit |
| Website | yarts |
TheYosemite Area Regional Transportation System (YARTS) is apublic transit bus line based inMerced, California providing scheduled fixed route service betweenYosemite National Park and gateway communities. Service operates year-round onHighway 140, providing access toMerced andMariposa counties. During the peak summer months (May through September), additional service is added alongHighway 120 providing access toTuolumne County,Highway 41 providing access toFresno andMadera counties, and eastern Highway 120/US 395 providing access toMono County.
YARTS is operated by ajoint powers authority (JPA). The YARTS JPA is governed by a board that includes elected representatives from the counties that buses travel through. The JPA contracts with the Merced County Association of Governments (MCAG) to provide day-to-day management of the service and contracts withFirst Transit to operate the service and maintain the buses.
First proposed in 1992, YARTS was designed as a way to reduce traffic and increase accessibility to Yosemite National Park. In May 2000, after 8 years of planning, the bus line officially commenced service along Highway 140 providing access toMerced andMariposa counties.[2] The service was billed as a two-year demonstration project, operating only in the peak summer months (May through September), and was expected to attract 18,000 round-trip passengers.[3] Ridership fell short of expectations, attracting 15,956 riders. Critics also pointed out that over two-thirds of the riders were not paying customers, taking advantage of free rides offered during the first two months of service or were employees inside the park, who had their fares covered their employers.[4] Despite the criticism, one year into the demonstration, YARTS was made a permanent service.[5]
To date, the Yosemite Area Regional Transportation System has provided over 1,000,000 rides.[failed verification][6]
On May 23, 2015, YARTS began operating onHighway 41 betweenFresno and Yosemite.[7]
YARTS is operated by ajoint powers authority (JPA). The YARTS JPA is governed by a board that includes two elected representatives from each of the five counties (Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Mono, and Tuolumne) that buses travel through.[2] As of July 2023[update], Fresno County has been extended an invitation to join the JPA if it chooses to fund the service.[8]
The YARTS JPA contracts with the Merced County Association of Governments (MCAG) to provide day-to-day management of the service and contracts withFirst Transit to operate the service and maintain the buses.[9]
YARTS has aninterline agreement withAmtrak Thruway andGreyhound Lines. Amtrak offers through-ticketing between itsSan Joaquins trains and the YARTS routes, branding the Highway 140 route as Thruway Route15A and the Highway 41 route as Route15B.[10]
| Route | Destinations | Period of Operation | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highway 140 | Merced | Catheys Valley,Mariposa,Midpines,El Portal | Yosemite Valley | Year-round |
| Highway 120 | Sonora | Jamestown,Groveland,Buck Meadows | May–September | |
| Highway 41 | Fresno | Madera,Coarsegold,Oakhurst,Fish Camp,Wawona | May–September | |
| Highway 120/395 | Mammoth Lakes | June Lake,Lee Vining,Tuolumne Meadows |
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