Madera Metro, formerly Madera Area Express (MAX) is the primary bus agency providing intracity services within

Madera, California Madera (Spanish language, Spanish for "Lumber") is a city in and the county seat of Madera County, California, Madera County, located in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Founded in 1876 as a timber town at the terminus of a major logging f ...

. It is operated by the City of Madera and offers three fixed routes and

dial-a-ride Demand-responsive transport (DRT), also known as demand-responsive transit, demand-responsive service,
US National Trans ...

point-to-point services. Riders may transfer to Madera County Connection intercity bus routes within the county or

Greyhound Lines Greyhound Lines, Inc. is an American operator of Intercity bus service, intercity bus services. Greyhound operates the largest intercity bus network in the United States, and also operates charter and Amtrak Thruway services, as well as interci ...

long-haul intercity buses at the downtown Madera Intermodal Center. Madera Metro also connects to the

train station A train station, railroad station, or railway station is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight, or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track, and a station building providing suc ...

north of the city limits, where riders may transfer to the

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 ...

San Joaquins The ''San Joaquins'' is a state-supported passenger train service operated by Amtrak in California's San Joaquin Valley. As of 2025, the service operates seven daily round trips between its southern terminus at Bakersfield and Stockton. Of the ...

'' intercity service connecting the

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and

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History

The first public transportation service in the city of Madera was Madera Dial-A-Ride, which began operations in 1978, as the result of lobbying by senior citizens starting in the mid-70s. Eventually, a fixed-route service was started in 1998 as Madera Area Express. The city began a rebranding project for MAX in June 2017; a grant was awarded in 2018, which was partially used to hire the Jeffrey Scott Agency to develop a new name, logo, and outreach campaign with community input. The present Madera Metro name and logo were unveiled that October along with the

strapline Advertising slogans are short phrases used in advertising campaigns to generate publicity and unify a company's marketing strategy. The phrases may be used to attract attention to a distinctive product feature or reinforce a company's brand. Etymo ...

("The Way to Go"), and continued to be refined, considering alternatives, through 2019.

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 ...

was contracted in 2018 to provide transit operations and maintenance, and the city opened a new Madera Transit Center in the Freedom Industrial Park west of

Madera South High School Madera South High School (also known as Madera South, Madera South High or MSHS) is a high school located in Madera, California and is part of the Madera Unified School District. Previously functioning as the second campus of the town's other ...

in 2020, where dispatch, storage, and maintenance will be performed. In fall 2022, Madera Metro adopted the Madera Transit Plan, which proposes four shorter fixed routes, enabling more frequent service, more evenly spaced stops, and lower

headway Headway is the distance or duration between vehicles in a transit system. The ''minimum headway'' is the shortest such distance or time achievable by a system without a reduction in the speed of vehicles. The precise definition varies depending on ...

s. In addition, the existing main transfer point will shift to the downtown Madera Intermodal Center, which facilitates connections to Madera County Connection and Greyhound buses. A secondary transfer point will be set up at the

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

parking lot near Cleveland and SR 99 Planned implementation of the Transit Plan is scheduled for April 2023.

Services

Madera Metro operates its fixed routes on weekdays and Saturdays, with no service provided on specific holidays (New Year's Day, July 4, Thanksgiving, and Christmas) and modified service on other selected holidays.

Fixed routes

All fixed routes stop at the "P" Street Transfer station, at the intersection of Yosemite and P. Two routes stop at the Madera Intermodal Center in downtown Madera, at the intersection of E Yosemite Avenue and N E Street. Routes also share stops at the Madera Walmart (near Cleveland and SR 99), Madera South High School, and Madera Community Hospital.

Fares

One-way fixed-route fares have been waived since April 15, 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in California The COVID-19 pandemic in California began earlier than in some other parts of the United States. Ten of the first 20 confirmed COVID-19 infections in the United States were detected in California, and the first infection was confirmed on Janua ...

Transfers

Riders may transfer to Madera County Connection or

at the Madera Intermodal Center. The Madera Amtrak station is approximately north of the Intermodal Center and will be served by Madera Metro under the Madera Transit Plan starting in April 2023.

Fleet & facilities

Madera Metro uses mostly van cutaway buses with seating capacities ranging from 17 to 27. The Madera Transit Center is the main operations and maintenance facility for Madera Metro. All three routes meet at the current main transfer point, which is at the intersection of P Street and Yosemite Avenue near downtown Madera. When the Madera Transit Plan is implemented, the main transfer point will shift approximately northeast to the Madera Intermodal Center, at the intersection of E and Yosemite.

References

External links

Official website
{{Valley Transit Public transportation in the San Joaquin Valley Area Bus transportation in California Public transportation in Madera County, California Transit agencies in California 1998 establishments in California