Valley Express to launch bus service in January
October 22, 2014
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
Santa Paula is getting closer to getting on the bus with the plan to provide fixed-route transit service expected to launch January although it won’t be called the Heritage Valley Transit Service.
The Ventura County Transportation Commission is on the verge of awarding a five-year contract worth up to $12 million to a Dallas-based company to run a new transit service, the newly re-dubbed Valley Express that will bring fixed-route buses to the communities of Piru, Fillmore and Santa Paula.
VCTC Executive Director Darren Kettle is supposed to sit down with representatives of MV Transportation this week after VCTC Chairman Ralph Fernandez, a Santa Paula City Councilman was authorized to sign off on the deal.
The looming Valley Express bus service will provide two fixed routes within Santa Paula - one in Fillmore - in addition to its present Dial-A-Ride and the VCTC Intercity Bus, which travels from city to city.
In July VCTC awarded the intercity bus contract to Roadrunner, which had taken over operations about two years ago when the transit company handling the wide-ranging service, six routes from Santa Barbara to Woodland Hills, declared bankruptcy.
MV Transportation claims to be the largest privately owned transportation contracting firm in the country, operating in 28 states.
MV Transportation will operate the fixed routes and the Dial-A-Ride service under the administration of the VCTC and bus schedules will be determined by Santa Paula, Fillmore and Ventura County for the unincorporated Piru.
With the new citywide bus service officials are counting on demand for Dial-A-Ride, which offers curbside pickup by appointment, to be utilized only by the seniors and the handicapped it initially targeted. It is expected that inner-city service will target Santa Paula schools and it is hoped that parents will take advantage of the service, a move that would alleviate the ever-increasing traffic jams at some area campuses.
Fillmore Area Transit (FATCo) will continue to run the Dial-A-Ride Services until January when MV Transportation takes over.
MV Transportation submitted the lowest of three bids for the contract, slightly more than $10 million beating out the $12.8 million bid submitted by FATCo. A third company based in Missouri bid slightly more than $12 million.
Since the planning stages started in about 2012, the new bus service for the Santa Clara River Valley communities was called the Heritage Valley Transit Service, but reportedly elected officials felt the service needed to be rebranded; in recent weeks they decided to rename the service the more generic Valley Express.
