The Growth Years

1990-1999

The Sacramento region was hit by recession early in the 1990s, but soon began experiencing strong population and economic growth. SacRT matched that growth, adding bus service and expanding light rail into Rancho Cordova. Bus and rail ridership overall jumped 45 percent in the decade. Light rail ridership alone increased 49 percent. 

SacRT opened its own police services division in 1993, staffed by contracted city police officers and county sheriff’s deputies. The agency meanwhile began a switch to a new fleet of buses run on compressed natural gas, reducing emissions. By decade’s end, SacRT was breaking ground on a second major light rail line, the Blue Line, running south from downtown.