Fresno County Rural Transit Agency

Fresno County Rural Transit Agency 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.

WWW ruraltransit.org

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
Kingsburg–Selma–Fowler
Orange Cove–Reedley–Parlier–Sanger
Coalinga–Huron–Riverdale–Caruthers–Easton

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 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:
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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.

Route name	Terminus	via	Terminus	Trips	Notes / Refs.
Coalinga	Coalinga Courthouse	SR 269, Mount Whitney, SR 41	Fresno Yosemite International Airport	1 RT Mon–Fri	Traditional commute: service to Fresno in AM, returns to Coalinga in PM.
Huron	West American Bank	SR 269, SR 198	Kmart	3 RT Mon–Fri
Kingsburg-Reedley	Coffee Pot Bus Shelter	SR 99, Manning	Reedley College	3 RT Mon–Fri
Orange Cove	Los Amigo Market / Eaton Park	Manning, Academy, and Jensen	Fresno Courthouse Park / FAX	2 RT Mon–Fri	Express service with limited stops for traditional commute
Sanger Express	Sanger Community Center	Goodfellow & Reed	Reedley College	6 RT Mon–Fri
Southeast	Coffee Pot Bus Shelter	SR 99	Fresno Amtrak/Greyhound	3 RT Mon–Fri
Westside	Firebaugh Senior Center	SR 33, Whitesbridge	Fresno Amtrak/Greyhound	2 RT Mon–Fri

Fares

Fares vary depending on the type of service and distance traveled. Intra-city fares range from free 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 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 Gold Runner trains and Greyhound Lines bus service.

Fleet

The transit fleet used primarily cutaway passenger vans powered by unleaded gasoline and CNG; in addition, there are several larger battery-electric buses from Proterra and BYD.