The catalyst to develop CalVans occurred when a government employee, living in Visalia and traveling to Corcoran, learned that Caltrans was pulling the van provided for her commute. The state employee reached out to Kings Area Rural Transit (KART) to request assistance with transportation needs.
The KART Board discussed the possibility of acquiring a van for her and her coworkers, and approved the purchase with one condition: all costs to use the van would have to be recouped from those participating in the vanpool. The project, which began in 2001 with KART and one van, expanded well beyond the boundaries of Kings County in the Central Valley. This expansion necessitated the need to separate from KART and form a new multi-regional agency.
Known today as CalVans the Joint Powers Agency, California Vanpool Authority, formed in 2011 and has grown to include hundreds of vanpools tailored to meet the needs not only of government employees, student populations and commuters, but agricultural commuters too. Ou vanpool groups work in a variety of California industries and CalVans will tailor a vehicle for their work commute needs.
In October of 2023, CalVans acquired 403 Ford eTransit electric passenger vans Charged EVs | CalVans adds 403 Ford E-Transit electric passenger vehicles to its fleet – Charged EVs to further enhance the relationship we’ve established providing disadvantaged communities an efficient and reliable means of getting to and from work. In collaboration with the Affordable Housing And Sustainable Communities (AHSC) projects, CalVans will provide key housing projects the true battery plug in electric transit to serve the residents and our member agency communities the continued safe, telematics-driven, clean transportation model while removing vehicles from California roadways.
