California Transit Association

1976

Joint Powers Authority Formed by 4 Cities and the County of Mendocino

MTA is governed by the 4 incorporated cities and the County of Mendocino under the Joint Powers Authority. City Council Members from the City of Ukiah, Fort Bragg, Point Arena, and Willits and one Mendocino County Board of Supervisors serve on our Board. MTA has two 'at large' Board Members who are appointed by the County of Mendocino.

After 4 months of planning, MTA formed a JPA with 4 incorporated cities, and the County of Mendocino. It began service on April 12, 1976 with a start-up budget of $250,000, including $100,000 for the purchase of 5 Air Stream Argosy buses. Cross-County routes transported passengers to, from and within Ukiah, the County Seat, from the outlying inland valleys, Gualala & Pt Arena on the South Mendocino Coast & Fort Bragg & Mendocino on the North Mendocino Coast. Initial service also provided limited services from Ft Bragg to Gualala, the furthest Southern Coastal Point on the Mendocino Coast. MTA's 1976 service plan included two round trips, two days a week from Ukiah to Covelo in Round Valley.

MTA has had 5 General Managers in the 39 years of operation. The first, Jim Moshofsky, serviced from the beginning to 1978.

Clyde McClintoc served from 1978 - 1980.

In 1980 Kathy Dinwiddy served for one year.

In 1981, Bruce Richard became MTA's fourth General Manager, and served 31 years until his retirement in December 2012.

Dan Baxter replaced Bruce Richard in 2012, and remains the current GM for MTA.

As one of 14 Transit managers working with MTA, Bruce Richard, was instrumental in the formation of California Transit Insurance Pool (CalTIP) to help keep costs down for rural transit operators. Bruce was also elected to the Executive Committee to the CTA in 1985, and also served on the Legislative Committee. Bruce was able to secure two direct Federal Grants, one SOGR for $5 million for our Maintenance Facility, and $542,000 TIGGER grant for our Solar Canopy. Becoming a direct recipient Federal Grants is a significant achievement for a small rural transit agency.

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395,000

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MTA was fortunate to receive two Federal Grants to construct a state of the art, Silver LEED Maintenance Facility, and a Solar Canopy to house our buses. The third phase of the project would construct a new Admin/Operations Facility, which will replace the existing facility that is 60 years old & poorly insulated. The Solar Canopy will provide energy for future hybrid drive propulsion vehicles and eventually an elect-powered fleet.