Transit Talk with the General Manager

November 02, 2018
Henry Li, General Manager/CEO
General Transit Questions
Archived
Opening Remarks:

Welcome to the November 2018 Edition of Transit Talk with the GM!

The SacRT Forward team has developed two draft Alternatives for the Sacramento region's future transit network. These Alternatives have been developed based upon technical analysis, best practices in the transit planning industry, and what we heard from stakeholders and the community last spring.

We continue to receive good feedback from you regarding SacRT's Route Optimization Study at the various SacRT Forward "pop-up" workshops being held this fall. If you have not had the opportunity to attend a workshop, there are still several workshops scheduled for November as well as a virtual online workshop and a public open house at SacRT on Tuesday, November 13 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. For a list of meeting locations, and to learn about the proposed Alternatives that will help plan for the Sacramento region's future transit network, visit sacrtforward.com.

The holidays are approaching quickly and nothing signifies the start of the holiday season like the Downtown Ice Rink. The region's beloved holiday destination will open its 27th season on Friday, November 2 at 7th and K streets in downtown Sacramento.

SacRT is once again hosting the Princess and Superhero Day from noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday, November 3. Expect special visits from Cinderella, Elsa, Captain America, and Batman. Kids of all ages will enjoy face painting and more.

Ride light rail or any downtown bus route to the rink and show your valid SacRT ticket or pass and receive $2 off admission. For route and schedule information, visit sacrt.com or call 916-321-BUSS (2877).

Also, be sure to join SacRT in supporting local businesses by shopping downtown Sacramento, Midtown, Old Sacramento and surrounding communities on Small Business Saturday on Saturday, November 24.

SacRT will make it even easier by providing special SmaRT Ride shuttle service along a dedicated shopping route during the event for free between 9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Some of the popular shuttle stops include the Midtown Farmers Market, R Street, the Downtown Sacramento Ice Rink, and shops and restaurants. Stay late and take the SmaRT Ride shuttle to and from Macy's Theatre of Lights in Old Sacramento. Visit sacrt.com for a copy of the Small Business Saturday map, or visit downtownsac.org, exploremidtown.org, oldsacramento.com or rstreetcorridor.com.

I'd also like to wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving holiday.

Now let's get to your questions.


Sacramento, CA:  What is the status of the Green Line light rail extension to the airport?

Reply:  The Green Line light rail extension is a project that requires a significant increase in local funding to support construction and operation of this project. With respect to its current status, we are just completing the environmental review so that it will be eligible for Federal and State funding when SacRT has the local funding in place to advance the project overall.


Sacramento, CA:  What is the status of the Green Line Light Rail extension up to Natomas?

Reply:  The Green Line light rail extension is a project that requires a significant increase in local funding to support construction and operation of this project. With respect to its current status, we are just completing the environmental review so that it will be eligible for Federal and State funding when SacRT has the local funding in place to advance the project overall.


Sacramento, CA:  What is the status of the Green Line Light Rail extension to Natomas?

Reply:  The Green Line light rail extension is a project that requires a significant increase in local funding to support construction and operation of this project. With respect to its current status, we are just completing the environmental review so that it will be eligible for Federal and State funding when SacRT has the local funding in place to advance the project overall.


CA:  Are we live

Reply:  Yes!


Sacramento, CA:  Why is there no bus service on Power Inn (one of the busiest streets in Sac) from Gerber the Gold Line Light Rail station.

Reply:  Route 65 does serve Power Inn from 14th Ave to Elder Creek, although it is unserved elsewhere. There's not always a direct correlation between streets with a lot of traffic and streets where there's a lot of transit demand. Power Inn tends to be mostly an industrial corridor, so there are not a lot of residents or destinations that transit riders would go to along the majority of the corridor. The other issue with an industrial corridor such as this is that the streets and sidewalks tend to be unsupportive to pedestrians, so transit riders would likely feel unsafe or at least uncomfortable getting to and from the bus stop. We happen to run on part of Power Inn today primarily as a means to get from one place to another, not because there's much ridership along Power Inn itself. Consequently, the service we run there does transport some people, but it is not a particularly popular or well-used transit route. Compare Power Inn to Stockton Blvd, where there are a lot more retail destinations and transit buses get a lot more seat turnover.


Sacramento, CA:  Why does Bus 54 not run on the weekend? There is a very large population of Seniors that live in the Veranda Apts, who depend solely on public transportation as they cannot drive.

Reply:  We have limited resources so we typically run only where there's a strong market for mass transportation--large volumes of people making regular trips on heavy travel patterns. Senior apartments do not tend to generate a lot of ridership for transit, and we have not seen heavy ridership to/from the Verandas apartments on weekdays, so it would be hard to justify adding weekend service. Route 54 tends to carry a lot of students elsewhere on the route, which makes it reasonably popular on weekdays, but demand is much lower on weekends.


Sacramento, CA:  Hi. On Sept 7th, I asked about the Connect Card reader that had been missing from the Watt/Manlove station for a few weeks. The Reply was that RT was waiting for repaired devises to be returned. Now it's been 2 months plus a few weeks and still the reader hasn't been replaced. The Connect Card system seems too new to be having problems getting the readers repaired in a reasonable amount of time. Can you provide a new estimate for when the reader will be replaced? Thanks.

Reply:  The short answer is that it will be replaced by Monday afternoon. The longer response is that we have had delays from the vendor in quickly repairing and returning damaged equipment. We are working with the vendor to improve their response time in the future.


Sacramento, CA:  Whatever happened to your smart ride downtown? ISn't it supposed to be in operation already?

Reply:  You are correct, our initial thought was that we would have SmaRT ride in operation in the Downtown area by about now. Unfortunately, the buses that we need to operate the service have been delayed and our new timeframe is early next year, January or February at the latest.


Rancho Cordova, CA:  Hello, I work for a church that has volunteered every winter to take in homeless people and SacRT has done a wonderful job transporting the homeless to and from our church. Will you be providing this service again this winter?

Reply:  This is a service that is negotiated every year based upon Sacramento County's plan for assiting the homeless during the winter months. It always seems to come together in November and we have not worked out the details for this years service yet for the upcoming winter months.


CA:  I’m unable to see more questions what’s up?

Reply:  Just a light month for questions, everything has been working properly.


Closing Remarks:

Thank you for your questions. The next session of Transit Talk with the General Manager/CEO will be held on Friday, December 7, 2018.