Fresno's transit system receives major overhaul

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Bus riders traveling down either Blackstone or King Canyon are about to see some major improvements new buses, new bus stops and faster service.

Connecting the north and east ends of the city with downtown is about to get a whole lot easier for people riding the bus. The City of Fresno is set to unveil its new Q Line, the "Q" stands for quick and quality.

Officials say the upgraded transit system will cut down on wait time and offer more reliable service.

Mark Standriff said, "We felt is was necessary for our transportation system to jump into the 21st century, get something that we knew not only timely but more efficient for us and for the people who are riding buses on a regular basis."

The city has added 17 new environmentally friendly buses along with four dozen bus stops complete with digital display route information and kiosks where riders can purchase their fare.

Each station offers a host of payment options and comes in both English and Spanish. Riders will no longer be able to buy tickets on the bus.

"The focus of this is for the customer to buy his fare media and load the bus a lot quicker than before," Bruce Robinson said. "This is kind of modeled after the BRT lines with have in the Bay Area, the larger cities... we utilize some of the technology that's already out there to speed up the riding pleasure our public."

Quicker is the theme, each bus is equipped with technology that will give it priority at traffic signals to help speed up the trip.

Most of the $30-million transit project was paid for with federal funding. Officials expect to go fully operational in a few weeks.