Yosemite’s new ticketed entry system for day-use reservations off to a rocky start
Error messages abounded Tuesday morning for many frustrated customers who tried getting a day-use reservation to enter Yosemite National Park.
The new ticketed entry system for Yosemite through recreation.gov went live at 7 a.m. Tuesday.
Yosemite is scheduled to reopen Thursday to those with a day-use or overnight reservation after being closed since late March.
The newly-required $2 reservations – in addition to normal park entrance fees – are aimed at reducing the number of Yosemite visitors initially by about 50% to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The popular national park in California had more than 4.5 million visitors last year.
Tuesday morning was a crucial time for those seeking access to the park, since 80% of day-use reservations were available for the first time for June and July dates, which were expected to go fast. Officials said approximately 1,700 vehicles will be allowed in the park daily for day-use (in addition to about 1,900 overnight vehicles for those with lodging and camping reservations, which do not require a day-use reservation).
Yosemite officials advised people to be logged into recreation.gov and ready to pounce at 7 a.m. sharp. But many who did found a website operating with numerous problems.
Among the issues were internal server errors and tickets not showing up in carts for customers who wanted to checkout and purchase them.
Others who repeatedly tried to get one ticket to show up in their cart were met with this message: “You look familiar! This facility only allows a reservation of 1 ticket per day. Please try a different date or modify your existing reservation.”
Amid a flood of complaints about these issues on social media, some happy few reported successfully securing a day-use reservation.
Yosemite officials said Tuesday morning they had heard of glitches due to high demand, but that recreation.gov – with offices on the East Coast – was the contractor handling the system.
Peter Schroepfer of Oakland was among those online 7 a.m. Tuesday trying to get a reservation.
He said he spent two-plus hours using three different web browsers, two different login IDs, two different Wifi networks, and constant reloading/deleting cookies, logging in/out, and also using the IOS app before he finally got a reservation for a date he didn’t want.
Schroepfer had been checking on a Yosemite reopening date twice a day for weeks so he could to take his daughter to the park, because “Yosemite is her happy place.”
Recreation.gov does not have a number people can call to get help or report issues. Its customer service phone service and chat were suspended due to coronavirus. Those who had reported issues via email were told a response could take three to five business days.
“Yosemite is public land and a government entity so they owe it to the public to do better at being fair,” Schroepfer said. “Even a lottery would’ve been better. Instead the website was like a stampede in a place the fire marshal would’ve flunked.”
This story was originally published June 9, 2020 at 11:46 AM with the headline "Yosemite’s new ticketed entry system for day-use reservations off to a rocky start."
