City officials appear at a 2018 press conference announcing the launch of FAX's Q line.

Mayor Lee Brand’s office announced this week that the Fresno Area Express (FAX) has seen a 13% increase in ridership on its FAX Q line, or the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)- Route 1, for the first half of fiscal 2020 over the same time frame in 2019.

The Q travels along the Ventura/Kings Canyon and Blackstone Avenue corridors. The line carried 1,425,579 bus riders from July through December 2019.

For the first half of fiscal 2020, beginning July 2019, overall FAX ridership reached 5,434,265, an increase of 2.76% over the first half of FY19.

“We are extremely pleased to see that ridership on FAX continues to increase,” said Gregory Barfield, director of transportation for the City of Fresno. “We have responded to what our riders have been asking for and have more changes in store to make riding FAX even better.”

FAX also announced that starting Jan. 27 busses on the BRT route will have fareboxes located at the front of the bus to provide riders with an additional payment option.

Passengers will be required to enter through the front door only and use the farebox to pay in cash, validate ride cars or to activate passes. Riders will still be able to purchase ride cards or passes at the Ticket Vending Machines or pass outlets using either cash or a debit/credit card.