Union City Flea

In 1974, the City of Union City was lacking in public transportation. The City was not part of the AC Transit District, and had voted not to be in the District. In January, 1974, the idea of the City having it's own transit system was brought before the Council. Work was done by the Transportation Commission, a group appointed by the City Council.

Bidding for the trasnit system was opened on June 27. A total of three bids were recieved, with the lower bidder, Patterson Transportation, with a bid of $131,512. The contract to Patterson Transportation was approved by the City Council on August 5, and it was a one year contract. Patterson Transportation had 5 employees with it's owner, Jim Patterson, being one of the drivers.

The new system was called the Flea.

After a couple of months of preparation and paperwork, the new transit system had it's "shake-down" rides on October 12. The transit system officially opened on October 14 and have 150 passengers it's first day.

The system ran with three 19-passenger Mercedes-Benz buses over three different routes. There were no bus stops. Passengers had to flag down the approaching bus, or tell the bus driver where they needed to get off. The system ran from all three buses during the peak hours of 5:30 am to 8 am and 4 pm to 9 pm. The off-peak hours had the system running with only two buses. The bus routes included Chabot College and Fairway Park shopping center on Mission Blvd. Costs was 10 cents a ride, or 20 cents for all day. Student and Senior prices were half of the normal ride price.