Fresno County Rural Transit Agency (FCRTA) is the primary bus agency providing intra- and inter-city routes for smaller cities and unincorporated rural communities in
Fresno County, California
Fresno County (), officially the County of Fresno, is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 1,008,654. The county seat is Fresno, the fifth-most populous city in Cali ...
since 1979, including
Coalinga
Coalinga ( or ) is a city in Fresno County and the western San Joaquin Valley, in central California about 80 miles (128 km) southeast of Salinas.
It was formerly known as ''Coaling Station A'', ''Coalingo'', and ''Coalinga Station''.
The ...
,
Firebaugh,
Fowler,
Huron
Huron may refer to:
People
* Wyandot people (or Wendat), indigenous to North America
* Wyandot language, spoken by them
* Huron-Wendat Nation, a Huron-Wendat First Nation with a community in Wendake, Quebec
* Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi ...
,
Kerman
Kerman ( fa, كرمان, Kermân ; also romanization of Persian, romanized as Kermun and Karmana), known in ancient times as the satrapy of Carmania, is the capital city of Kerman Province, Iran. At the 2011 census, its population was 821,394, in ...
,
Kingsburg,
Mendota,
Orange Cove,
Reedley,
Sanger,
San Joaquin, and
Selma
Selma may refer to:
Places
*Selma, Algeria
*Selma, Nova Scotia, Canada
*Selma, Switzerland, village in the Grisons
United States:
*Selma, Alabama, city in Dallas County, best known for the Selma to Montgomery marches
*Selma, Arkansas
*Selma, Cali ...
. FCRTA riders may transfer to
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 ...
service within the county seat of
Fresno
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, maki ...
, and FCRTA has additional transfer points connecting to neighboring agencies in Fresno,
Kings, and
Tulare counties, including
Clovis Transit Stageline,
Kings Area Regional Transit
Kings Area Regional Transit (KART, previously Kings Area Rural Transit) is the primary bus service serving residents and visitors to the cities of Avenal, Hanford, and Lemoore in Kings County, California. KART is the branded service operated by ...
, and
Dinuba Connection.
History
Fresno County adopted a Regional Transportation Plan in March 1975, which provided a goal of establishing public transit service throughout the county by 1995, including
demand responsive service in the small incorporated cities and four inter-city fixed routes:
# Firebaugh–Mendota–Kerman (implemented as ''Westside Transit'')
# Kingsburg–Selma–Fowler (implemented as ''Southeast Transit'')
# Orange Cove–Reedley–
Parlier–Sanger (implemented as ''Orange Cove Inter-city Transit'')
# Coalinga–Huron–
Riverdale–
Caruthers–
Easton (implemented as ''Coalinga Inter-city Transit'')
The Fresno County Rural Transit Agency was formed under a
joint powers authority
A joint powers authority (JPA) is an entity permitted under the laws of some U.S. states, whereby two or more public authorities (e.g. local governments, or utility or transport districts), not necessarily located in the same state, may jointly ex ...
agreement signed on September 27, 1979, by the rural incorporated cities in Fresno County (Coalinga, Firebaugh, Fowler, Huron, Kerman, Kingsburg, Mendota, Orange Cove, Reedley, Sanger, San Joaquin, and Selma) and the County of Fresno.
While FCRTA is the overall operator which is responsible for funding and planning the system, day-to-day operations are delegated to local agencies or their contracted providers.
Sub-systems
FCRTA's local operations are carried out by the following sub-system operators:
;Notes
Governance
FCRTA is governed by a board of directors drawn from elected officials in the cities it serves, in addition to one member of the Fresno County Board of Supervisors.
Services
Virtually all intra-city services are operated on weekdays only as demand responsive services. A few locations offer Saturday intra-city services, including Del Rey, Kingsburg, Reedley, Sanger, and Selma.
Most inter-city and inter-community services operate as deviated fixed routes.
Fares
Fares vary depending on the type of service and distance traveled. Intra-city fares range from free (for qualified individuals) to $0.75, one-way. Inter-city fares range from $0.75 to $6.00, one-way, depending on distance. Some sub-systems offer discounted monthly passes.
Transfers
FCRTA connects to
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 ...
on certain inter-city routes at stops in downtown Fresno. Many of the same routes also stop at the
Fresno Santa Fe train station, which is a stop for both
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
''
San Joaquins
The ''San Joaquins'' is a passenger train service operated by Amtrak in California's San Joaquin Valley. Six daily round trips run between its southern terminus at Bakersfield and Stockton, with onward service to Sacramento (all round trips) an ...
'' trains and
Greyhound Lines
Greyhound Lines, Inc. (commonly known as simply Greyhound) operates the largest intercity bus service in North America, including Greyhound Mexico. It also operates charter bus services, Amtrak Thruway services, commuter bus services, and pac ...
bus service.
Fleet
The transit fleet used primarily cutaway passenger vans powered by unleaded gasoline and CNG; in addition, there are several larger (21 to 33 passengers) battery-electric buses from
Proterra and
BYD.
References
External links
*
*
*
{{Valley Transit
Public transportation in the San Joaquin Valley Area
Bus transportation in California
Public transportation in Fresno County, California
Transit agencies in California