time. The route will no longer operate on Ceres Avenue and Eaton Road south of Lassen Avenue. The new routing will travel north on Ridgewood Drive, south on Ceres Avenue and west on Lassen Avenue. The overall revised route is 9.0 miles in length compared with the current 11.1 miles in length. This reduction in length will significantly improve the ability for this route to stay on schedule.
 

Route 3 Nord/East
There are no service changes proposed for Route 3. It is recommended to implement a transit signal priority (TSP) program to improve the travel time and reliability of the service. Potential locations for TSP could include Nord Avenue and West Sacramento Avenue, Nord Avenue and West 8th Avenue, East Avenue and Esplanade, and East Avenue at the SR 99 interchange.
 

Route 4 First/East
No changes are proposed for Route 4.
 

Route 5 East 8th Street
Under this plan there are two proposed changes to the route. First, the Springfield Drive loop will be operated in both the inbound and outbound directions, rather than the current route which only travels on the loop in the inbound direction. This will provide more convenient service to the Chico Marketplace Mall and Kohl’s, as well as the residential neighborhoods. The second change is to shorten the southern terminus loop to operate south on Forest Avenue, east on Parkway Village Drive and north on Huntington Drive. This new routing shortens the travel time while still making the connection to Walmart and to other routes at the Forest Avenue Transit Center. The Notre Dame Boulevard loop will be discontinued on Route 5 but will be served by a new microtransit zone, as discussed below. The revised route will be 11.2 miles in length, 0.3 miles less than at present. This will reduce running time by several minutes, improving on-time performance.

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Route 7 Bruce/Manzanita

Route 7 is being replaced by the East Microtransit Zone, as it is has the lowest ridership of all the Chico routes.

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Route 8 Nord
No routing changes are proposed for Route 8. However, it is recommended that service times be expanded to include Friday evening service until 9:34 PM as well as providing service on Saturdays from 8:20 AM to 9:34 PM, when CSUC is in session. This will enhance service to the busy neighborhood northwest of the CSUC campus, which generates strong ridership.
 

Route 9 Orange/Warner/Cedar
Route 9 will continue to operate the existing route in the CSUC area, with two modifications. First, the southern loop will be shifted to Orange Street instead of Oak Street to provide additional coverage in the neighborhood and to serve the Amtrak station. Only one existing stop (on Oak Street just north of West Seventh Street) will need to be moved. Secondly, service will be extended during the CSUC sessions to provide Friday evening service until 10:01 PM, as well as Saturday service from 8:14 AM to 10:01 PM. This will replace the existing 9C service on Friday evenings and Saturdays during the CSUC sessions.

Route 14 Park/Forest/MLK
No changes are proposed for Route 14.

Route 15 Esplanade/Lassen
Route 15 will continue to provide service from downtown Chico to north Chico via the Esplanade corridor. Under this plan, Route 15 will take over the Rio Lindo Avenue / Cohasset Road loop to serve the DMV. In addition, the northern terminus routing will shift north to Ridgewood Drive to better serve the Social Security office and to offset some of the additional running time needed to serve the Rio Linda / Cohasset Road loop.
 

Route 16 Esplanade/ Hwy 99
Route 16 will be eliminated under this plan. This addresses the inefficient overlap between Routes 15 and 16 on Esplanade south of Lassen Boulevard (with Route 15 continuing to provide service). North of Lassen Avenue, service will be provided by the North Microtransit service, as discussed below.

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Route 17 Park/Fair/Forest
Route 17 provides service from the Downtown Transit Center to the Walmart and Butte College Chico Campus on Forest Avenue. The route will be revised to shift the service from MLK Jr. Parkway to Fair Street in the outbound direction to provide direct service to the Jesus Center and Fairgrounds. Stops along MLK Jr. Parkway will continue to be served by Route 14.
 

Route 52 Chico Airport Express
Route 52 operates limited express service to the airport (five runs per weekday). This service will be discontinued and replaced by the North Microtransit.

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North Microtransit Zone
The zone is designed to replace the low-performing Routes 16 and 52 that are currently serving the community in northwest Chico. It consists of the area north of Lassen Avenue as far west as Alamo Avenue and as far east as Cohasset Road, extending as far north as the airport terminal on the northeast and the SR 99 / Wilson Landing Road intersection on the northwest. The microtransit van will also serve the key stops at North Valley Plaza and at the Social Security office on Lassen Avenue to connect the on-demand service with the fixed route system.
 

The Northwest Zone will utilize the revenue hours from the existing Route 16 to operate weekdays and Saturdays. One vehicle will be sufficient to provide service in the zone. Fares will be identical with the fixed route fares (for all microtransit zones).
 

East Microtransit Zone
The East Zone is designed to replace the existing poorly performing Route 7. It will serve the areas on the east side of Chico between Forest Avenue and Bruce Road/Manzanita Avenue, as well as the area north of East Avenue and east of Cohasset Road. Route 7 currently has the lowest ridership in the system. The area is made up of lower density land uses that can be better served by microtransit than fixed route. The vehicle will also serve transfer points at North Valley Plaza, Social Security office and Forest Avenue Transfer Point to provide connections with fixed routes and will also serve the existing bus stops at Pleasant Valley High School.
 

The zone will utilize the revenue hours from the existing Routes 7 and 52 to operate weekday service.
One vehicle will be sufficient to provide service in the zone.