History of BJCTA
History
The city of Birmingham has had a public transportation system for over 100 years, starting in 1884 with the Birmingham Street Railway Company. During the early years several private lines provided service to various sections of the city and surrounding areas. By 1890, several of these private companies were consolidated into a single company to form the Birmingham Railway and Electric Company.
For the next 30 years, until the mid-1920s, the system grew and ridership increased. Between the mid-20s and World War II, ridership declined with the increasing popularity of the private automobile. However, during the war, and the years immediately following, ridership was at its peak.
In 1972, the State Legislature passed enabling legislation permitting the formation of publicly operated transit authorities in Alabama. The Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority (BJCTA) was created in 1972. In 1997, the operations and maintenance functions were outsourced but were brought back in-house in 2003.
In 1985, BJCTA developed and aggressively marketed the "MAX" tag name, now a common household name. In 2008, BJCTA is in the process of rebranding itself as "Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority" and dropping the "MAX" tag.
In the 1990's, BJCTA opened the current Central Station location on Morris Avenue. This facility is Phase I of a multi-phase Intermodal Transfer Facility that is slated to house and provide connections to all forms of ground transportation including airport shuttle service.
In the 2000's, BJCTA began replacing its bus fleet with the purchase of Compressed Natural Gas buses. Clean and efficient, BJCTA has made a commitment to air quality and pollution control. During this time a new system map, route schedule book, and new shelters and route signs were all put into place.
BJCTA depends on local, federal, mandated funding, and fares to operate. They receive dedicated funding from a Beer Tax, Racing Commissions and Ad Valorem funding. They continue to seek other dedicated funding sources.
Currently, BJCTA provides fixed route and demand response service (paratransit) to various municipalities. The current service area is more than 200 square miles with a demand population base of nearly 400,000. The municipalities within the service area are Birmingham, Bessemer, Fairfield, Homewood, Mountain Brook, Hoover, and Vestavia Hills. The ridership and miles are over 3.5 million annually. BJCTA is in the process of replacing its entire fleet with state of the art Compressed Natural Gas vehicles for the benefit of its riders and continuing its commitment to air quality and pollution control.
