User:YCatYuma/sandbox

Since 1999 the Yuma County Area Transit (YCAT) system has grown from a new transit service offering paratransit to the current mix of fixed-route and demand-responsive services serving over 32,000 riders per month, with an annual operating budget of $1.3 million.

Before 1999 only private transportation companies operated any type of transit service in Yuma County, with taxis serving the urbanized areas and private van services providing transportation between San Luis and Yuma. Paratransit in Yuma County began in February 1999. When the Saguaro Foundation began operating a public dial-a-ride system funded by YMPO in 1996, YMPO's fixed-route service began in February 1999 with service between San Luis and Yuma under the name Valley Transit.

The name YCAT or Yuma County Area Transit was adopted in 2002, with a new system of two routes, a local route within Yuma and an intercity route between San Luis and Yuma/Arizona Western College. YCAT service between Yuma and Foothills was initiated in 2001, but the ridership was not considered high enough to justify the cost, and the system was shortened to terminate at Arizona Western College.

After a comprehensive review of the transit system by Moore and Associates, as well as financial and operating difficulties in 2003 which nearly caused the fixed-route transit system to shutdown, the city of Yuma and other member jurisdictions in Yuma County contributed additional funding to the system. YMPO selected a new operating contractor, and service survived. Two routes were added to the system in 2004, and an additional route to Wellton was initiated in January 2006. Service was expanded to 10:00 pm on all routes in the system on a network of seven routes.

In 2010, again after financial and operating difficulties, reductions in funding from the State of Arizona and local member entities, which resulted in the elimination of two routes within the City of Yuma, reduction of service hours from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm, Monday through Saturday. YCAT came very close to closing down. However, a new operations strategy adopted by YMPO came into play to save the transit system using a reduced level of local funding from its member entities with the exception of the City of Yuma. Today, a total of six routes now operate Monday through Saturday on a fleet of 17 YCAT fixed route buses and 11 Greater Yuma Area Dial-A-Ride cutaways and vans.

With the new Yuma Regional Transit Study completed, the formation of YCIPTA and the restoration of funding from the City of Yuma based on the creation of YCIPTA to assume the transit operations from YMPO, YCAT is looking to the future for growth and potential to improve services within southwestern Yuma County. YCIPTA is a focused transportation authority with one goal - to operate transit services efficiently and effectively.

Both demand-response and fixed-route service is administered and funded by the YCIPTA and its member agencies, and operated by a private contractor, First Transit. Presently, YMPO owns all vehicles for fixed-route and demand-response service as well as the lease for the East 14th Street and Atlantic Avenue maintenance facility.

Yuma County Intergovernmental Public Transportation Authority (YCIPTA)
Under Arizona Revised Statutes - Title 28 Transportation, an intergovernmental public transportation authority (IPTA) may be organized in any county in Arizona with a population of two hundred thousand persons or less. Besides the YCIPTA, the Coconino and Yavapai Counties; the cities of Flagstaff, Sedona, and Cottonwood, and Northern Arizona University formed the Northern Arizona Intergovernmental Public Transportation Authority (NAIPTA) to assume public transit services from the cities of Flagstaff, Sedona, Cottonwood and Coconino County in an attempt to unify and coordinate public transit services in this region.

The YCIPTA is an IPTA that was formed on December 13, 2010 by the Yuma County Board of Supervisors to administer, plan, operate and maintain public transit services throughout Yuma County, including within the political jurisdictional boundaries of the Cities of Yuma, San Luis, Somerton, Town on Wellton and the unincorporated Yuma County areas.

On September 21, 2010, the Town of Wellton and City of Somerton passed a resolution to petition the County to form the IPTA. On October 3 and 20, 2010 respectively, the Cities of San Luis and Yuma passed a resolution to petition the County to form the IPTA. On December 6, 2010, Northern Arizona University petitioned the County to join the IPTA. On December 13, 2010, the County held a public hearing and approved the formation of the IPTA. On January 24, 2011, the Yuma County Intergovernmental Public Transportation Authority (YCIPTA) held its first Board of Directors meeting.

Since the first meeting, Arizona Western College and Cocopah Indian Tribe has petition and joined the IPTA.

Support from the YMPO Executive Board was provided in August 2010 through the formation of a subcommittee to establish new governance structure for public transit management and again in August 2011 through the adoption of a resolution with an intent to transfer transit operations to YCIPTA by July 1, 2012. It is the intent that the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funding that is used to support Yuma County Area Transit (YCAT) and Greater Yuma Area Dial-A-Ride (DAR) would be used by YCIPTA through YCIPTA designation as a grantee. YCIPTA would receive local match funding from the governmental entities, plus Northern Arizona University and Arizona Western College. It is the desires and intent of the YMPO Executive Board to revert back to providing regional transportation planning in its role as a Metropolitan Planning Organization and have the YCIPTA be the administrator and operator of public transit services in Yuma County.

Yuma County Area Transit (YCAT) is the marketing name for the YCIPTA and the fixed route transit system. Greater Yuma Area Dial-A-Ride is the marketing name for the demand responsive transit system. YCAT began in 2003 as a rebranded effort from what was previously known as Valley Transit. Greater Yuma Area Dial-A-Ride began in 1999 and was the county’s first public transportation service. The Yuma Metropolitan Planning Organization (YMPO) has been the administrator of public transit service in Yuma County since 1999 utilizing Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funding that has been available to the Yuma Urbanized Area since 1980 when the urbanized area exceeds 50,000 in population.

YCIPTA is managed by a Transit Director with support staff from a Contract Administrator/Transit Planner. YCIPTA has agreements in place with Yuma County for human resources, financial services, Treasurer, Clerk of the Board, and Information Technology support. YMPO provides grant management and accounting support for the transit system until the operations fully transitions to YCIPTA. YCIPTA has a management agreement in place with YMPO to manage the day to day operations of the transit system for the interim until the transit system fully transitions to YCIPTA.

There are six Board Members that consist of City Administrators, Town Manager, College President and County Administrator from the member entities that set the overall policy for the transit system. Each member entity receives one vote on the Board of Directors. When financial contributions are discussed, the Board of Directors has opted towards a weighted voting structure to ensure that members that pay more into the system have fair representation. The Board of Directors meets on the 4th Monday of each month at 1:30 pm at Yuma County Development Services Building inside Aldrich Hall.

YCAT operates seven fixed routes and a demand responsive service throughout the southwestern quadrant of Yuma County. YCAT operates Monday-Friday from 5:50 am to approximately 7:30 pm, with limited service continuing until 11:00 pm. On Saturday, service operates from 9:30 am to 6:30 pm with headways every 60 minutes. There is no service on Sundays or major holidays at this time. These services are provided under a contractual arrangement with First Transit of Cincinnati, Ohio. First Transit is part of First Group, a United Kingdom based corporation that also consists of Greyhound, First Student and First Group operations in the United Kingdom.

YCAT operates 28 buses. 17 buses are powered by diesel and used on YCAT fixed routes. 8 buses and 3 vans are powered by gasoline and used on Greater Yuma Area Dial-a-Ride. All buses and vans are owned by YMPO and were purchased with Federal Transit Administration funding.

For additional information on YCAT routes and schedules and Greater Yuma Area Dial-A-Ride, please call (928) 783-2235 or visit www.ycat.org. For additional information on YCIPTA, please call John Andoh, Transit Director at (928) 539-7076, extension 237 or email jandoh@ycipta.org.

Red Route 1
Service from Yuma Palms Regional Center Transit Center in a counter-clockwise direction in the City of Yuma serving Redondo Center Drive, 1st Street, 4th Ave, West Yuma Transfer Hub at Walmart on 26th St at Avenue B, 32nd Street, Yuma Airport & Pacific Avenue. 6:30 am to 7:30 pm – Monday-Friday 9:30 am to 5:30 pm - Saturday

Orange Route 2
Service from Yuma Palms Regional Center Transit Center via 16th Street, Araby Road, Arizona Western College (AWC)/Northern Arizona University (NAU), Avenue 9E, Walmart Foothills to Fortuna Road and 35th Place. 6:30 am to 7:30 pm – Monday-Thursday 6:30 am to 6:30 pm - Friday 9:30 am to 5:30 pm - Saturday

Yellow Route 95
Service from Yuma Palms Regional Center Transit Center to San Luis via West Yuma Transfer Hub, Somerton and Gadsden. 6:30 am to 7:30 pm – Monday-Friday 9:30 am to 6:30 pm - Saturday

Green Route 4
Service in a clockwise direction within the City of Yuma from Yuma Palms Regional Center Transit Center via Pacific Avenue, Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, West Yuma Transfer Hub at Walmart on 26th Street at Avenue B, MCAS Housing and 3rd Street in downtown Yuma to Yuma Palms Regional Center Transit Center via Castle Dome Avenue. 6:30 am to 6:30 pm – Monday-Friday 9:30 am to 5:30 pm - Saturday

Purple Route 6/6A
Service from North Cocopah Reservation via Riverside Drive, Avenue C, 8th Street, Avenue A, 24th Street to West Yuma Transfer Hub at Walmart on 26th Street at Avenue B. Saturday service extended to Cocopah Casino, Somerton, East and West Cocopah Reservations 7:10 am to 6:10 pm – Monday- Friday 10:00 am to 4:53 pm - Saturday

Violet Route 7
Deviated fixed route service between Cocopah West Reservation, Cocopah East Reservation (westbound only), Mesa Verde/Orange Grove area and Cocopah Casino. 7:45 am to 6:45 pm, Monday-Friday

Gold Route 8
Deviated fixed route service from Yuma Palms Regional Center to Wellton via AWC/NAU, Fortuna Foothills and on request to Ligurta. 7:15 am to 8:15 am/3:30 pm to 4:30 pm – Monday-Friday 9:15 am to 10:15 am/3:30 pm to 4:30 pm Saturday

Silver Route 9
Service from AWC/NAU to San Luis via AWC San Luis Center and State Route 195. 5:45 am to 8:00 am/2:15 pm to 6:00 pm – Monday-Friday

NightCAT
Service from AWC/NAU to Winterhaven, Yuma, Somerton, San Luis, Cocopah Reservations, Fortuna Foothills and unincorporated areas within a ¾ mile radius of existing YCAT routes only. 8:10 pm to 11:10 pm

HolidayCAT
Limited service on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents Day and Veterans Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, between AWC/NAU and Yuma Palms Regional Center. 11:30 am-11:45 am/3:30 pm-3:45 pm, on selected holidays only

YCAT Fares
No transfers – use Day YCATPass or pay one way fares. Cocopah Tribe members can ride free by showing their tribal ID card. AWC and NAU students and employees can ride free by showing their student ID card with the current semester sticker. WACOG clients ride free for shopping, senior center, pharmacy and medical appointments by showing their Dial-A-Ride ID card. YPIC Charter High School and Aztec High School students and employees can ride free by showing their student or employee ID card with current semester sticker. Children under 5 ride free – up to four children. Fifth and more children pay discount fare. Yuma Sun newspaper on buses – 50 cents. Class Pass - $45.00 (Up to 5 adults and 40 students @ $1.00 per ride).

Greater Yuma Area Dial-A-Ride Fares
Children under 5 ride free – up to four children. Fifth and more children pay discount fare. Personal Care Attendants (PCA) ride free. Companions ride at the same fares listed above. Yuma Sun newspaper on buses – 50 cents. Personal Care Attendant From First Transit - $10.00 per hour.