B-Line Butte Regional Transit

As the administrator of Transportation Development Act (TDA) funds for Butte County, BCAG is charged with performing the annual Unmet Transit Needs process. The purpose of this process is to ensure that all unmet transit needs that are reasonable to meet are met before funds are expended for non-transit uses, such as streets and roads.
 
Unmet transit needs are those trips required, but currently not provided and not scheduled to be provided within Butte County, for individuals dependent on public transit to maintain a minimum standard of living.
 
Reasonable to meet shall include all of the following criteria:

• Cost Effectiveness: The cost to provide the service will meet the minimum farebox recovery ratio.
• Economy: The project can be implemented at reasonable cost.  
• Community Acceptance: Support exists as indicated through the public hearing process.
• Operational Feasibility: The service must be safe to operate.  

The process entails a comprehensive public outreach program and a series of workshops throughout the county to obtain testimony on unmet transit needs that may be reasonable to meet. Once the testimony is obtained, it is analyzed to determine if there are any transit needs that meet the adopted definitions of "unmet transit need" and "reasonable to meet". This analysis report, called the Transit Needs Assessment, is reviewed by the Social Services Transportation Advisory Council, which provides a recommendation for unmet transit needs findings to the BCAG Board of Directors. This information is then provided to the BCAG Board, which makes one of the following findings:

• There are no unmet transit needs.
• There are no unmet transit needs that are reasonable to meet.
• There are unmet transit needs that are reasonable to meet.

If the Board determines there are unmet transit needs that are reasonable to meet, the affected jurisdiction must satisfy those needs before any TDA funds may be expended for non-transit purposes.

 

THE COMMENT PERIOD FOR THE 2023/24 TRANSIT NEEDS ASSESSMENT IS CLOSED.  

 

Comments can be submitted and are considered year-round, but only become part of the Assessment once a year. Once the official 30-day comment period opens, any comments collected during the previous year become part of that year's UTN assessment process.

 

Additionally, any member of the public is invited to provide comments on existing or desired public transportation services within Butte County at a public hearing before the BCAG Board of Directors. These hearings are widely advertised in local papers and via email, website announcements, social media posts, and bus posters. 

 

The public hearing for the 23/24 UTN Assessment was held on:

Public Hearing at BCAG Board of Directors meeting,
BCAG Council Chambers, 326 Huss Drive, Chico

 

A Zoom link becomes available when the Board Meeeting agenda is made public. This is usually done on the Thursday before the scheduled hearing. Hearing attendance via Zoom is an accepted way for the public to provide UTN related comments. 

If you can't attend but want your comment considered or read at the public hearing, it may also be submitted via mail, telephone, fax, on-line comment form, or email (see below). They will be given the same consideration as those received at the public hearing. Comments must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. on the day of the public hearing to receive consideration in the current UTN assessment.

Mail: Butte County Association of Governments, 326 Huss Drive, Suite 150, Chico, CA 95928

Phone: (530) 809-4616

Fax: (530) 879-2444

B-Line Web Page:  On-line comment form (Type UTN in the subject line of the form)