CA: Clovis pays $4 million to acquire land for new transit center. Here are the details

The Clovis City Council approved a $4.15 million land purchase to build a new transit center in a growing part of the city despite uncertainties around Measure C, a local funding source that made the city’s free bus program possible.

The new transit center will be built near the intersection of East International Avenue and North Minnewawa Avenue to accommodate an expansion of bus routes and comply with state requirements for zero-emission vehicle infrastructure.

The City Council approved the purchase of 24.41 acres of land Monday evening from GV Land Holdings, LLC, owned by Fresno developer Darius Assemi, marking the first step of constructing a new transit center.

The need for this project stems from a 2018 state law, the Innovative Clean Transit regulation, that requires all public transit agencies to fully transition to a 100% zero-emission bus fleet by 2040.

Currently, Clovis has two transportation hubs. The Armstrong Transit Center on Third Street in Old Town Clovis opened in early 2024 and serves as a passenger-facing facility with administrative, dispatch, and driver operations, and the Operations & Maintenance Yard at North Sunnyside Avenue houses the majority of the Clovis fleet and maintenance operations, according to Amy Hance, the city’s general services director.

Hance said a new transit center is necessary for Clovis to meet the state requirements, even if Measure C, which supports the bus operations, faces an uncertain future as two factions vie to place competing renewal measures on this year’s ballot.

Clovis’s existing maintenance yard does not have sufficient space or the infrastructure needed to accommodate a zero-emission fleet and alternative fueling requirements, Hance said.

The new site also has the capacity to meet Clovis’s growing public transportation needs, Hance said.

Clovis has seen a 35% growth in bus ridership since the city expanded the service network from two main loops to eight routes last November, according to city officials.

The city also took delivery of four new buses in early February. Some of the city’s old buses already had 450,000 miles on them, Hance said.

Hance said the city has secured a state grant for the new transit center’s land acquisition and preliminary engineering. The project will advance into formal design and construction phases when other funding sources are identified.

Clovis and other Fresno County cities are facing challenges securing local tax dollars for the public transportation’s operational costs amid the growing uncertainties around the renewal of Measure C, the county half-cent sales tax to fund county and local road construction and transportation operations.

Measure C accounts for $2.1 million of the $13 million annual operational cost for Clovis’s eight-route bus system, according to Hance.

“$2.1 million is huge for our service,” Hance said at a February council meeting. “We’re looking at everything, and we’re taking a look at our service model.”

Hance said Clovis’s bus service is far above what’s required by the law. Without the Measure C funding, Clovis’s buses might have to choose from shrinking the scope of the service, reducing service hours, or charging riders for bus fare, she said.

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