Starting June 24, Sandy Hook Will Only Accept Credit Cards

HIGHLANDS, NJ — If you're going to be visiting Gateway National Park - Sandy Hook this summer, you better make sure you have credit or debit cards on you, or can pay through your smartphone.

Starting June 24, the park will no longer accept cash payments for daily beach access.

Sandy Hook is run by the National Park Service, and the federal government announced the news Friday before Memorial Day weekend:

"The National Park Service (NPS) announced today that Gateway National Recreation Area will transition to a cashless fee system. Effective June 24, 2023, fee collections booths at Sandy Hook will only accept credit card payments for beach parking fees."

Also new is that starting May 27, you must pay a fee to enter from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Before this, the fee hours were shorter.

A daily beach pass to Sandy Hook is $20 per car. Season passes are $100.

"Moving to a cashless system allows parks to be better stewards of visitor dollars by reducing the amount of time park staff spend managing cash, increasing the amount of fee revenue available to support critical projects and visitor services, and improving accountability and reducing risk," said the National Park Service in a statement Friday.

But is this legal?

The legality of the National Park Service's decision to go cashless is unclear. In February of this year, New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin fined several businesses in the state for not accepting cash, and for only accepting credit cards as payment.

Among them were the Ferris Wheel at American Dream mega-mall in North Jersey, coffee shops in Hoboken and on the Rutgers-New Brunswick campus and a deli in Clifton. All the businesses were threatened with thousands of dollars in fines if they did not start accepting cash. Here is the Feb. 7 press release where the Attorney General announced the fines: https://www.njoag.gov/ag-platk...

Merchants in New Jersey must give consumers the option to pay cash, the Attorney General said at the time.

He said many lower-income people may not have access to credit or debit cards.

“New Jersey consumers deserve to be able to pay however they can,” said Platkin in February. “Many consumers from underrepresented communities do not have access to bank accounts or credit cards."

When asked by a reporter about whether this decision was legal or not, the National Park Service replied Friday that Thomas Edison National Historical Park, the inventor's historic estate in West Orange, does not accept cash for entry fees, and is card only.