City to receive $687K in Caltrans money

The city of Porterville will receive more than $687,000 in state money for transit improvements.

Caltrans, the state’s transportation authority, announced Monday that it is awarding nearly $18 million to 105 public transit projects across California under the Job Access and Reverse Commute and New Freedom programs.

The projects are designed to help low-income persons and the disabled more easily access employment and employment-related activities such as job training and job interviews. This includes transporting people to employment opportunities in suburban areas and city centers, according to a Caltrans news release.

Porterville’s share of the money will go toward various projects. Approximately $367,480 will be used for operating assistance, to expand the Porterville Transit system by adding two additional routes focused on providing transportation to low-income residents, tribal elders and disabled individuals in non-urbanized areas to the city’s urbanized areas for employment. Route 9 will serve the Walmart Distribution Center and the Porterville Industrial Park and Route 10 will serve residents in the Tule River Reservation.

About $172,000 will go toward capital assistance for the purchase of two medium sized, 12-passenger compressed natural gas-fueled buses for complementary Dial-A-Ride service to the fixed-route system to increase system capacity.

Lastly, about $147,945 will go toward operating assistance to extend the current fixed-route and complementary Dial-A-Ride service.

Caltrans director Malcolm Dougherty said the department wants to make it easier for people to get to work.

“People who rely on transit will have more opportunities, and that’s the point of a good transit system,” Dougherty said in the news release.