Community Corner
5 East Bay Regional Parks Shift To Cashless Fee Collection
The parks shifting to cashless operations include Cull Canyon Regional Recreation Area in Castro Valley.
The East Bay Regional Park District will expand its move toward cashless fee collection at five more parks starting Wednesday, park officials said, as it prepares for higher visitor traffic ahead of the summer season.
Under the change, visitors at the affected parks will pay user fees such as parking, boating and daily fishing permits using credit cards or tap-to-pay methods instead of cash. A 30-day grace period will follow the transition to help visitors adjust to the new system.
The parks shifting to cashless operations are Ardenwood Historic Farm in Fremont, Cull Canyon Regional Recreation Area in Castro Valley, Don Castro Regional Recreation Area in Hayward, Diablo Foothills Regional Park in Walnut Creek, and Temescal Regional Recreation Area in Oakland.
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They join Roberts Regional Recreation Area in Oakland, Crown Memorial State Beach in Alameda, and Quarry Lakes Regional Recreation Area in Fremont, which already adopted cashless payment in recent years.
District officials said the change is intended to improve efficiency in fee collection and operations. Over time, they plan to expand cashless payments to all park sites that have the infrastructure to support them.
Find out what's happening in Castro Valleyfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Visitors who prefer to pay in cash can instead purchase an annual membership through the Regional Parks Foundation, which includes free parking at all regional parks among its benefits.
Not all regional parks charge user fees. Of the 23 parks that do, those fees generate about $5.7 million annually, or roughly 2% of the district's operating budget, helping offset the cost of maintaining public access to parklands, according to district officials.
The East Bay Regional Park District, the nation's largest regional park system, manages 73 parks across Alameda and Contra Costa counties and receives about 30 million visits each year.
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