River District of Sacramento, CA:
Does Regional Transit have a business partnership with Downtown Railyard Ventures and Wilton Rancheria? With the recent Sacramento City Council passage of two term sheets for a new Sacramento Republic FC Stadium andadjoining entertainment facility slated for the area of 7th and Railyards Boulevard, I was wondering if Regional Transit has a "game plan" if you will for the near term future operations of the Green Line? Will the Green Line see service frequency improvements once the two venues are open and operating? Will the Green Line at that time operate on weekends? Will low-floor trains operate on the Green Line? And will the Green Line operate until midnight like its counterparts on the Gold and the Blue Lines once the stadium and the entertainment facility are open and operational? Thank you.
Reply: SacRT partnered with Downtown Railyard Ventures on a Round 4 Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities grant. https://sgc.ca.gov/grant-programs/ahsc/docs/20230710-Item6_AHSC_R4_Appendix_B.pdf
The grant funded the new mixed use housing in the railyards, bike improvements, and the creation of a new light rail stop at the corner of 7th street and Railyards Boulevard. Construction of the new station is expected to start in 2025.
At this time, it is too early to discuss what game day service will look like.
Folsom, CA:
Does the weekday operation of "Folsom 15" begin on January 5th/6th, or will construction and testing now continue well into January?
Reply: SacRT will be testing the double-tracking the weekend of December 14-15. Once testing is completed, SacRT still needs to obtain California Public Utilities Commission approval before we can announce an official launch date.
SACRAMENTO, CA:
When riding the light rail, my experience is degraded by view-obscuring advertising glued to the outside of windows. I feel disrespected by this as a rider. Can this be avoided on new coaches?
Reply: Thank you for your comment. Please know that we have restricted window coverage to 50% or less of a window to improve visibility allowing riders to see in and out. You may be on a train that has a long-term wrap contract covering a majority of the windows, which will be phased out by the end of the year. Also, note that at this time the new low-floor trains will not have advertising wraps on them.
Natomas, CA:
AT the last Board of Directors Meeting, of which I watched over on YouTube, I saw and heard councilmember Lisa Kaplan ask for an extension of current bus route eleven to the Sacramento Metro Air Park and Sacramento International Airport too. Now that our Natomas area councilperson has asked for this bus route extension, will we in the Natomas and Truxel Road corridor likely see this happen by the Summer 2025 service changes, or will this matter be one that will still have its feet dragged and likely not happen, if even at all?
Reply: SacRT planning staff is looking at ways to extend Route 11 to the airport and provide a high quality experience for our riders. With the consideration of our current budget needs, we are attempting to do this in a cost-neutral manner. While there will be substantial analysis and funding needs that must be resolved, the goal is to have this route change implemented in summer 2025.
Sacramento, CA:
How are things going as far as the new contactless fare payment plans are, and will we likely see more public information about it out on television media outlets between now and Caesar Chavez Day at the end of March?
Reply: SacRT is working with Kuba to install payment acceptance devices on all of SacRT's bus fleet. The install team is finalizing prep work now and passengers will begin to see mounting hardware installed within the next few weeks. We anticipate the devices to be available in early 2025 and installation to be completed immediately upon their arrival.
South Sacramento, CA:
Have things improved fairly recently on bus trip cancellations? I noticed today a good amount of cancellations that are online at the moment. What proactive steps is the district taking to avoid future bus trip cancellations, going forward?
Reply: Thank you for your question. We’ve been addressing these challenges since the post-COVID-19 period and have made significant progress over the years. In 2022, our cancellation rate averaged 4.4%. By 2023, we reduced it to 1.3%, and in 2024, we’ve maintained an average of 1.1%. While our ultimate goal is to achieve zero cancellations, we are proud of the strides we’ve made.
To continue improving, we’ve increased operator staffing levels, transitioned operators across divisions to enhance coverage, and implemented updated attendance policies to address absenteeism. These proactive steps, along with ongoing recruitment, operator training, and scheduling adjustments, are helping us deliver more reliable service for our riders.
Sacramento, CA:
On occasion, I have come across passenger confrontations with transit ambassadors regarding the giving of unexpired paper tickets to riders who didn't pay for their own ticket or pass. Have you considered recently what BART did in the San Francisco/Oakland area and just completely eliminate paper tickets altogether, and just go solely with electronic fare payments only? I think and hope that by doing this, that it would eliminate paper, waste, and most importantly the confrontations I see between passengers and transit ambassadors over giving unexpired paper tickets and unexpired daily passes to folks that didn't pay for fare to begin with. I don't know, just a thought I have, and hope Regional Transit would explore the option of eliminating paper tickets and passes altogether, and following exactly what BART fairly recently did. Thank you.
Reply: Thank you for your question. We have drastically reduced the amount of paper tickets that are used by passengers at SacRT over time and hope to continue this into the future. With advancements in technology, including the upcoming launch of the Cal-ITP Tap2Ride system, it is becoming easier for more passengers to access electronic fares. Staff continues to evaluate the need for paper tickets at SacRT but we are not currently ready to remove them all together. It is something that we are monitoring closely.
Folsom, CA:
When can I expect the gold line into Folsom to be open to ride? Project has been delayed for months.
Reply: SacRT will be testing the double-tracking the weekend of December 14-15. Once testing is completed, SacRT still needs to obtain California Public Utilities Commission approval before we can announce an official launch date.
Sacramento, CA:
Line 26 northbound sometimes gets caught behind the traffic signal for four or more cycles at Fulton/El Camino during afternoon commute hours, causing delays of up to 10 minutes this week relative to the timetable. This also causes air quality impacts. Southbound on Fulton and both directions on El Camino had no backups. When will SacRT reach out to Sacramento County to adjust the signal timing at this intersection for a long duration for northbound traffic on Fulton?
Reply: Thanks for the very specific input! It's really helpful. We'll refer this to our partners at Sacramento County DOT. They may be able to make an adjustment. We're also happy to share that SacRT is part of a recently awarded grant that will help us fund initiation of a Transit Signal Priority program. The initial location will be on Arden Way, near Del Paso Blvd, but once the system is up, we can expand it to other problem intersections!
Sacramento , CA:
Will the route 2 Riverside ever return to a normal service rather than peak only?
Reply: SacRT staff has done several conceptual plans to restore the 2 Riverside to all-day service. At this time, there is no budget for expansion, so it would likely have to involve reducing other service. That is something we'll look at in our Comprehensive Operational Analysis, which will begin after the first of the year. Thank you!
Sac, CA:
With proposed route 11 to the airport, will intervals be increased for this route? As is, the rush hour busses are already standing room only - especially with the high schools on this route
Reply: We have been looking at a number of options for 11 Truxel, including how to extend it to the airport, and improve frequency. As mentioned in an earlier post, we're not in an expansion position, from a budget standpoint, but we're looking at options to reallocate from less productive service. This is something we'll explore more in the Comprehensive Operational Analysis starting in early 2025.
Sacramento, CA:
How can riders get involved with the Comprehensive Operational Analysis next year?
Reply: We will have a consulting firm helping us with the project, so there will be more announcements, a mailing list, web page, workshops, etc. Stay tuned!
Sacramento, CA:
How soon can we expect all trains on the gold line to be the new S700s? I saw that RT recently received funding to order several more.
Reply: We are replacing the old trains with the new ones as fast as possible, but each new vehicle requires extensive testing before it can be put into revenue service. We believe that by summer of 2025 all Gold Line trains will be new models.
Sacramento, CA:
Please don't eliminate paper tickets on trains: many riders can't afford smart phones and don't have credit cards.
Reply: We have reduced the amount of paper tickets that are used by passengers at SacRT over time and hope to continue this into the future. With advancements in technology, including the upcoming launch of the Cal-ITP tap to ride system, it is becoming easier for more passengers to access electronic fares. Staff continues to evaluate the need for paper tickets at SacRT however, we are not currently ready to remove them all together.
