Before it has even officially started, a demonstration bus project for Yosemite National Park is expanding. Member of YARTS (Yosemite Area Regional Transportation System) approving today bus service to the park from Coulterville, Greeley Hill & Buck Meadows.
With one bus slated to run in & out of the park once a day, the service will initiate in Coulterville at 8am and leave Yosemite Valley at 6:30pm and get back to Coulterville about 8:10pm with stops in Buck Meadows & Greeley Hill along the way.
Coulterville & Greeley Hill are on Highway 132 which joins Highway 120 just east of Groveland. Buck Meadows is on Highway 120 en route to Yosemite. All 3 communities are in Mariposa County which is a participant in the 2 year transportation test. The new route is controversial because it, in affect, will service the much larger neighboring community of Groveland which is in Tuolumne County … a county whose supervisors voted to withdraw from the multi – county demonstration project.
Tuolumne County Supervisor Mark Thornton, who served on the YARTS board before the pullout & whose district includes much of the 120 corridor & a large portion of the park itself, has called the YARTS announcement a “belligerent attempt to establish YARTS service on 120 even though Tuolumne County residents have made it clear they don’t want YARTS bus service.”
At the same Merced meeting, YARTS gave final approval to other, more numerous bus routes along the Highway 140 & 41 corridors. Service on all 3 corridors (120/132, 140 & 41) is slated to begin May 19.
A round trip ticket on the Coulterville 132/120 run is slated to cost $10 for adults, $9 for children and includes admission to Yosemite.