Sacramento, CA:
The alerts in the Alerts app are consistently misleading, vague and unhelpful. What is RT doing to improve them? Is RT open to hearing actual feedback from riders on how to improve them? I work in user experience and would be happy to provide concrete ideas if they would actually be implemented. It seems like whoever is behind the alerts may have some difficulty in coming up with useful, actionable messaging for people that are actually using light rail, and frankly it would often be better if there were no alert at all - less confusion and frustration.
Reply: We are looking at ways to make the messaging better for riders. Our Marketing team recently met with the Security Operations Center and Light Rail Operations teams to come up with ways to make messaging more clear and helpful for riders. We hope to make some changes soon.
Sacramento, CA:
With the opening of Channel 24 right next to the 23rd Street light rail station, this seems like a great opportunity for RT to feature as a preferred way to get there. For some people, it will take more than simply making them aware that it is an option to actually get them to use light rail to get there. Would RT consider/have you considered working with the venue to offer free rides to people with same day tickets to events there?
Reply: Thanks for asking. We have a dedicated webpage for how to get to and from Channel 24 and we have been sharing information on social media. Check it out at sacrt.com/Channel24. We have also been working with the owners of the new music venue to cross promote our service and discussions are ongoing about the potential for them to subsidize transit riders to their venue, but at this time we do not anticipate offering free fares to their events.
Sacramento, CA:
I think I speak for many/most Folsom riders when I say I expected to see an official statement from RT by now on why the :44 trips were cut, with no plan to bring them back without getting more funding to complete the double tracking. You could have 15 minute service between Amtrak and Glenn, and then a separate train that just runs between Glenn and Folsom and back to Glenn, and maintain 15 minute service along the full extension of the line without double tracking. This is how BART's Yellow Line operates between Pittsburg/Bay Point and Antioch - a different train travels just between those stations. The funding is in place to support 15 minute service to/from Folsom throughout the day, or so we thought. So what is RT doing with that extra money not being used for 50% of the new service?
Reply: Thank you for your question. With the official launch of 15-minute weekday service to Folsom in January, SacRT encountered variable conditions that negatively impacted the overall service reliability Folsom customers. On February 19th we announced the updated scheduled to reflect those changes.
https://www.sacrt.com/folsom15-2/
We continue to actively assess the service and look for areas of improvement. The grant funding SacRT received only funded one of the two side tracks planned at the east end of the Gold Line. SacRT is actively seeking funding to add additional track to improve the service.
Sacramento, CA:
I'm not sure who is responsible for the digital bus arrival times display at Terminal B at SMF, but the verbal announcements are not correct. They say "142A" and "142B", but there is no bus route 142A and 142B - it's 142, 42A, and 42B. If you're not a regular rider I would imagine it would be confusing which bus you're supposed to wait for/board. Can these announcements be looked at?
Reply: Yes. Thank you for the alert. We will look into the messaging there and make any changes that are needed.
Sacramento, CA:
Where can I find the most up to date information on ridership by bus route?
Reply: Thank you for your question. As you may have noticed we recently updated our website to be easier to use and navigate. https://www.sacrt.com/ We will be adding ridership information to it very soon.
Sacramento, CA:
A while back I believe RT did a study about bus shelters, identifying areas of greatest need. Is RT going to be placing more bus shelters in higher traffic areas? For example, the bus stop at Del Paso & Hawthorne in Old North Sacramento has I believe 6 bus routes and no shelter (or even a bench). Along Arden Way between there and Arden Fair there are other stops that serve at least 2 routes with no bench or shelter either.
Reply: Our Bus Stop Improvement Plan is still in place, but like everything, making the improvements and additions it calls for costs money and there are always competing priorities. We are implementing the plan as our financial situation allows. More information is available here:
https://www.sacrt.com/planning/bus-stop-improvement-plan-2023/
Last year we received a grant to install 20 heat resilient shelters at bus locations throughout our system to protect riders from extreme heat: https://www.sacrt.com/sacrt-awarded-extreme-heat-and-community-resilience-grant-to-enhance-public-health-with-heat-resilient-bus-shelters/
I will ask my team to look at the two locations you referenced and see if any improvements can be made.
Sacramento, CA:
Some of the early morning and evening (when the light rail is on 30 minute frequency system-wide) connections between the Blue Line and bus 142 to the airport are either impossible to make unless you run, or require waiting 25+ minutes for the connection. The connections from/to the Gold Line are generally well-timed. Could the 142 schedule, in the early morning and evening, be looked at to connect better with the Blue Line? It's great to be able to use it when the connection time is 5-10 minutes but if it's 20+ minutes that discourages use.
Reply: Every change we make to schedules can have unanticipated impact on the system, but we will look at this and see what can be done. I will also tell you that we are just beginning a Comprehensive Operational Analysis of our system, looking at ALL of our services, routes, and connections to see how we can improve Your can find more information about that process here: https://www.sacrt.com/COA/
Sacramento, CA:
Is RT still planning to extend bus routes 11 or 13 to the airport? If so, what’s the timeline, and will any routes be reduced? I understand extensions cost money, but a regular non-express route between downtown and the airport — especially with stops at high-traffic areas like Truxel & San Juan — could serve more riders, provide valuable demand data between Natomas and the airport, and support the case for Green Line light rail funding.
Reply: Under our Comprehensive Operational Analysis, (COA) Natomas will be one of our major focus areas. Our consulting team has already been taking a look at this with our staff. In the Short Range Transit Plan, our focus is fiscal sustainability, including cost reduction measures to avoid future budget deficits without cutting service. That means there's not a lot of service to spread around or add to new areas, but we do have some concepts for how to make some slight improvements. In the Long Range Transit Plan, we will definitely be preparing a more ambitious vision for transit in Natomas, covering the numerous gap areas that lack service today. But a plan like that would almost certainly depend on a new source of local transit funding.
you can find more information at www.sacrt.com/coa
Folsom, CA:
At the 8th and Capitol Station, only the back half of the platform was raised for the new trains. New trains have to stop 100 feet short of the end of the platform. Will there be an extension of the raised platform so trains can pull up to the front of the platform?
Reply: Yes, this is happening because we are still running a mixed fleet, some new light rail vehicles and some of the legacy vehicles, so the platforms have to be able to accommodate both. As we are able to purchase more of the new, low floor vehicles, we will be able to expand the new platforms and eventually, remove the ramps that allow people in wheelchairs to board the older vehicles.
Sacramento, CA:
Does SacRT still have access to use the vans/smaller buses that were used for SmaRT Ride? Could some of the bus routes with lower ridership use those vehicles instead of the regular sized buses? Not sure if there is potential cost savings there.
Reply: Yes, we do still have many of the smaller "cutaway" buses as they are referred to. We can use some of them for other services--like SacRT GO paratransit, and we have considered if they are appropriate to replace larger vehicles on some routes. This is something that will be looked at further in the COA.
Citrus Heights, CA:
The State of California recently announced a Return To Office policy starting July 1. Would now be a good time either along with COA or unto itself to revisit SacRT Commuter Routes to ensure enough coverage for more riders? What about resuming service on Route 193 to/from Watt/I-80 Light Rail given this development?
Reply: We are considering many options to help ease what we all expect will be an increase in downtown commuters starting in July. The COA will help inform that process and we are working with the State to make sure state workers know all the transit options that are available to them www.sacrt.com/coa