Share with us your thoughts on relocating the transit center from the County Fair Mall to Downtown Woodland!
The Yolo Transportation District and City of Woodland are studying options for a new transit center in Downtown Woodland. The new transit center would improve connectivity between Downtown Woodland and key regional destinations, and would replace the outdated and unsafe transit center in the declining County Fair Mall.
The proposed transit center would be on Court St at 2nd, adjacent to the Yolo County Administrative Building. The existing bus stops at this location would be expanded with two new additional bus bays, new bus shelters and bike parking. The project would also include pedestrian safety improvements at 2nd and Court, including new crosswalks with flashing beacons, sidewalk improvements, lighting improvements, and painted bike lanes.
A new transit center will provide direct, one-seat ride from Downtown Woodland to key destinations including UC Davis, Airport and Downtown Sacramento via the Route 42A/B, with fast, frequent service all day. The new transit center will improve access to downtown for downtown workers, shoppers and residents.
The new transit center will improve safety, by replacing the existing transit center in the unoccupied, poorly lit area of County Fair Mall. The mall property has experienced frequent safety incidents and vandalism in recent years. Transit riders have expressed safety concerns about the center. While the current transit center would close, Yolobus passengers would still be able to access destinations at the Mall via bus stops on Gibson at East Street.
Can’t make it to the event? Take the survey below. Tell us your thoughts about the current transit center at County Fair Mall, and any feedback you have on the proposed new transit center location at 2nd and Court Street. Click Here to take the survey!
The transit center serves as the central hub for local and intercity buses. Transit centers are usually located close to a key destination or cluster of destinations, such as a central business district or major employer. They are a place to facilitate transfers from one bus route to another. Transit Centers are situated in a location that allows for several buses to stop simultaneously, which generally requires a larger footprint than a typical bus stop.
In Woodland, the transit center is located at the County Fair Mall, a declining mall at the southern end of town. The transit center is isolated in the southwest corner of the mall parking lot, with no open businesses other than Walmart. YoloTD frequently receives unsolicited feedback regarding safety issues at the current location. Several serious incidents have occurred in recent months including a homicide.
The YoloTD Board of Directors and the City of Woodland has long wanted to move the Woodland Transit Center out of the County Fair Mall. The City of Woodland, Yolo County Housing, and YoloTD is partnering with an affordable housing developer to apply for state funding that could fund improvements to a downtown Woodland transit center and to develop affordable housing near Downtown at the Yolano-Donnely site on Lemen Avenue. These upgrades would allow YoloTD to move our transit center into a lively and more comfortable environment for existing and future riders.
Considerable analysis has been conducted over the past 5 years to find a suitable alternative to the County Fair Mall, including:
In late 2019, a draft project development report was prepared for an earlier iteration of the Woodland Transit Center project. The draft report identified and evaluated seven potential off-street sites for a new transit center based on a multi-year project process, focusing on a downtown site at either 1) 3rd & Court or 2) between Armfield Ave & Main Street. Since then, several factors changed the facility requirements and siting priorities for the transit center including the desire for an on-street transit center which can accommodate a move more quickly in response to deteriorating conditions at the County Fair Mall.
In April 2023, YoloTD began revisions to the prior study of possible new locations for the Woodland Transit Center. The project scope included identifying multiple on-street locations in downtown Woodland that meet facility requirements without requiring private right-of-way and preparing initial concept layouts for feasible options.
In November 2023, preliminary alternatives were brought to the YoloTD Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) for input. The CAC unanimously supported the 2nd & Court Street site for a downtown
In April 2024, findings of the Phase 1 downtown transit center analysis were presented to the YoloTD Board, which included two sets of three alternatives. Operational benefits and drawbacks of each location were presented, with the YoloTD Board affirming the 2nd & Court Street location as the “Preliminary Preferred Alternative” pending additional analysis. The Board authorized staff to proceed to 30% design to better understand traffic impacts, infrastructure improvements, relocation costs, and timing.
Staff Report (pdf pages 221-253)
Traffic Study and Safety Analysis
In December 2024, the YoloTD Board was presented with the results of the Phase 2 30% Design as well as a long-term opportunity to site a purpose-built transit center facility in coordination with the Yolo County Housing Authority’s (YCHA) Yolano-Donnelly redevelopment project near East Street and Lemen Ave. This site has some advantages in that it meets many siting criteria while being funded by the state Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC) grant program, if awarded. However, the YoloTD Board reaffirmed support for a transit center at the 2nd & Court Street location if the needed infrastructure improvements at that location are eligible for AHSC grant funds, which have since been confirmed.
YoloTD, the City of Woodland, and Woodland Chamber of Commerce are holding a “popup” event on January 28, 2025 to show how a transit center could operate in Downtown Woodland! YoloTD informed and collected feedback from community members, business owners, passersby, and bus riders on a proposed Downtown location.
From 7:30 AM to 12:30 PM, Yolobus vehicles and Bee Line vehicles were parked at the proposed 2nd & Court Street location with poster boards about the project, including visuals showing how a transit center in Downtown Woodland could look with the help of state funding! Improvements include curb extensions and pedestrian refuge islands to shorten crossing distances for pedestrians across Court Street, additional lighting and crossing beacons to help drivers to better see people walking and biking in the area, and rerouting bus lines to better serve the Downtown community! The largest improvement will be the rerouting of Routes 42A and B, finally connecting Downtown Woodland to Downtown Davis, Sacramento Airport, and to Downtown Sacramento!
There are two main reasons. First, we want to bring intercity bus service to downtown Woodland, and we need additional space to do that. Second, we need to improve safety for our riders by relocating out of the County Fair Mall, which is poorly-maintained and experiences frequent safety incidents.
Many of our riders are UC Davis students that live in Woodland and ride Yolobus to UC Davis. Others are high school students and Woodland Community College students. People from all over Yolo County come to downtown Woodland to access County services, school district, courthouse, health and human services.
Locating the Woodland Transit Center from the County Fair Mall to the downtown has long been an objective for the YoloTD Board. Downtown Woodland is a dense residential and commercial environment conducive to public transportation. Many destinations and potential riders in nearby residential neighborhoods are within walking distance of the proposed location. YoloTD strongly believes that locating a transit center in downtown offers a quality of life improvement for Woodland residents as well as YoloTD riders outside Woodland who need to access downtown.
A downtown transit center enables YoloTD to directly serve Yolo County commuters and residents downtown with our backbone Route 42 A/B which connects all of the major cities, including downtown West Sacramento, Davis, Sacramento and the Sacramento International Airport without transferring. Additionally, siting a transit center downtown is consistent with the City of Woodland’s:
1) 2017 General Plan Policy 3.G.8 to “Continue to emphasize the central role of the Downtown in transit planning including establishing a transit hub in or near Downtown…”
2) 2017 Climate Action Plan Strategy T/LU-5 to “Reduce motor vehicle trips through increased incentives and opportunities for mass transit use…as alternatives to automobile use.”
With the above policy backdrop, Court Street and Second Street was one of many locations analyzed meeting the most siting criteria for YoloTD operationally and for the City for compatibility with existing land uses and street network.
Court Street is a designated minor arterial and as such is a vehicular route, which includes buses. Yolobus already provides service on Court Street for several routes without incident.
YoloTD also conducted a traffic study for this project which concluded that the additional bus trips on Court Street are insignificant relative to existing traffic volumes.
4 additional buses per hour would result from bringing Route 42A/B into downtown. Two (2) Route 215 trips per hour would be re-routed off of Main Street onto Court Street. For reference, the volume of vehicles passing through the Court & 2nd Street intersection during the one-hour AM and PM peaks are 774 and 972 vehicles, respectively, an increase of less than 1%.
Most riders who park and then ride our buses do so either at the County Fair Mall to take Route 42B into Davis or the Crossroads Shopping Center to take Route 45 or 42A to downtown Sacramento as both locations are the last stops in Woodland. YoloTD will continue to serve these locations and there is no incentive for park and riders to park in a more difficult location for a longer bus ride. And considering more people throughout the county can commute to downtown Woodland directly via Route 42A/B, the transit center may reduce overall downtown parking demand.
The proposed transit center location is surrounded primarily by on-street parking with 2-hour time restrictions, which is not conducive to park and ride transit users. As a result, on-street parking effects should be minimal.
We share those concerns, and so do our riders. Many of our riders are college students, high school students, and low-income families. They all want to feel safe riding the bus.
The transit center will bring more ‘eyes on the street’ to this stretch of downtown, which will keep everyone safe. Transit riders and bus drivers provide an active presence on the street, 7 days a week, observing the surroundings and deterring and acting on unwanted behavior. As an example of our team’s diligence, a recent fire at the Pacific Coast Producers was noticed by Yolobus staff who immediately made the emergency call, enabling the Woodland Fire Department to respond quickly to suppress the fire. One of employees actively put out floating embers with a fire extinguisher at the property line, preventing the fire from spreading onto our property, where both diesel and natural gas fuels are stored.
Our commitment to safety starts at the top. Executive Director personally rides the 42 to/from Woodland at least once a week, and she reports safety concerns at the current transit center directly to the Woodland PD and City Manager. Other Yolobus staff also conduct spot checks on our bus routes and transit stops regularly.
Existing County Fair Mall Transit Center (August 2024)
Relocating the transit center to downtown has been a policy objective for both YoloTD and the City of Woodland for many years. At one time, the County Fair Mall was a logical choice for a transit center as a major trip destination througout the county. This no longer exists and no near-term plans exist to revitalize the mall. Our riders and drivers, whose safety is a priority to YoloTD, regularly express safety concerns about conditions at the County Fair Mall. Importantly, YoloTD currently leases and does not own the current transit center. As a result, YoloTD does not support investing scarce resources in safety improvements for a location that is not a trip destination, which YoloTD does not own, and for which no revitalization will occur in a reasonable timeframe.
YoloTD neither owns the property nor has funding to purchase and a purpose-built transit center at that location.
YoloTD and the City of Woodland have coordinated closely over the past two years to identify cost-effective ways to improve safety in this area. Some envisioned improvements include significant safety enhancements at the 2nd and Court Street intersection such as high contrast crosswalks, rapid flashing beacons for pedestrians to cross, and pushing the existing curbline out on the north side to improve sightlines for both drivers and pedestrians crossing the street (see design concepts at top of page).
The transit center project itself proposes to increase lighting on the north side, including new bus shelters with lighting. More pedestrian/transit rider activity in the area will improve the sense of safety and provide more “eyes on the street”. Yolobus drivers carefully observe the surroundings at Yolobus stops and are required to report illegal/unsafe behaviors to Yolobus dispatch who then immediately contact law enforcement. Finally, YoloTD can include, if desired, video cameras at the new transit center to actively monitor conditions, which we currently do at our two bus yards in Woodland and West Sacramento.
Consideration of any new transit center site must attempt to balance several important, and sometimes competing siting criteria including:
Based on extensive analysis, the location currently under consideration that best balances the above siting criteria is at 2nd & Court Street and would consist of expanding the existing bus stop in front of the Yolo County Administration building on the north block face.
YoloTD has analyzed routing and conclude that most routes would remain minimally or unaffected (Routes 211, 212, 45, 215). Routes 42 A/B would require re-routing into the downtown increasing overall total travel time by approximately 5 minutes. However, for passengers arriving and departing downtown, the travel time is significantly less than transferring onto the 211 or 212 from the County Fair Mall, which is currently required.
