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Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009

YARTS celebrates 10 years

Bus service makes trips to Yosemite National Park car-free

YOSEMITE -- Recently, a group of 40-plus people gathered in front of the Visitor's Center in Yosemite National Park for a quiet yet much-deserved 10-year anniversary celebration of the Yosemite Area Regional Transportation System.

"When we started 10 years ago, this had never been done," says Vikki Bauer, YARTS chairwoman of the board. "It was a pilot program, and there have been a lot of difficulties. But it has been successful, and we just wanted to celebrate that."

YARTS is a public transit system that carries passengers along Highway 140 between Merced, Mariposa and Yosemite Valley. It also takes them along Highway 120 from Yosemite Valley, through Tuolumne Meadows to Lee Vining, June Lake and Mammoth Lakes.

Dick Whittington,YARTS transit manager, adds that the ceremony was an important part of thanking the people who helped made it happen in the past and those who keep it happening at present. Some of the original board members were Art Baggett and Gwen Foster.

Patti Reilly, a former supervisor of Mariposa County, and Deidre Kelsey, a Merced County supervisor, were both instrumental in moving the project along during the beginning stages. Others who supported the project, then and now, are Reps. Dennis Cardoza, George Radanovich and Buck McKeon, and Kimberly Gayle from Caltrans.

Dave Uberuaga, acting superintendent of Yosemite National Park, spoke at the ceremony, highlighting benefits the buses provide to the park, namely reduced automobile congestion. Some 35 percent of YARTS riders are commuters.

The National Park Service has a program in place that subsidizes Park employees' commuting costs.

The idea for YARTS was first proposed in 1992.

Whittington recalls: "Starting a multi-jurisdictional transit system is huge. At the time there were five counties involved. And getting them all to agree on the specifics -- like where the buses would run, where the money would come from and why we needed this -- took time and effort and an awful lot of work, because we were trying to do something there was no model for. We were building it from scratch."

"The large regional systems are in place, such as airlines and Amtrak," Bauer continues. "And our local systems get everyone where they need to go. How YARTS fits into the picture is by being the bridge between the two."

For the eight years between 1992 and 2000, studies were conducted to demonstrate the need for such a project, in order to get the necessary money. There were many hurdles to overcome, but eventually people were convinced and funding was granted to finance the project.

While 25 percent comes from fare revenues, the rest comes from the three counties where the buses run, the National Park Service and Yosemite National Park, some state and federal funding and in a contract with Amtrak, to provide their "thruway" service to YNP.

Bauer is a supervisor from Mono County.

For five years she's been "keeping YARTS alive:

"Transportation has become my hobby. As I've learned what's involved and why good transportation is vital to our communities, I'm now lobbying on national levels for a more sure funding stream for rural transportation on federal land."

When local transportation is in place, communities work, but when regional transportation is available, connecting communities and people together, then those communities thrive.

YARTS is governed by a Joint Powers Authority with Merced, Mariposa and Mono counties as members. An elected supervisor from each county sits on the governing board: Bauer from Mono, Hub Walsh from Merced and Brad Aborn from Mariposa.