Tahoe City transit center on course to open in fall

Construction on the Tahoe City Transit Center will resume this spring, with the opening set for fall.

Site work is nearly complete and building construction is well under way.

The opening of the transit center was delayed from its anticipated December 2011 opening due to contractor/supplier issues, combined with the short Lake Tahoe construction season. Construction will resume with roof installation and final building finishes that require higher daytime temperatures.

The Transit Center opens is designed to provide a modern, convenient and comfortable location for Tahoe Area Regional Transit passengers to transfer between buses and to wait for arriving buses. It will include an indoor, heated waiting area with restrooms and a covered outdoor waiting area with bench seating.

In all, 130 parking spaces will be provided. Several enclosed bike lockers with an electronic pay per use system will be available along with more traditional bike racks.

A state-of- the-art display system will be installed in the building to alert passengers to the arrival time of their bus. The system, known as Nextbus, has been implemented on the TART bus system and is now available to the public. The system provides online real-time location of on-route buses and predicted arrival times of TART buses at all stops on all routes. The information can be accessed via text messaging or smartphone web access.

The Tahoe City Transit Center is a $4.5 million construction project funded largely by federal and state transportation grants, along with Placer County Transient Occupancy Tax funds.