FAX Q is a

transit bus Transit may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Transit'' (1979 film), a 1979 Israeli film * ''Transit'' (2005 film), a film produced by MTV and Staying-Alive about four people in countries in the world * ''Transit'' (2006 film), a 2006 ...

route, with some

bus rapid transit Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...

features, operated by

Fresno Area Express Fresno Area Express (FAX), is a public transportation operator in Fresno, California. The system has over 100 buses, 1,606 bus stops, and 18 routes as of August 2022. In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of . FAX fixed r ...

(FAX) in

Fresno, California Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, makin ...

. The line began service on February 19, 2018, running from Woodward station near Woodward Park to Clovis Station along Blackstone Avenue and Ventura Avenue/Kings Canyon Road. Between the termini there are a total of 25 stations, two of which are major regional transit centers.

History

Adding

(BRT) in the city of Fresno was first studied in 2008, which ended with four corridors recommended for enhanced service: Blackstone Avenue, Shaw Avenue, Cedar Avenue and Kings Canyon Road/Ventura Avenue. These four had been identified as major transit corridors, worthy of additional investment, since the 1994 Transit Master Plan. In October 2009, the City selected a combination of the Blackstone Avenue and Kings Canyon Road/Ventura Avenue corridors for conversion into BRT, and applied for a

Federal Transit Administration The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is an agency within the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) that provides financial and technical assistance to local public transportation systems. The FTA is one of ten modal administration ...

grant. The city was awarded $39.5 million from the federal government in December 2010. As originally proposed by the city, the

features that would be used on the line would have included sections of

bus lanes A bus lane or bus-only lane is a lane restricted to buses, often on certain days and times, and generally used to speed up public transport that would be otherwise held up by traffic congestion. The related term busway describes a roadway c ...

, queue jumps, bus bulbs, raised platforms level with the floor of the buses, off-board fare payment, custom built stations and 60-foot

articulated buses An articulated bus, also referred to as a banana bus, bendy bus, tandem bus, vestibule bus, wiggle wagon, stretch bus, or an accordion bus, (either a motor bus or trolleybus) is an articulated vehicle used in public transportation. It is usua ...

. Members of the Fresno City Council rejected most of these features and in April 2014 the line was stripped down to only include bus bulbs, mass-produced stations, off-board fare payment and 40-foot buses. Critics said that these changes meant the line no longer met the minimum standard to be called bus rapid transit. Fresno Area Express also agreed to improve service on the two corridors not selected, Shaw Avenue and Cedar Avenue, to every 15 minutes on weekdays. Service every 15 minutes, branded FAX15, was introduced in January 2017 and bus stops along the line were improved in 2022 and 2023. After years of studying and fights over the features of the line, construction finally began in June 2016 with the line ready for operation in Fall 2017. The corridor would ultimately cost to build, with additional costs being covered by state and local sources, including Fresno’s Measure C transportation tax. The line opened a few months behind schedule on February 19, 2018. In 2020, the city said the opening of the BRT line led to a 13% increase in ridership, and contributed to a nearly 3% rise in ridership system-wide. In its first year of operation, the line had persistent issues with the off-board fare collection machines breaking down, which led up to 25 percent of riders boarding for free. In response, the city added fareboxes back to the buses used on the BRT line and ended all-door boarding, eliminating one of the few remaining bus rapid transit features of the line.

Stations

References

External links

* {{USBRT Bus rapid transit in the United States 2018 in transport Transportation in Fresno County, California