Riverside Transit Agency (
RTA) is a joint powers agency that provides public transportation in western
Riverside CountyRiverside County is a county in the U.S. state of California. One of 58 California counties, it covers in the southern part of the state, and stretches from Orange County to the Colorado River, which forms the state border with Arizona. The county derives its name from the city of Riverside,...
,
CaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, United States. It operates more than 300 vehicles on 36 local fixed routes, eight long-distance "CommuterLink"
express busAn express bus service is a bus service that is intended to run faster than normal bus services between the same two commuter points....
routes, and Dial-A-Ride service. RTA was established on August 15, 1975 and began operating bus service on March 16, 1977. RTA’s 2500 square miles (6,475 km²) service area is the second-largest in the United States, with Riverside and the
Pass areaThe San Gorgonio Pass el. cuts between the San Bernardino Mountains on the north and the San Jacinto Mountains to the south. Like the Cajon Pass to the northwest, it was also created by the San Andreas Fault...
to the north, Hemet and San Jacinto to the east, Temecula to the south, and Corona, Norco and Eastvale to the west. In addition to Riverside County, RTA provides service to parts of San Diego, San Bernardino and Orange Counties. More than 22,000 passenger trips are counted each weekday. During fiscal year 2009, the agency logged a record 8.3 million boardings, with some routes seeing over 100% ridership growth.
Governance
RTA is governed by a board of directors composed of 21 elected officials - representatives from 17 cities in western Riverside County, and four members of the County Board of Supervisors.
The member jurisdictions include the cities of Banning, Beaumont, Calimesa, Canyon Lake, Corona, Eastvale, Hemet, Lake Elsinore, Moreno Valley, Menifee, Murrieta, Norco, Perris, Riverside, San Jacinto, Temecula, Wildomar and the unincorporated areas of Riverside County Supervisorial Districts I, II, III and V.
Fixed routes
RTA’s local and commuter fixed-route service includes 45 routes. The fixed-route service also includes
tourist trolleyA tourist trolley, also called a road trolley, is a rubber-tired bus , which is made to resemble an old-style streetcar or tram....
s (stylized rubber-tired buses, not to be confused with actual trolleys) that serve downtown Riverside, northern Temecula and UC Riverside. Fixed-route headways vary from 20-minute to 80-minute service with up to 17 hours of service on weekdays, 15 hours on Saturdays and 12 hours on Sundays.
CommuterLink
In 2003, RTA launched CommuterLink, its first bus service designed to serve Riverside County’s growing number of commuters. The specially designed express buses have limited stop service to major transit centers and
MetrolinkMetrolink is a commuter rail system serving Los Angeles and the surrounding area of Southern California; it currently consists of six lines and 55 stations using of track....
stations in Riverside, San Diego and San Bernardino counties. In 2005, RTA debuted free Wi-Fi Internet and satellite television aboard its Temecula-Oceanside CommuterLink Route 202, making the agency the first in Southern California to offer such amenities aboard public buses. Wi-fi is now commonly offered on most of the agency's CommuterLink routes.
The CommuterLink system has continued to grow rapidly, with routes 210, 212 and 217 added since its inception. These routes serve Riverside-Banning, Riverside-Hemet, and Hemet-Escondido respectively. On June 1, 2010 the former Route 149 express, serving Riverside-Orange, became part of the CommuterLink system, offering riders upgraded on-board seating and amenities.
Route list
- 1 UC Riverside-Downtown-West Corona Metrolink
West Corona is a Metrolink station in west Corona, California on the 91 Line and Inland Empire-Orange Country Line. Thirty-five Metrolink trains serve the station on weekdays.The station is located at 155 S. Auto Center Drive, and has 504 free parking spaces...
- 3 Swan Lake Park-Belle/10th
- 7 Inland Valley Hospital-Lake Elsinore Outlets
- 8 Lake Elsinore-Lake Elsinore Outlets
- 10 Big Springs/Watkins-The Galleria at Tyler
The Galleria at Tyler, formerly known as the Tyler Mall, is a regional shopping mall located in Riverside, California, United States. Initially a single story facility, with three two-story anchor tenants, the mall was renovated in 1991 to add a second level and a fourth anchor tenant, Nordstrom...
- 11 Moreno Valley Mall
The Moreno Valley Mall at Towngate is a shopping mall located on the former site of the Riverside International Raceway in Moreno Valley, California.In the early years competition for tenants divided prospects between competing developers...
-Cactus/Elsworth
- 12 Stevens/Center-Pierce/Sterling
- 13 Spruce/Atlanta-The Galleria at Tyler
The Galleria at Tyler, formerly known as the Tyler Mall, is a regional shopping mall located in Riverside, California, United States. Initially a single story facility, with three two-story anchor tenants, the mall was renovated in 1991 to add a second level and a fourth anchor tenant, Nordstrom...
- 14 Loma Linda
Loma Linda may refer to:* Loma Linda, California, a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States**Loma Linda Academy, a K-12 college preparatory WASC-accredited school run by the Seventh-day Adventist Church...
-Downtown-Pierce/Sterling
- 15 Downtown-La Sierra Metrolink
-External links:* at the Riverside County Transportation Commission website...
The Galleria at TylerThe Galleria at Tyler, formerly known as the Tyler Mall, is a regional shopping mall located in Riverside, California, United States. Initially a single story facility, with three two-story anchor tenants, the mall was renovated in 1991 to add a second level and a fourth anchor tenant, Nordstrom...
- 16 Main/Russell-Downtown Metrolink-Moreno Valley Mall
The Moreno Valley Mall at Towngate is a shopping mall located on the former site of the Riverside International Raceway in Moreno Valley, California.In the early years competition for tenants divided prospects between competing developers...
- 18 Sunnymead Ranch-RCC Moreno Valley Campus
- 19 Moreno Valley Mall
The Moreno Valley Mall at Towngate is a shopping mall located on the former site of the Riverside International Raceway in Moreno Valley, California.In the early years competition for tenants divided prospects between competing developers...
-Perris
- 20 Magnolia Center-RCR Medical Center
The Riverside County Regional Medical Center, or RCRMC, is a public hospital in Moreno Valley, California, United States, operated by the County of Riverside. It is classified as a Level II Adult & Pediatric Trauma Center....
-Moreno Valley MallThe Moreno Valley Mall at Towngate is a shopping mall located on the former site of the Riverside International Raceway in Moreno Valley, California.In the early years competition for tenants divided prospects between competing developers...
- 21 The Galleria at Tyler
The Galleria at Tyler, formerly known as the Tyler Mall, is a regional shopping mall located in Riverside, California, United States. Initially a single story facility, with three two-story anchor tenants, the mall was renovated in 1991 to add a second level and a fourth anchor tenant, Nordstrom...
-Country Village
- 22 Downtown-Lake Elsinore Outlets
- 23 Temecula-Murrieta-Wildomar
- 24 Temecula-Pechanga
- 27 The Galleria at Tyler
The Galleria at Tyler, formerly known as the Tyler Mall, is a regional shopping mall located in Riverside, California, United States. Initially a single story facility, with three two-story anchor tenants, the mall was renovated in 1991 to add a second level and a fourth anchor tenant, Nordstrom...
-Hemet
- 29 Downtown-Eastvale
- 30 Perris
- 31 Beaumont-Hemet Valley Mall
- 32 Hemet Valley Mall-Mt. San Jacinto College
Mt. San Jacinto College is a community college in Riverside County, California, United States. MSJC consists of two large campuses: one located in San Jacinto and one in Menifee . In addition, classes are offered at a campus in Banning and a smaller facility located in Temecula...
- 33 Hemet Valley Mall-East Hemet
- 35 Beaumont-Banning-Moreno Valley Mall
The Moreno Valley Mall at Towngate is a shopping mall located on the former site of the Riverside International Raceway in Moreno Valley, California.In the early years competition for tenants divided prospects between competing developers...
- 40 Lake Elsinore-Canyon Lake-Quail Valley-Sun City
- 41 Mead Valley-RCR Medical Center
The Riverside County Regional Medical Center, or RCRMC, is a public hospital in Moreno Valley, California, United States, operated by the County of Riverside. It is classified as a Level II Adult & Pediatric Trauma Center....
- 42 Esudillo Express
- 49 Downtown-Country Village
- 50 Jury Trolley (Downtown Riverside courthouse)
- 51 Crest Cruiser (UCR shuttle)
- 53 Bear Runner (Late-night UCR-area shuttle)
- 55 Temecula Trolley Green Line
- 61 Sun City-Menifee-Murrieta-Temecula
- 74 San Jacinto-Hemet-Winchester-Menifee-Sun City-Perris
- 79 Hemet-Winchester-Temecula
- 202 Murrieta-Temecula-Oceanside Transit Center
- 204 Downtown-Montclair Transcenter
Montclair Transcenter is an intermodal transit center located at 5091 Richton Street in Montclair, California. It is located between Central and Monte Vista Avenues on Richton Street just north of the Montclair Plaza shopping center....
- 206 Temecula-Murrieta-Lake Elsinore-Corona Metrolink
North Main Corona is a station on Metrolink's Inland Empire–Orange County and 91 Lines located in Corona, California. The station is located at 250 East Blaine Street. North Main Corona consists of two side platforms serving two tracks...
- 208 Temecula-Murrieta-Sun City-Perris-Moreno Valley-Riverside Metrolink-Downtown
- 210 Banning-Beaumont-Moreno Valley-Riverside Metrolink-Downtown
- 212 Hemet-San Jacinto-Downtown-Riverside Metrolink
- 216 Downtown-The Village at Orange
The Village at Orange is a shopping mall located in Orange, California, formerly called The Mall of Orange. Built in the 1960s, the center completed a $57 million renovation in 2003 to create a lifestyle center that generates over $550 per square foot in sales annually. The densely populated trade...
- 217 Hemet-San Jacinto-Temecula-Escondido Transit Center
Bus rapid transit
RTA plans on implementing a
bus rapid transitBus rapid transit is a term applied to a variety of public transportation systems using buses to provide faster, more efficient service than an ordinary bus line. Often this is achieved by making improvements to existing infrastructure, vehicles and scheduling...
(BRT) system along Magnolia Avenue, from Riverside to Corona, largely paralleling the existing Route 1 with limited stops and traffic-signal priority. The project as proposed would closely resemble LACMTA's
Metro RapidMetro Rapid is a bus rapid transit service in Los Angeles County, California that operates in mixed traffic environments and has fewer stops than the Metro Local service. The system is mainly operated by LACMTA. Two routes are operated by Santa Monica Transit and one by Culver City Transit...
lines, with buses traveling in mixed traffic rather than a dedicated lane. It is scheduled to begin service in fiscal year 2011 or 2012, depending on funding availability.
BRT service along the I-15 and I-215 corridors is also under study.
Dial-a-ride
In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, RTA provides priority service to persons who, due to a disability, are unable to use the public fixed-route bus system. The curb-to-curb, advanced reservation service utilizes minibuses and vans to provide transportation to residents living in western Riverside County. The Dial-A-Ride service area is defined as up to ¾ mile on either side of an existing fixed-route. The service operates on the same days and at the same times as fixed-route service. The service experiences roughly 20,000 monthly boardings and costs $3.00 per boarding with a maximum fare of $9.00 per one-way trip based on the number of city zones travelled.
Fares
| Fare Categories |
Base Fares |
Day Pass |
7-Day Pass |
30-Day Pass |
| General |
$1.50 |
$4 |
$16 |
$50 |
| Youth (grades 1-12) |
$1.50 |
$4 |
$16 |
$35 |
| Senior/Disabled |
70¢ |
$2 |
$16 |
$23 |
| Child (46" tall or under) |
25¢ |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
| CommuterLink General/Youth |
$3 |
$7 |
N/A |
$75 |
| CommuterLink Senior/Disabled |
$2 |
$5 |
N/A |
$50 |
| CommuterLink Child |
$2 |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
College passes
In September 2006, RTA partnered with the
University of California, RiversideThe University of California, Riverside, commonly known as UCR or UC Riverside, is a public research university and one of the ten general campuses of the University of California system. UCR is consistently ranked as one of the most ethnically and economically diverse universities in the United...
(UCR) to provide their students with an all-access bus pass. UC Riverside students get free rides by swiping their valid university identification cards through any RTA bus farebox when they board. The program, which is dubbed U-Pass, is designed to help ease traffic congestion around campus, reduce parking problems and encourage ride-sharing. Additionally, RTA operates a trolley service called the Crest Cruiser that is free to UCR students and travels around the university to off-campus housing and retail outlets. Students of
La Sierra UniversityLa Sierra University is a Seventh-day Adventist co-educational university accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and the Adventist Accrediting Association...
have also benefited from U-Pass since January 2009, and
California Baptist UniversityCalifornia Baptist University is a private, Christian, liberal arts university located in Riverside, California, United States. Originally founded in 1950 as California Baptist College, it is controlled by the California Southern Baptist Convention, an organization affiliated with the Southern...
joined the program in August 2009.
As of August 21, 2008, RTA has also partnered with
Riverside Community College DistrictRiverside City College, or RCC, is a community college located in Riverside, California, United States. The college is part of the Riverside Community College District, as well as the larger California Community Colleges System.-History:...
(RCCD) to provide the same free transit services to students at the Riverside City and Moreno Valley college campuses. (The Norco campus failed to pass an initiative to fund the program, and currently only students at Riverside and Moreno Valley are eligible.) The program, called Go Pass, requires that students swipe their valid RCCD College Cards through the bus farebox when boarding. No additional transit services have been implemented in conjunction with this partnership. As of November 2009, the Go-Pass has logged more than a million RCCD student rides averaging nearly 70,000 free rides per month.
Fare subsidies
City of Riverside employees ride free under the CityPass program, which was initiated in the summer of 2007.
Under an agreement with the Riverside County Courts, anyone serving as a juror at the Riverside, Banning and Murrieta Courthouses is entitled to free travel on any RTA bus.
The city of Riverside, using funding from the
South Coast Air Quality Management DistrictThe South Coast Air Quality Management District , formed in 1976, is the air pollution agency responsible mainly for regulating stationary sources of air pollution for most of Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside County, and all of Orange County...
, began offering discounted bus passes to all residents of the city in December 2009. This program, called Riverside Go Transit, provides a 30% discount on monthly passes and a 20% discount on weekly passes.
Transit centers
RTA maintains several transit centers throughout their service area. The primary transit center, the Riverside Downtown Terminal, is located between University and Mission Inn Avenues just west of Market Street in downtown Riverside. It has 8 bus bays and is located adjacent to the Riverside
GreyhoundGreyhound Lines, Inc., based in Dallas, Texas, is an intercity common carrier of passengers by bus serving over 3,700 destinations in the United States, Canada and Mexico, operating under the well-known logo of a leaping greyhound. It was founded in Hibbing, Minnesota, USA, in 1914 and...
station.
The new Perris transit center, located between 1st and 2nd Streets east of C Street in Perris, opened on January 10, 2010, with 6 bus bays and a park-and-ride lot. The center is also a station for weekend excursion trains from the
Orange Empire Railway MuseumThe Orange Empire Railway Museum , 2201 South "A" Street, Perris, California, is a railroad museum founded in 1956 at the Pinacate Station as the "Orange Empire Trolley Museum." The museum also operates a heritage railroad on the museum grounds.-Background:The collection focuses on Southern...
, and will be a station on the
MetrolinkMetrolink is a commuter rail system serving Los Angeles and the surrounding area of Southern California; it currently consists of six lines and 55 stations using of track....
Perris Valley Line, which is scheduled to be running by 2011.
The Corona Transit Center opened in September 2010, adjacent to the
Nortn Main Corona Metrolink stationNorth Main Corona is a station on Metrolink's Inland Empire–Orange County and 91 Lines located in Corona, California. The station is located at 250 East Blaine Street. North Main Corona consists of two side platforms serving two tracks...
. The center has 9 bus bays, additional park-and-ride parking, and a direct connection to the Metrolink station and its associated parking garage via a pedestrian bridge.
Major transfer points are also located at several shopping centers throughout the area: The
Galleria at TylerThe Galleria at Tyler, formerly known as the Tyler Mall, is a regional shopping mall located in Riverside, California, United States. Initially a single story facility, with three two-story anchor tenants, the mall was renovated in 1991 to add a second level and a fourth anchor tenant, Nordstrom...
, the
Moreno Valley MallThe Moreno Valley Mall at Towngate is a shopping mall located on the former site of the Riverside International Raceway in Moreno Valley, California.In the early years competition for tenants divided prospects between competing developers...
, the Hemet Valley Mall, the Lake Elsinore Outlet Center and Temecula's Promenade Mall.
To keep up with growing demand for public transit, RTA is developing several new transit centers. Plans are underway to construct new transit centers in Riverside (the current terminal is over capacity) and in Temecula.
The location for the Riverside transit center was the subject of some dispute. The City of Riverside originally rejected RTA's proposal for a multi-modal transit center at the
Downtown Metrolink station
, and RTA developed plans to improve upon their current transit center downtown. The City has since requested that RTA re-examine a multi-modal transit center at the Metrolink station. After extensive negotiations, the City Council approved the purchase of land adjacent to the train station for the transit center, and RTA has begun preliminary engineering studies.
Fleet
RTA's 40-foot buses, Trolleys and CommuterLink buses are powered entirely by
compressed natural gasCompressed natural gas is a fossil fuel substitute for gasoline , diesel, or propane/LPG. Although its combustion does produce greenhouse gases, it is a more environmentally clean alternative to those fuels, and it is much safer than other fuels in the event of a spill...
, with the agency's conversion to the fuel completed in 2001. They also operate CNG fueling stations at their Riverside and Hemet maintenance facilities that help fuel not only transit vehicles, but the alternative-fuel fleet of various government agencies.
On urban routes, the most common vehicle in the fleet is the
NABI 40-LFWNorth American Bus Industries, commonly known as NABI, is a major transit bus manufacturing company based in Anniston, Alabama. NABI was founded in 1992 when the Hungarian firm Ikarus Bus, a key bus supplier to Central, Eastern Europe, spun off a majority share of their American operations to...
, a 40-foot
low-floor busA low-floor bus is a bus that has no steps between one or more entrances and part or all of the passenger cabin. Being low floor improves the accessibility of the bus for the public, particularly the elderly or infirm, or those with push chairs, and increasingly, those in wheelchairs.In the modern...
. There are 94 of these vehicles in service, with 47 purchased in 2001 and in 2002. They bear either 2100- or 2200-series fleet numbers depending on their year of purchase. 3 New Flyer C40LF buses are still in the fleet, which bear 9700-series numbers, and 5
FlxibleThe Flxible Co. was a motorcycle sidecar, funeral car, ambulance, intercity coach and transit bus manufacturing company based in the United States that was founded in 1913, and which closed in 1996.-History:In 1913, Hugo H. Young and Carl F...
Metro "E" buses are also occasionally pressed into service.
CommuterLink service is provided by a mix of vehicles. The 202 operates with
Thomas Built BusesThomas Built Buses, Inc. is a bus manufacturer based in High Point, North Carolina, United States and a subsidiary of the German Daimler AG. Thomas produces school buses, activity buses/MFSAB , and commercial buses; both small and full-size buses are produced.Thomas traces its roots to 1916, when...
SLF232G's, which bear 3000-series numbers. The 206 uses specially painted and outfitted NABI 40LFW's. Many CommuterLink routes (and this often varies on a trip-by-trip basis) are operated with
ElDorado NationalElDorado National is a bus manufacturer owned by Thor Industries. Heavy-duty buses are built in Riverside, California, and cutaway buses and mobility vans are built in Salina, Kansas.-Products:* Aerotech and similar lines of cutaway buses...
Aerotech cutaway vans, some of which are gasoline-fueled.
Service on rural routes is primarily provided by El Dorado Aerotech vans of varying sizes, and trolley service is provided by Optima AH-28's.
Financials
RTA is largely funded by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), State of California Transportation Development Act (TDA), the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD), the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and Federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) Program funds.
Transportation NOW
In 1992, RTA’s Board of Directors created Transportation NOW to promote the discussion of public transportation alternatives. Since then, the program has grown to include four chapters: Greater Riverside, Corona/Norco/District 2, Moreno Valley/Perris and the San Gorgonio Pass area. Each chapter meets monthly to discuss current issues surrounding public transit and ways to promote its usage and lobby for improvements.
External links