Antelope Valley Transit Authority is the transit agency serving the cities of

Palmdale Palmdale is a city in northern Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city lies in the Antelope Valley of Southern California. The San Gabriel Mountains separate Palmdale from the Los Angeles Basin to the south. On August 24, 1962 ...

Lancaster Lancaster may refer to: Lands and titles *The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire *Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies *Duke of Lancaster *Earl of Lancaster *House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty ...

and Northern Los Angeles County. Antelope Valley Transit Authority is operated under contract by

MV Transportation MV Transportation, Inc., based in Dallas, Texas, is the largest privately owned passenger transportation contracting services firm in the United States. The company can provide paratransit, fixed-route, campus and corporate shuttles, and student ...

, and is affiliated with and offers connecting services with

Metro Metro may refer to: Geography * Metro City (Indonesia), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urban area with high ...

and Metrolink. In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of . AVTA became the first bus system in the United States with an all-electric fleet in 2022.

Routes

Local routes

School Tripper routes

''Services operate weekdays only.''

Commuter Express routes

Commuter services operate weekdays only in the peak direction.

Bus fleet

Fixed-Route fleet

Accurate as of May 2024.

Microtransit fleet

History

The cities of Palmdale and Lancaster and the

Los Angeles County Department of Public Works The Los Angeles County Department of Public Works (LACDPW) is responsible for the construction and operation of Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County's roads, building code, building safety, Sewage collection and disposal, sewerage, an ...

jointly created the ''Antelope Valley Transit Authority'' in 1992 to meet the growing need for public transportation in the

Antelope Valley The Antelope Valley is a valley primarily located in northern Los Angeles County, California, United States and the southeast portion of Kern County, California, Kern County, and constitutes the western tip of the Mojave Desert. It is situated ...

. AVTA began local transit service on July 1, 1992, with three types of services: Transit, Commuter and Dial-A-Ride. A fourth service, Access Services, was created in 1996 to provide the disabled with a local complementary paratransit service in line with the

Americans with Disabilities Act The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ...

. AVTA opened a larger facility in 2004 to accommodate increased demand. On March 17, 2017, AVTA drivers struck. The dispute was between the driver's union

Teamsters The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) is a trade union, labor union in the United States and Canada. Formed in 1903 by the merger of the Team Drivers International Union and the Teamsters National Union, the union now represents a di ...

Local 848 and the system operator

Transdev Transdev, formerly Veolia Transdev, is a France-based international private-sector company which operates public transport. It has operations in 17 countries and territories as of November 2020. Transdev was formed on 3 April 2011 via the merg ...

. After making their statement, the drivers elected to return to service by March 19 while negotiations between the parties continued. However the drivers went on strike again, May 3 was the third walkout which lasted at least a week. As the dispute continued, drivers were locked out on August 22. In 2017, AVTA became the first transit agency in the United States to operate a 60-foot, articulated

electric bus An electric bus is a bus that is propelled using electric motors, as opposed to a conventional internal combustion engine. Electric buses can store the needed electrical energy on board, or be fed mains electricity continuously from an external ...

, manufactured by BYD in Lancaster. In 2018, the Antelope Valley Transit Authority began to charge its electric buses on special wireless charging pads located along bus routes. In January 2019, AVTA began commuter service to Edwards Air Force Base. Later that year, AVTA celebrated two significant milestones in its conversion to an all-electric fleet, achieving both a one million (May), then two million (December), zero emission miles driven. The service has been suspended since the start of the pandemic. In May 2022, AVTA drivers struck. The dispute was about unfair labor practices with Teamsters Union 848 and

. The contract expired and

took over operations as of June 2022.

Discounts

Senior citizens, people with disabilities, active military, and veterans may ride AVTA local buses free of charge with proper ID. Up to 4 children up to 44 inches tall may ride with an adult free of charge."Local transit fares", AVTA website
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Awards

The

Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors (LACBOS) is the five-member Board of Supervisors, governing body of Los Angeles County, California, United States. History On April 1, 1850 the citizens of Los Angeles elected a three-man Court of Se ...

recognized AVTA as an “Efficient Transit System”. The California Transit Association gave a “Transit Innovation Award” to AVTA in 1998 and a “Transit Image Award” in 1999.

References

External links

* {{Southern California Transit Public transportation in Los Angeles County, California Bus transportation in California Transportation in Palmdale, California Transportation in Lancaster, California Mojave Desert Transit agencies in California Transdev Veolia 1992 establishments in California