NEWBURYPORT, Mass. — Senior citizens have long enjoyed a bargain on lifetime passes to America’s national parks, but with an eight-fold price increase set for Monday, many are swarming their local parks to get the deal in its final days.

Since 1994, the cost of a lifetime pass has been only $10 but legislation passed by Congress in December raises the price to $80 starting Monday, August 28.

The passes give residents 62 and older access to more than 2,000 sites across the country.

After news of the price change broke, demand for the passes has increased dramatically and seniors have come in droves to parks like the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge in coastal Massachusetts to take last-minute advantage of the deal.

Within the last month, Parker River outdoor recreation planner Jean Adams said the facility has sold more than 2,500 senior passes, an otherwise unheard of amount that would normally take them years to sell. 

“I took out a stack of 1,000 passes that had been sitting for more than a year and a half, and we blew right through them. That would normally last us a couple of years,” Adams said.

She then placed consecutive orders for hundreds of more passes, all of which were sold out in a matter of days. 

After receiving an order for an additional 850 passes on Aug. 11, they were all sold by Aug. 14, Adams said.

According to the National Parks Service, public lands across the country and the U.S. Geological Survey website that sell senior passes have been overwhelmed with requests.

They have received more than 250,000 online and mail-in applications so far this year, compared to the previous high of 33,000 passes in one year.

The new price for the pass will match that of the America the Beautiful annual pass, which is available for patrons under 62. 

Seniors will also have the option of purchasing an annual senior pass for $20, which can be applied as credit toward purchasing a lifetime pass later on.

“It’s not terrible but it’s actually long overdue,” Adams said. “This has been a great deal for a super long time but prices do have to go up eventually and its time has come.”

Shea writes for the Newburyport, Massachusetts, News.