County Connection

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County Connection (Central Contra Costa Transit Authority) is a public transit agency in and around Concord, California in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was established in 1980; public bus service in this region was first begun by Oakland-based AC Transit as it expanded into these suburban areas in the mid-1970's (especially after the opening of BART), but transferred to the County Connection.

Route 104 at Walnut Creek BART with special free trolley livery

1 History
2 Bus Service
3 Fares
4 Service Area
5 Criticisms
6 Fleet
7 Connecting Transportation
8 External link/Reference

[edit] History

In March of 1980, the Central Contra Costa Transit Authority was created by a joint powers agreement between the cities of Clayton, Concord, Lafayette, Martinez, Pleasant Hill, Walnut Creek, the Town of Moraga, and the County of Contra Costa. Upon their incorporation as cities, Danville and San Ramon also joined CCCTA.

On July 1, 1980, CCCTA began operating service with its first route serving Walnut Creek. [1]. Apparently the changeover from AC Transit to County Connection was somewhat gradual with County Connection taking over much of the service by 1982. [2]

[edit] Bus Service

As of August 2006, the County Connection operates 25 local bus lines in Central Contra Costa County. All routes connect with regional train service, primarily BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit), in addition to ACE in Pleasanton and the Capitol Corridor in Martinez. In addition, it operates 8 express lines, 1 All Nighter line to Oakland, and 1 free trolley in conjunction with the city of Walnut Creek.

Some major points of interest in the area include:

Diablo Valley College
Cal State East Bay
Sun Valley Mall
Broadway Plaza
Bishop Ranch Business Park

[edit] Fares

As of February 2006, fares are $1.75 for local buses and $2.00 for express buses. The All Nighter costs $1.75 to travel within Contra Costa County but is $3.00 to travel to Oakland. To save money, monthly bus passes can be purchased for $53.00 and 12 ride punch cards can be purchased for $17.00. Transfer slips are given upon request for a transfer to another bus and are valid for 90 minutes on weekdays and 2 hours on weekends. Seniors or the disabled can get a free fare from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm by having a Regional Transit Connection (RTC) card. Outside these hours, seniors pay a discount fare of $0.85.

[edit] Service Area

It provides service to the communities of:

[edit] Criticisms

Although there are 35 lines, County Connection ridership remains small. Due to the suburban envioronment, many lines rarely fill up to half capacity let alone full capacity. It is usual for a 102, 115, or a 980 bus to have only one or two passengers.

Routes are not well planned out. Many areas are not served, and areas that are served have lines that make many loops and take small roads instead of using faster thoroughfares. Route 116 takes over an hour to get from Walnut Creek BART to downtown Martinez. The same trip can be made by car in 20 minutes or by Route 980 in 35 minutes.

Being a commuter service for suburbanites, County Connection mainly runs buses during the commute hours. Many bus lines end service around 7:00 p.m. Many bus lines don't run on Saturday, and only 4 lines run on Sunday (104, 121, 308, and 314). The service frequency is rather low too; most buses run every 30-60 minutes.