Parent | Fresno Council of Governments | ||
---|---|---|---|
Founded | September 27, 1979 | ||
Headquarters | 2035 Tulare Street, Ste 201 Fresno, California | ||
Service area | Fresno County, California | ||
Service type | Bus service, Dial-a-Ride | ||
Destinations | |||
Annual ridership | 266,621 (2020) [1] | ||
Website | ruraltransit.org | ||
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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 since 1979, including Coalinga, Firebaugh, Fowler, Huron, Kerman, Kingsburg, Mendota, Orange Cove, Reedley, Sanger, San Joaquin, and Selma. FCRTA riders may transfer to Fresno Area Express service within the county seat of Fresno, and FCRTA has additional transfer points connecting to neighboring agencies in Fresno, Kings, and Tulare counties, including Clovis Transit Stageline, Kings Area Regional Transit, and Dinuba Connection.
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: [2] : I-1
The Fresno County Rural Transit Agency was formed under a joint powers authority 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. [2] : III-1 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. [2] : III-1
FCRTA's local operations are carried out by the following sub-system operators:
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.
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. [2] : III-5 to III-7 Most inter-city and inter-community services operate as deviated fixed routes. [2] : III-5 to III-7
Route name | Terminus | via (Destinations) | Terminus | Trips | Notes / Refs. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Coalinga | Coalinga Courthouse | SR 269, Mount Whitney, SR 41 (Huron, Five Points, Lanare, Riverdale, Caruthers, Raisin City, Easton, Fresno Courthouse Park / FAX) | Fresno Yosemite International Airport | 1 RT Mon–Fri | Traditional commute: service to Fresno in AM, returns to Coalinga in PM. [4] |
Huron | West American Bank (Huron) | SR 269, SR 198 (Harris Ranch, I-5/SR 198, Coalinga Hospital, West Hills College) | Kmart (Coalinga) | 3 RT Mon–Fri | [5] |
Kingsburg-Reedley | Coffee Pot Bus Shelter (Kingsburg) | SR 99, Manning (Selma, Fowler, Children's Hospital, Parlier) | Reedley College | 3 RT Mon–Fri | [6] |
Orange Cove (Express) | Los Amigo Market / Eaton Park (Orange Cove) | Manning, Academy, and Jensen (Reedley, Reedley College, Parlier, Sanger, Sanger Hospital, Fresno Amtrak/Greyhound) | Fresno Courthouse Park / FAX | 2(+1) RT Mon–Fri | (+1) Express service with limited stops for traditional commute (to Fresno in AM, return to Orange Cove in PM) [7] [8] |
Sanger Express | Sanger Community Center | Goodfellow & Reed | Reedley College | 6 RT Mon–Fri | [9] |
Southeast | Coffee Pot Bus Shelter (Kingsburg) | SR 99 (Selma, Fowler, Children's Hospital, Fresno Courthouse Park) | Fresno Amtrak/Greyhound | 3 RT Mon–Fri | [10] |
Westside | Firebaugh Senior Center | SR 33, Whitesbridge (Mendota, Kerman, Fresno Courthouse Park) | Fresno Amtrak/Greyhound | 2 RT Mon–Fri | [11] |
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. [12]
FCRTA connects to Fresno Area Express 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 San Joaquins trains and Greyhound Lines bus service.
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. [2] : III-10
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 California.
Coalinga is a city in Fresno County and the western San Joaquin Valley, in central California about 80 miles (128 km) southeast of the Salinas.
Firebaugh is a city in Fresno County, California, United States, on the west side of the San Joaquin River 38 miles (61 km) west of Fresno.
The San Joaquin Valley is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies south of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the San Joaquin River. It comprises seven counties of Northern and one of Southern California, including, in the north, all of San Joaquin and Kings counties, most of Stanislaus, Merced, and Fresno counties, and parts of Madera and Tulare counties, along with a majority of Kern County, in Southern California. Although the valley is predominantly rural, it has densely populated urban centers: Fresno, Bakersfield, Stockton, Modesto, Tulare, Visalia, Hanford, and Merced.
State Route 33 is a north–south state highway in the U.S. state of California. It runs north from U.S. Route 101 in Ventura through the Transverse Ranges and the western side of the San Joaquin Valley to Interstate 5 at a point east of Tracy. SR 33 replaced part of U.S. Route 399 in 1964 during the "great renumbering" of routes. In the unincorporated sections of Kern County it is known as the West Side Highway. In addition, the California Legislature designated the entire Kern County portion as the Petroleum Highway in 2004. The southernmost portion in Ventura is a freeway known as the Ojai Freeway, while it is known as the Maricopa Highway from Ojai to Maricopa.
Area code 559 is a California telephone area code that was split from area code 209 on November 14, 1998.
The Fresno County Public Library provides books, ebooks, music, movies, magazines, newspapers, reference assistance, wireless Internet access and a variety of other services at its 35 locations throughout Fresno County, California. The library system is headquartered in Fresno, at the Central Library.
The Santa Fe Passenger Depot, also known as Fresno station, is an historic railroad station and transportation hub in downtown Fresno, California. It is served by San Joaquins inter-city passenger trains, Greyhound inter-city buses, and regional transit services including Fresno Area Express, Fresno County Rural Transit Agency, and seasonally by the Yosemite Area Regional Transportation System.
Immanuel Schools are Mennonite schools located in Reedley, California and serving the surrounding area, including Dinuba and Kingsburg. The schools are officially dedicated to provide a religious private education on their campuses, which include a K-6 Immanuel Elementary school, a 7-8 Immanuel Junior High School, and a 9-12 Immanuel High School. Their mascot is the eagle and their school colors are red, white, and blue.
Metropolitan Fresno, officially Fresno–Madera, CA CSA, is a metropolitan area in the San Joaquin Valley, in the United States, consisting of Fresno and Madera counties. It is the third-largest metropolitan region in Northern California, behind the San Francisco Bay Area and Greater Sacramento. It is also the 49th-largest CSA in the U.S. as of 2010 census.
There are 45 routes assigned to the "J" zone of the California Route Marker Program, which designates county routes in California. The "J" zone includes county highways in Alameda, Calaveras, Contra Costa, Fresno, Kern, Inyo, Mariposa, Merced, Sacramento, San Benito, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, and Tulare counties.
Fresno Bulldogs, or BDS for short, also known by the abbreviations FBD and 624, are a primarily Mexican American criminal street and prison gang located in 559, California. They are considered to be one of the biggest drug gangs in Central California with membership estimated to be around 12,000 in the cities of Fresno, Fowler, Selma, Kerman, Sanger, Clovis, Madera, San Joaquin, Coalinga, Huron, Mendota, Parlier, Dinuba, Orosi, Orange Cove, and Avenal. They are engaged in a wide range of criminal activity and have been subject to many high-profile cases over the years. Fresno Bulldogs are largely conflicted with other prison gangs and are the biggest Hispanic gang in California unaffiliated with Sureños or Norteños.
United Health Centers of the San Joaquin Valley is a private non-profit organization, established from a grass root movement by people trying to improve access to healthcare in their rural communities in California's Central Valley.
Jessie Lopez De La Cruz was a Chicano American farm worker, the first female recruiter for the UFW, an organizer and participant in UFW strikes, a community organizer, a working mother, and a delegate to the 1972 Democratic National Convention. She ran the first UFW Hiring Hall, was an adviser to the California Commission on the Status of Women, and the secretary treasurer of National Land for People. Lopez-De La Cruz is also known for her work banning the short-handled hoe, her work educating fellow farm workers, her work promoting co-op farming, and her commitment to fighting injustice for the working poor.
Mount Campbell is a isolated mountain summit in the Sierra Nevada foothills, located in Fresno County, California.