Sacramento, CA:
I really love the Smart Ride app! I hope Sacramento expands its services to the Oak Park area and has more shuttles in service so it's faster and more convenient. Thank you!
Reply: Thank you for your feedback. We have now launched SmaRT Ride in 9 zones and anticipate a couple more to come. We are planning on extending the existing downtown zone to serve the Oak Park in the near future. Stay tuned for more details.
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Sacramento, CA:
Good day, I was using your light rail train last month and remembered it was crowded in one car and almost empty in the other. Will the new low floor light rail trains SacRT will be purchasing employ full walk-through gangway along the entire length of the train? It would really help in distributing passengers evenly among the cars and make it less crowding.
Reply: Thank you for your question. Given that our trains vary in length so frequently it would not be possible for us to allow for pass through from vehicle to vehicle. However, we are working on other plans to help resolve the issue that you are describing. For example, we now have automatic passenger counters on our trains that can provide us near real time load information for each vehicle in the future. Operators can use that information to make announcements to passengers on the vehicle and allow them to move from car to car when the train is stopped in the stations.
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Fair Oaks, CA:
I happened to have read the chat from February 2020, and came across your introducing in late April 2020 the “128 Sunrise Express” of all things. I had since went to your website to look up a route description and turn-by-turn directions for this upcoming bus route, but got lost in my exploration of your website. Would you be able to discuss and describe to chat participants like me what this route will be doing in detail, and how many weekday trips in each direction staff is considering operating once the route is about to launch? Thank you.
Reply: Thank you for the question. We are excited to to launch an express bus service on Sunrise connecting to the Sunrise light rail station. We are finalizing the the route and should be ready to post the full details on our website shortly.
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Rancho Cordova, CA:
Hi Mr. Li,
I was recently on a train that, within the span of 30 min or so, kept stopping abruptly between platforms (maybe around 4 times). I later found myself nodding in agreement as one of the other passengers pleaded with the conductor to find out what exactly was happening and asking for better communication between the driver and ridership. As someone that's been on the train for nearly a decade, I find that this is just one of the many instance of the the light rail doing a terrible job at conveying what is going on. Please tell me you are setting up a better system that prioritizes more --- or really any --- communication between the riders and driver.
Reply: Thank you for your comment. I will relay your concerns to our light rail operations team and make sure that they follow up with our operators to continue improvement in our communications with passengers.
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Sacramento, CA:
If YoloBus does end up changing the frequency of Route 42A/42B to every 30 minutes on weekdays from 6am to 6pm, would Regional Transit make any changes to Route 142, or leave it the way it currently is, even if the YoloBus frequency changes?
Reply: We are following the YoloBus Comprehensive Operational Analysis (COA). Our understanding is they wouldn't implement anything sooner than this fall. We will make tweaks to optimize the routing with Yolo if necessary
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Sacramento, CA:
Hi, I use the bus every day and I appreciate that Sacramento has the bus and light rail system that is has, though there is always room for improvement. Do you have any plans to campaign and market for younger (ages 22-30) adults to take public transit more? I feel like my peers aren't aware of how affordable and easy it is to take public transit!
Reply: I am glad to hear that you take transit on a regular basis. Thank you for being a loyal rider. We run numerous campaigns throughout the year, which includes all social media. We regularly work with Los Rios Community College and Sac State to promote SacRT services. We also work with the Downtown Sacramento Partnership and the Midtown Association as well as others to partner with fun local events. We work with business and agency Employee Transportation Coordinators to encourage transit use. And, of course, word-of-mouth is great too. So thank you for talking to your peers. And of course, we have implemented our Ryde Free program for students under 18. We hope this will foster future riders for life and have already seen a tremendous increase in student riders.
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CARMICHAEL, CA:
While I only found out about this in the new Next Stop News,I'm assuming the upcoming rout 128(according to given description)will cover parts of defunct routes 24,28,and or 74.What routing will it follow to and from Mather/Mills and how many trips per peak period?
Reply: You're correct, the new #128 Sunrise Express will cover parts of former Routes 24, 28, and 74 with four morning and five afternoon commuter trips. It will run begin on Madison Ave (at Main Ave) and run down Madison to Fair Oaks Blvd to Sunrise Blvd to most of the stops on the old Route 74 from Sunrise station.
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Fair Oaks, CA:
Hello, I've been riding route 109 (Hazel Express) for over a year now and considering the distance and ridership I think it is probably one of the fastest and most popular routes. Unfortunately, as traffic on Highway 50 has increased it has become very difficult for the bus to arrive downtown on time. It would help if the morning schedule could be moved up by 5-10 minutes to support those trying to get to work by 8 AM. It would also help if there was a third bus each morning and afternoon since the buses are usually pretty full. Thanks.
Reply: Great suggestion. I will pass this along to our Scheduling Department. Thank you! We are also working with the state legislature to see if we can launch a bus on shoulder pilot project for our express routes. This would allow them to bypass traffic and get to their destinations quicker.
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Sacramento, CA:
When is the downtown bound lightrail electronic schedule kiosk going to be fixed on University/65th Street Lightrail Station?
Reply: Thank you for letting us know. I will reach out to the team and see how quickly we can get it repaired. You can always send us pictures/messages via our AlertSacRT app so that we can respond quicker to facility matters. http://www.sacrt.com/apps/download-the-alertsacrt-safety-and-security-app/
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Citrus Heights, CA:
Wow I’m glad we have the smart ride out here in Citrus Heights, I feel afraid to use it anymore, because I have to wait up to an hour or more to get a ride, why is this?
Reply: Thank you for your feedback. Wait times for SmaRT Ride vary depending on the size of the zone, buses dedicated and ridership demand. We recently implemented a 45 minute wait cap for our SmaRT Ride and the app will ask you to check back at a later time. We are constantly monitoring the various zones to ensure there is enough coverage and to lower wait time. Please try again soon and let me know your feedback.
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Sacramento, CA:
Hello Henry, as a follow up to an inquiry made during the February Q&A, are there any updates to progress made for a safer pedestrian crossing to and from the 29 Street light rail RT station stop? Crossing at 29 and at 30 remains critical. As a blind pedestrian with no audio pedestrian crossing signal, it’s difficult to make transfers at that station.
Also, are there any updates to the optimization of indicating to SmaRT Ride operators that riders waiting to onboard are disabled, i.e., blind or low vision? Having a way to indicate this to drivers will help the rider locate the driver, in the event of onboarding at a busy intersection.
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Reply: We would like to install a pedestrian signal crossing at the 29th Street Light rail station to improve the passenger experience and safety. We have applied for grant funding, but have yet to be awarded the funds to move forward with the project. We will continue to pursue all funding opportunities and work with the city until we are able to get the crossing installed.
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College Greens - Perkins, CA:
Is Regional Transit considering SmaRTride in the College Greens and Florin-Perkins area beginning in July or September, especially with “SacRT Forward” eliminating all Route 61 service along Florin-Perkins and Fruitridge between Power Inn and Florin-Perkins?
Reply: If we are able to receive additional dedicating funding for SmaRT Ride, we will look at the College Green and Florin-Perkins neighborhoods.
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Sacramento, CA:
Tomorrow, the Sacramento Republic FC begin their second to last season at Papa Murphy’s Park, located at Cal Expo. For the matches this and next season only, is Regional Transit operating additional late trips or supplemental service vía Routes 67 and 68? A follow-up question would be regarding the future of service when the Republic FC move to the Sacramento Railyards. Has Regional Transit begun any talks with Republic FC regarding the Sacramento Railyards tránsit operating plan and maintenance plan?
Reply: While we got a lot of ridership to Republic FC exhibition games held at Hughes Stadium at Sac City College, because of where and when the games are held at Cal Expo, we have opted to not run special service to Republic games there. But we are excited about their plans for downtown and will have a light rail stop adjacent to the planned Railyards station.
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Sacramento, CA:
Re: University/65th Street Lightrail station. What are the plans for the huge building that just got knocked down adjacent to the lightrail station?
Reply: The "65th East" project includes 223 student housing apartments with ground floor retail, will be located at one of SacRT's busiest transit centers that is utilized by more than 40,000 light rail riders and 30,000 bus riders per month.
The project includes the modernization of bus stops on 67th and Q streets. The new bus stops will be closer to the station and have all new ADA complaint crosswalks, making it easier for connections to transit.
Transit Center construction is expected to start in a couple of weeks and will take place in three phases. The first phase will close a portion of 67th Street and narrow Q Street. This will change how buses enter and exit the transit center. Phase two includes additional construction on 67th and Q streets and is expected to begin in July. The final phase of Transit Center construction involves installing a new traffic light at 67th and Folsom Boulevard, and is slated for September. This work will be followed by housing and retail construction. Passengers will be kept informed of any changes impacting bus service as the project progresses.
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North Natomas , CA:
Mr. Li,
Are you aware if the frequency for bus route 11 frequency will change in the near future to every 30 ( or 15) minutes? Thank you.
Reply: Now that SacRT Forward has been implemented, we are continuously monitoring the ridership demand on our various routes. While we do not have plans to increase the headways on route 11 at the moment, we are planning a SmaRT Ride service that would serve the Natomas community.
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Sacramento, CA:
I'm noticing a consistent issue with the 72 leaving Watt/Manlove at 3:42 PM on weekdays. This specific bus is always 10 or more minutes late due to the fact it's previously an inbound 84 (and therefore taking on its issues due to the nature of the route.) Can anything be done to improve this issue?
Reply: Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I will have our schedulers take a look at the reliability of this trip.
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North Natomas, CA:
Mr. Li,
Will you consider having another Transit Academy this summer? Thank you!
Reply: Yes. We plan to do another Transit Academy. Stay tuned.
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Citrus Heights, CA:
Does a means exist to facilitate transfers between buses seen crossing at an intersection? For instance at El Camino & Fulton, let's pretend the 23 driver going east spots a 26 bus going north. Could both bus drivers be trained or instructed to wait 2-3 minutes to see if anyone needs to transfer? (If there's a way to do this already, let us know. If not, could it be implemented?)
Reply: Bus operators are trained to wait for transfers from light rail trains if the train is visible at the station. Bus operators can request via radio for another bus route be held for a for bus-to-bus transfer. Our general guidelines are that buses should be when passenger loads are light and headways are long. For example, if you are trying to catch a bus that is only hourly and there are only a few customers on it, we hold the bus. If the bus you are trying to transfer to is full of riders and another bus is only fifteen minutes behind, then we would not want to hold that bus. Our radio controllers make this judgment call and also factor in things like if the customer is in a wheelchair or has other disabilities or other characteristics of the customer or the transfer location that would make it particularly unsafe for the customer to endure a long wait. It's just one of the countless decisions our supervisors have to make every day.
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Sacramento, CA:
There are numerous SacRT apps yet nothing for connect card. Can you and the team find a way of culminating all the apps into one and then having the connect card samsung wallet and apple wallet ready? I say this because it's another plastic card that will likely get lost.
Reply: The Connect Card is a card based smart card system that is not easily integrated with mobile applications. There are other benefits to card based systems such as faster boarding times and increased offline functionality. Staff is currently investigating upgrades to the Connect Card system that would make the integrations with other technologies much easier.
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Sacramento, CA:
If you culminate the apps into one, please also add RTTracker onto the app. It's a tad inconvenient to go online when you have the three SACRT apps and you can't find out when the bus is coming on either of those applications.
Reply: Staff is researching opportunities to streamline our mobile applications and provide a more convenient and easier to use platform for our passengers.
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Sacramento, CA:
Six months ago this Sunday, “SacRT Forward” took effect, with the new bus network. Since that time, coupled with the time that has elapsed, what is working well? What do you think needs changing due to it not working as well as it was originally thought out? What else is in store regardless of what took place six months ago?
Reply: Weekend ridership has gone up about 50% since SacRT Forward, which made a big emphasis on weekend service. We're getting a lot of new riders in North Natomas where we've extended the #13 to Crossings Middle School, as well as Inderkum HS and the American River College branch. A lot of our customers have expressed appreciation as well for the extended #67 and #68, where they no longer have to make a transfer at Florin Towne Centre. Between SacRT Forward and Ryde Free RT, we are thrilled to be one of the few transit agencies in the country to be gaining ridership!
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Sacramento, CA:
I absolutely love the transit system, apart from the occasional delays. I'd love to see faster transit times. Can the trains go faster and is that something that's being looked into? I'm imagining the speed we see with BART.
Reply: The train speed is based upon Public Utility Commission safety codes, which includes slowing for stations, neighborhoods, etc. We do not have plans to increase the speed of the trains.
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