Fresno Famous

Fresno may have given up on public transportation when it decided to tear out its trolley lines, which if you didn't know, ran all through downtown once upon a time. Just look at the old Fresno Bee archives.

I bring this up because Creative Fresno hosted a community outreach event for Bus Rapid Transit this weekend and I spent half of the time in daydream mode, super stoked that BRT is coming.

The other half  of the time, I kept thinking about how Fresno just isn't ready.

Fresno grew up on cars. Like, literally, the growth of the city seems to be directly related to the automobile (I am sure there's an authority somewhere that can prove it). To truly embrace Bus Rapid Transit (or any other form of alternative or public transportation) is going to take a major shift in attitudes. 

That might be coming. The dozen or so folks taking part in the outreach event sure seemed to think so. As does the city, as evident in its 2025 General Plan (which is mirrored in the BRT route choices). 

The Fresno of 2020 will not be the Fresno we see now and understanding why we would want (and ultimately need) bus rapid transit (and on another scale High Speed Rail) does take some imagination. But if we fail to plan now, the status quo is going to bite us hard.