Congressman Jim Costa, Mayor Jerry Dyer, and other local leaders celebrate the expansion of YARTS into the City of Fresno and the purchase of four new clean diesel buses to take visitors to Yosemite National Park. Photo by Frank Lopez

Visitors to Yosemite National Park will have an easy travel option to get there this summer.

Congressman Jim Costa (D-Fresno), along with Mayor Jerry Dyer, local leaders and the Yosemite Area Regional Transportation System (YARTS) hosted a ribbon cutting at the Fresno Yosemite International Airport (FAT) to celebrate the continuation of operating service from Fresno to Yosemite National Park.

The service, that will last for the duration of the summer, expands on the Highway 41 corridor which currently operates between the city of Oakhurst to the national park.

It was also announced that YARTS will be operating four new clean diesel busses as part of the $3.68 million that Costa secured through the FY 2023 Community Project Funding.

YARTS summer service from Fresno starts on Saturday with two runs, one which leaves the city at 5:30 a.m. and the other leaving at 7:15 a.m.

YARTS has been offering public service transportation to Yosemite National Park for 24 years.

“Today we are standing here to celebrate the completion of the final piece of the service puzzle and that’s the inclusion of the City of Fresno which secures the future of YARTS service from Fresno to Yosemite for years to come,” said YARTS Executive Director Stacie Guzman.

She said it was hard for YARTS to provide safe and reliable transit with their aged and outdated buses with ongoing maintenance issues.

YARTS Chairman Darren McDaniel said that it was a tough decision to not go with fully electric buses but the technology to operate at such high altitudes and the infrastructure for recharge doesn’t exist in Yosemite area.

McDaniel said YARTS came close to shutting down its service during the Covid pandemic, but fortunately they were able to continue.

“We are excited about this new partnership with the city of Fresno,” McDaniel said.

Costa said that the importance of a hub for a transportation system is critical to not only Fresno, but to the whole Central Valley.

He said the activity and beauty of the Yosemite National Park makes it an asset.

“We’ve got to make that asset accessible,” Costa said. “We’ve got to provide visitors who want to go to Yosemite the comfort, and economical and convenient alternative to driving.”

Bus ridership will not only help reduce traffic congestion on the highways and in the park, but also help reduce emissions from vehicles.

The four pickup locations in the city are the Fresno Amtrak Station, by the Kaiser Permanente Fresno Medical Center, the Fresno Yosemite International Airport, and Four Corners Park and Ride in Madera on the corner of Highway 41 and Rd 145.

Dyer said that people come from all over the world to visit Yosemite National park, with 3.8 million visitors traveling to the park in 2023.

“We are very proud to be a part of this partnership and the thought of being the only major city on the existing route without a direct transit option to Yosemite was unimaginable,” Dyer said.