As the administrator of Transportation Development Act (TDA) funds for Butte County, Butte County Association of Governments (BCAG) is charged with completing the annual Unmet Transit Needs process. The purpose of this process is to ensure that all unmet transit needs that are reasonable to meet are met before funds are expended for non-transit uses, such as streets and roads.
 
Unmet transit needs are those trips required, but currently not provided and not scheduled to be provided within Butte County, for individuals dependent on public transit to maintain a minimum standard of living. 
 
Reasonable to meet shall include all of the following criteria:

• Cost Effectiveness: The cost to provide the service will meet the minimum farebox recovery ratio.
• Economy: The project can be implemented at reasonable cost.  
• Community Acceptance: Support exists as indicated through the public hearing process.
• Operational Feasibility: The service must be safe to operate.  

The process entails public outreach throughout the year to obtain testimony on these possible unmet transit needs. Specifically, each fall a 30-45 day formal period is opened to gather public input. At the close of this collection window, comments received are analyzed to determine if there are any transit needs that meet the adopted definitions of "unmet transit need" and "reasonable to meet". 

 

This analysis is collected into a report called the Transit Needs Assessment. The report is reviewed by the Social Services Transportation Advisory Council (SSTAC), which provides a recommendation for unmet transit needs findings to the BCAG Board of Directors.The Board will then make one of the following decision actions related to the findings:

• There are no unmet transit needs.
• There are no unmet transit needs that are reasonable to meet.
• There are unmet transit needs that are reasonable to meet.

If the Board determines there are unmet transit needs that are reasonable to meet, the affected jurisdiction must satisfy those needs before any TDA funds may be expended for non-transit purposes.

 

THE COMMENT PERIOD FOR THE 2025/26 TRANSIT NEEDS ASSESSMENT IS OPEN.  

 

Comments can be submitted and are considered on a continuous basis, but only become part of the Assessment report once a year. Once the official 30-day comment period opens, any comments collected during the previous year become part of that year's UTN assessment process.

 

Additionally, any member of the public is invited to provide comments on existing or desired public transportation services within Butte County at a public hearing before the BCAG Board of Directors. These hearings are widely advertised in local papers and via email, website announcements, social media posts, and bus posters. 

 

The public hearing for the 25/26 UTN Assessment will be held on:

Public Hearing at BCAG Board of Directors meeting (clikc here for info).
BCAG Council Chambers, 326 Huss Drive, Building E, Chico, CA

 

A Zoom link becomes available when the Board Meeeting agenda is made public. This is usually done on the Thursday before the scheduled hearing. Hearing attendance via Zoom is an accepted way for the public to provide UTN related comments. 

If you can't attend but want your comment considered or read at the public hearing, it may also be submitted via mail, telephone, fax, on-line comment form, or email (see below). They will be given the same consideration as those received at the public hearing. Comments must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. on the day of the public hearing to receive consideration in the current UTN assessment.

Mail: Butte County Association of Governments, 326 Huss Drive, Suite 150, Chico, CA 95928

Phone: (530) 809-4616

Fax: (530) 879-2444

B-Line Web Page:  On-line comment form (Type UTN in the subject line of the form.)