Add express connections to Bus Rapid Transit

As we embark to implement Bus Rapid Transit in Fresno I hope that Fresno Area Express will consider adding express service from BRT stops to popular destinations throughout the city. Fresno loves its automobiles and while BRT will quickly and efficiently move people along the Blackstone and Ventura avenues corridors we need to think of ways to get people from the BRT to their final destinations quickly and efficiently.

For example, riders disembarking at Shaw and Blackstone avenues could board an express bus quickly moving them to destinations such as Fashion Fair, Fresno State and Fig Garden Village with limited stops.

The same could be done along Herndon Avenue, getting people close to places such as Kaiser Permanente and St. Agnes medical centers and along Clinton Avenue to the Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the airport. The idea would not be to eliminate current service but enhance it with the addition of an express service encouraging increased ridership.

This is food for thought on moving Fresnans from their cars to rapid transit and getting the most of the significant investment being made in BRT.

This story was originally published February 3, 2016 at 2:47 AM with the headline "Add express connections to Bus Rapid Transit."