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Contact: Karen Sloat-Olsen, 973-736-0550 ext17
Thomas Edison NHP News Release
Contact: Karen Sloat-Olsen, 973-736-0550 extension 17
Email: Karen_sloat-olsen@nps.gov
Thomas Edison National Historical Park Changes Entrance Fee to Address Infrastructure Needs & Improve Visitor Experience
WEST ORANGE, NJ – The National Park Service (NPS) announced today Thomas Edison National Historical Park will modify its entrance fees to provide additional funding for infrastructure and maintenance needs to enhance the visitor experience. Effective June 1, 2018 the entrance fees to the park will be $15.00 per person. An annual park pass will cost $45.00. All of the money received from entrance fees remains with the National Park Service with at least 80 percent of the revenue going to Thomas Edison National Historical Park.
Revenue from entrance fees remains in the National Park Service and helps ensure a quality experience for all who visit. Here in Thomas Edison National Historical Park, 100 percent of entrance fees stay in the park and are devoted to spending that supports the visitor.
In response to public comments on a fee proposal released in October 2017, there will be a modest increase for all entrance fee-charging parks, rather than the higher peak-season fees initially proposed only for 17 highly-visited national parks.
“We want to provide visitors with the best possible experience,” said Thomas Edison National Historical Park Acting Superintendent Theresa Jung. “Fee revenue has helped us do just that.” Two great examples are the accessible bathroom at the Glenmont Estate and new automatic door openers installed throughout the Laboratory Complex to improve accessibility.
National parks have experienced record breaking visitation, with more than 1.5 billion visitors in the last five years. Throughout the country, the combination of an aging infrastructure and increased visitation has put a strain on park roads, bridges, campgrounds, waterlines, bathrooms, and other visitor services and led to a $11.6 billion deferred maintenance backlog nationwide.
The additional revenue from entrance fees at Thomas Edison National Historical Park will enable the park to install a universal entrance into the Glenmont Garage, replace the missing historic newel post fixture on the staircase in Edison’s home and rehabilitate the exterior of the historic gatehouse at the Laboratory Complex to name a few projects.
Entrance fees collected by the National Park Service totaled $199.9 million in Fiscal Year 2016. The NPS estimates that once fully implemented, the new fee structure will increase annual entrance fee revenue by about $60 million.
Thomas Edison National Historical Park has had an entrance fee since the 1960s. The current rate of $10 per person has been in effect since 2015. The park is one of 117 National Park Service site that charges an entrance fee, the other 300 national parks will remain free to enter.
The price of the annual America the Beautiful National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Annual Pass and Lifetime Senior Pass will remain $80.
The National Park Service has a standardized entrance fee structure, composed of four groups based on park size and type. Thomas Edison National Historical Park is in group 2. Some parks not yet aligned with the other parks in their category will raise their fees incrementally and fully incorporate the new entrance fee schedule by January 1, 2020.
The complete fee schedule will change according to the following:
| Thomas Edison National Historical Park | ||||
| Per Vehicle |
Per Person |
Per Motorcycle |
Park Specific Annual Pass | |
| Current | N/A | $10 | N/A | $40 |
| June 1, 2018 | N/A | $15 | N/A | $45 |
| Jan 1, 2019 | N/A | $15 | N/A | $45 |
| Jan 1, 2020 | N/A | $15 | N/A | $45 |
- nps.gov -
About the National Park Service. More than 20,000 National Park Service employees who care for America’s 417 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Visit us at http://www.nps.gov, on Facebook www.facebook.com/nationalparkservice, Twitter www.twitter.com/natlparkservice, and YouTube www.youtube.com/nationalparkservice- NPS -
Last updated: April 14, 2018