Visitors to Yellowstone National Park can now purchase entrance passes online instead of in person. Normally, visitors to the nation’s oldest national park had to pony up cash or a credit card to a ranger if they wanted to get in.
As of last last week, tourists can use their smartphones or home computers to purchase annual and seven-day passes into Yellowstone.
"It modernizes the sale of entrance passes and provides a digital alternative to purchasing that in person, and that reduces the amount of transaction time,” says Park spokesperson Vicky Regula.
Regula says the new digital passes are similar to an electronic boarding pass on an airplane.
"It has specific information to the person. Their name, address," she says.
And just like a boarding pass, folks will still need to show it and an ID to the ranger at the gate.
The digital passes cost the same as buying one in-person and can be purchased in advance of a trip.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Interior Department is still reviewing public comments about a proposal to double the entrance fee to Yellowstone and some other parks. Officials expect to announce a decision later this year.
Visitors can find Yellowstone’s new digital passes at www.yourpassnow.com