National Seashore to Collect Beach Fees From Shuttle Passengers

COURTESY OF THE CAPE COD REGIONAL TRANSIT AUTHORITY
The Provincetown Shuttle.

PROVINCETOWN – The Cape Cod National Seashore will start charging a beach entrance fee on its Provincetown shuttle Bus this summer.

The Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority shuttle, which offers visitors a ride from downtown Provincetown to Herring Cove and Race Point beaches, will collect an extra $3 fee on top of the $2 shuttle fee.

When the Provincetown shuttle service was first implemented a beach entrance fee was collected.

“We ran into a number of logistical issues in those years and we basically suspended the collection of the fee until we could figure it out,” said George Price, the Cape Cod National Seashore superintendent. “The bottom line is we have now been able to figure it out.”

Each bus will contain a separate fee box to collect the extra $3 fee for those getting off at the beach shuttle stops.

“We’ve been able to figure out a system that would actually work and allow people to pay the recreation fee as they get to the beach,” Price said.

Individuals who exit the shuttle at the Province Lands Visitor Center, Provincetown Municipal Airport or other non-beach stops will not have to pay the extra $3 fee.

National Parks Senior Pass holders, America the Beautiful Interagency Pass holders, active duty military and their families and children 16 year of age or younger are not required to pay the entrance fee.

Price said the fee program is critical to the park and wants to remind the public that they should have always been collected.

“The recreation fees are used to operate the seashore,” he said. “We actually are able to keep 80 percent of those monies locally for our backlog maintenance and to provide visitor services.”

The remaining 20 percent of the fees go into a national account to fund National Park Service projects across the country.

Price said the national account is what allowed the seashore to build the new facilities and concession at Herring Cove Beach, which was a $5 million project.

“We would not be able to do those services if we didn’t collect these fees,” Price said.

Collection of fees on the shuttle is expected to begin sometime in June.

By BRIAN MERCHANT, CapeCod.com NewsCenter