The County Connection (officially, the Central Contra Costa Transit Authority, CCCTA) is a
Concord-based public transit agency operating fixed-route
bus and ADA
paratransit (County Connection LINK) service in and around central
Contra Costa County
Contra Costa County (; ''Contra Costa'', Spanish language, Spanish for 'Opposite Coast') is a U.S. county, county located in the U.S. state of California, in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2020 United States census, the ...
in the
East Bay
The East Bay is the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area and includes cities along the eastern shores of San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay. The region has grown to include inland communities in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Wi ...
region of the
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...
. Contra Costa County has four major public bus transportation services, divided geographically: three mostly serve destinations within the county, covering western (
WestCAT), central (County Connection), and eastern (
Tri Delta Transit) regions, and one (
AC Transit) serves Bayside cities along the western edges of Contra Costa and Alameda counties.
Established in 1980 as a
joint powers authority, CCCTA assumed control of public bus service within central Contra Costa first begun by
Oakland-based
AC Transit as it expanded into suburban Contra Costa County in the mid-1970s (especially after the opening of
BART
Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area in California. BART serves List of Bay Area Rapid Transit stations, 50 stations along six routes and of track, including eBART, a spur line running t ...
). In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of .
History
AC Transit began operating local bus service under contract in central Contra Costa County in the 1970s after the coming of BART. Service began in
Concord on September 8, 1975; in
Pleasant Hill on December 8, 1975; and in
Moraga and
Orinda on September 13, 1976.
Walnut Creek began operating a downtown shuttle route connecting to BART in December 1974.
On March 27, 1980, the Central Contra Costa Transit Authority (CCCTA) was created by a
joint powers agreement between the cities of
Clayton, Concord,
Lafayette,
Martinez, Moraga, Pleasant Hill, and Walnut Creek, plus the County of
Contra Costa.
The agency took over operations of the Walnut Creek system on July 1, 1980; by 1982, it had seven routes and twelve minibuses.
The CCCTA originally planned to take over the other services in its district from AC Transit in August 1981. However, slow delivery of the buses and heavy rains that slowed construction of a maintenance facility delayed this until 1982.
A Walnut Creek writer, Elizabeth Tenney, won a contest in early 1982 to create a slogan for the CCRTA system. Her slogan, "The County Connection", was adopted as the system branding.
The CCCTA took over local bus service in its district from AC Transit on June 7, 1982, with a fleet of 24 new
Gillig
Gillig (formerly Gillig Brothers) is an American designer and Bus manufacturing, manufacturer of buses. The company headquarters, along with its manufacturing operations, is located in Livermore, California (in the East Bay (San Francisco Bay A ...
buses. (AC Transit continued to operate express bus service that functioned as feeder service for BART.) At that time, the Walnut Creek routes had 2,500 daily riders, while the routes taken over from AC Transit had 8,000 daily riders.
Several routes were consolidated with the takeover, while a new Martinez–Concord–Clayton route was added.
County Connection took over the operations of three private
paratransit providers in 1990 to form its paratransit service, branded as LINK. In 1994, the agency took over the BART express bus feeder service.
Service
As of May 2020, the County Connection operates 25 weekday routes (three of which also operate on weekends), seven weekend-only routes, and 19 school tripper routes within central Contra Costa County.
[CCCTA – Maps & Schedules]
All routes, with the exception of some of the ''600''-numbered series select service trips, connect with regional train service, primarily
BART
Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area in California. BART serves List of Bay Area Rapid Transit stations, 50 stations along six routes and of track, including eBART, a spur line running t ...
, in addition to
ACE in Pleasanton and
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
, including
Amtrak California's
Capitol Corridor and
San Joaquin services in
Martinez. Among its 30 weekday routes, the County Connection operates seven express routes (Routes 91X—98X). With support from the city of
Walnut Creek, the County Connection also operates a free downtown circulator with trolley livery (Route 4) with service between
Walnut Creek and
Broadway Plaza.
The fleet consists of 121
accessible buses and 63 paratransit vans.
Route overview
Weekdays
Weekday service is provided on all routes except ''300''-numbered series routes, which operate only on weekends. ''600''-numbered series routes are select service trips convenient to area schools and operate on school days, with service timed to school bell times.
Weekends
Service is provided on the following 11 routes:
References
External links
*
{{San Francisco Bay Area Public Transit
Bus transportation in California
Public transportation in Contra Costa County, California
Transit agencies in California