Three visitors took the National Park Service (NPS) to court because they don't let people pay with cash at different places across the country.
Elizabeth Dasburg from Georgia, Esther van der Werf from California, and Toby Stover from New York filed a lawsuit in early March, claiming that the park service’s cashless policy breaks federal law.
The group says they couldn't use cash when visiting monuments, national parks, and other locations in the U.S. They argue that NPS’s policy of not accepting cash at some places goes against federal law, as U.S. currency is required for all public charges.
The lawsuit argues that NPS’s “violation” of the law should be addressed, but the plaintiffs are not asking the court “to prohibit NPS from accepting credit cards, debit cards, or digital payment methods (such as ApplePay) if visitors prefer to use them.”
The visitors’ attempts to pay with cash were turned down in Georgia, Arizona, and New York.
Van der Werf was reportedly denied entry at three different locations in Arizona operated by the federal agency. Stover was unable to tour New York’s Roosevelt-Vanderbilt National Historic Site after trying to use $10 in cash for the tour.
According to the lawsuit, NPS doesn't accept cash payments at 29 locations.
The cashless policy has been in place since 2019 for park passes in Arizona, and similar changes were planned for locations in Montana, Colorado, and California this year. NPS claims the shift is reducing wait times and simplifying the counting of charges for each visitor.
