Proposed east/west Omnitrans sbX BRT routes move forward

What is going on with bus rapid transit in the Inland Empire? It is no secret that Omnitrans is building the sbX system on E Street in San Bernardino. However, the agency has plans to expand the concept with a much grander east-west sbX rapid route mostly following Holt Boulevard and 4th Street through Ontario. Omnitrans recently secured a federal grant that would study BRT through this corridor, which would ultimately have endpoints at Pomona and Yucaipa. The Holt Boulevard route would directly link points from Fontana with Foothill Transit's Silver Streak service in Pomona, thus providing an east-west backbone of rapid bus routes spanning from Santa Monica to San Bernardino. Of course, Metrolink stops its trains at the Inland Empire transfer points and LA Metro will soon have the Metro Expo Line extended to Santa Monica; the rail lines would continue to cater for longer distance end-to-end trips. However, these new rapid routes promise to bring a speedy alternative for those points in between.

Cities along the proposed route are even more excited, as several are conducting studies as to whether BRT is feasible and what kind of transit-oriented development opportunities BRT would bring. Check out Omintrans' BRT master plan here. Note that the proposed Holt Boulevard line is marked in purple: