The Stanislaus Regional Transit Authority (StanRTA) wants to build a new bus yard and operations center in west Ceres and is now seeking grant funds to pay for what it’s lacking. To that end, the Ceres City Council last week agreed to write letters of support to enhance StanRTA's chances of snagging the money.

StanRTA is applying for the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital grant program (TIRCP), which will include $25 million to construct the Operations and Maintenance Facility in Ceres. City Manager Doug Dunford explained that StaRT applied two years ago and was not successful and is trying a second time.

Stan RTA recently purchased land on the northwest corner of Service Rd. and Crow Landing for $9 million to develop their new Operations and Maintenance Facility. 

The city will be sending four letters of support – to Caltrans secretary Toks Omishakin, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy and Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff.

The project is about 80 percent funded.

If StanRT builds the facility, it will also be improving Service Road west of Crows Landing Road and the intersection itself, said Dunford.

StaRT wants a new facility as it has outgrown the downtown Modesto facility and because the agency is required to move towards zero emission buses, and “we don’t have the space to add all that infrastructure as well,” said StanRTA CEO Adam Barth.

The current StanRTA yard is located on Eighth Street in downtown Modesto in the shadow of the recently constructed Needham Street bridge. Parked there are the 90 full-size buses and about 50 smaller para-transit buses.

The push toward zero emission vehicles will happen gradually, Barth said, “but over the next decade or so, we need to gradually get there and there’s just not enough space to accommodate all the chargers for 140 buses or a hydrogen fueling station which is the other option for zero emission buses.”

The facility will include a 10-bay maintenance shop as well as a building operations for training and administrative staff.

The Ceres site was deemed right in terms of size and proximity to the main hub of Modesto.

“It is right there on Crows Landing Road so it’s a direct shot right into downtown Modesto once the Seventh Street Bridge is done, which it’ll be done before we move out to the new site.”

He anticipates the site will accommodate StanRTA’s needs for 50 years or longer.

Barth explained that the Ceres property was purchased with Local Transportation Funds issued by the state of California.

Besides getting the rest of funding, StanRTA still must win city approval for the master plan while environmental studies and design work is completed. It’s unknown when that comes before the Ceres Planning Commission.