STAR has sent a letter to Sacramento City Council, for consideration in the Transportation & Climate Workshop upcoming on February 8, 2022 (council meeting starts 5:00PM, this agenda item is 19). The letter is below and in pdf. STAR’s comments are related to recommendation #7, which we introduced in Sacramento transit enhancement. The agenda item is available, though it doesn’t really provide any more information than was already on the city Transportation & Climate webpage.

Two outside experts will give brief presentations during the workshop: Jeff Tumlin from San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, and Sam Zimbabwe of Plot Strategies (Seattle).

We encourage everyone to listen in and to comment. The other six recommendations relate to other transportation modes, and the lead recommendation is Bikeway Superhighways.

You can listen in and comment via Zoom at https://cityofsacramento-org.zoom.us/j/98316981872?pwd=eHBBb20rY29idkZBN0NML0crWlJOdz09, or make an eComment via the city’s meetings page at http://sacramento.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=21, or send email to publiccomment@cityofsacramento.org.

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 Sacramento Transit Advocates and Riders (STAR) supports the identification of Stockton Blvd and SacRT Route 51 as location for a high quality transit corridor to meet the city’s Transportation and Climate goal to reduce private vehicle VMT. Route 51 is the highest ridership route in the system, and serves a number of low income neighborhood, small business, medical providers and job centers.

The Stockton Blvd Corridor Project identifies several improvements to bus service along Stockton Blvd, but there were a number of compromises with other travel modes and the roadway right-of-way. Though no detail has yet been provided, it is implied that the corridor under the Transportation & Climate program will be an even better design for transit. We feel that the closer the corridor and route come to true Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), the better it will serve riders and the community. Compromise should always be in favor of transit.

A high quality bus facility should include:

1. Continuous bus lanes, clearly marked, and including red paint in any location where there might be confusion.
2. Transit frequency of 10 minutes during peak times, and 15 minutes at other times.
3. Elimination of bus pull-outs that require buses to pull out of and then then back into traffic. Bus boarding should be from bus boarding islands, where bike lanes are present, or the curb where parking or bike lanes are not present.
4. Bus stops long enough to allow easy and safe all-door boarding, including the potential of high capacity articulated buses. All bus pads should be concrete rather than asphalt.
5. Safe crossings of Stockton Blvd at every bus stop, with at a minimum RRFB treatment, and higher safety where appropriate.

For high quality transit to work, there must also be the ability to easily and safely get to and from bus stops. That means high quality sidewalks along the corridor (8 foot minimum) and along all side streets (6 foot minimum). It means separated bikeways on all arterial roadways and at least buffered bike lanes on all collector roadways.

The city should be working with the county to ensure that the high quality transit corridor is extended south all the way to Florin Road, and then to Mack Road for the medical complex.

Beyond this corridor, there are ample opportunities to improve transit operation and access throughout the city. The next route to be focused on is 81, the next highest ridership route. Bus pullouts should be removed, except at time points where the bus may need to dwell to get back on schedule. Placing bus stops in the general purpose travel lanes is the best way to ensure that routes remain on schedule. Eliminating street running sections of light rail where conflicts are occurring would also increase ridership by reducing transit times.

Amenities at bus stops are critical important to increasing transit ridership. Though the facilities themselves are in many cases the responsibility of the transit agency, the city is responsible for providing sufficient bus stop areas to contain those facilities. Wide sidewalks that can contain the facilities are needed, and bus shelters should not narrow a sidewalk beyond six feet.

• City of Sacramento