Update: The four slides on service changes which were part of the Short Range Transit Plan presentation to the board, are now available as pdf, and below. Look for a separate post soon about the SRTP.

In the SacRT board meeting tonight (2022-02-14), agenda item 7.2 on the Short Range Transit Plan also included service changes (reductions) coming April 3, 2022. These are temporary changes in response to the pandemic reducing the number of available drivers. Most changes are to commuter routes. The information is below.

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In response to cancellations amid staffing shortages directly related to the COVID-19 pandemic, staff has developed a minor service change for immediate implementation under the authority of the Board-adopted SacRT “Contagious Virus Emergency Service Reduction and Shutdown Procedure.” Staff determined that implementing the proposed service reductions is necessary to provide a consistent schedule for SacRT patrons and to improve the reliability of the overall system. The service changes are proposed for select trips on fixed-route and some commuter services, which is a service change of approximately three percent. The proposed changes are outlined below in detail.

SacRT staff will continuously monitor ridership and resource changes due to the pandemic related issues. SacRT commuter routes have not at this point recovered in ridership; ridership is still down approximately 80% on all commuter routes. Staff will return to the Board at a later date with a complete analysis of our commuter routes and possibly recommendations for permanent changes to commute routes as ridership unfolds during the spring. The reductions may be in place for up to 12 months under the emergency plan.

Route	Description
103 Riverside Express	Suspend route due to low ridership, limited geographic coverage, and reasonable alternative route (i.e. only Pocket/Greehaven area)
107 South Land Park Express	Suspend route due to low ridership, limited geographic coverage, and reasonable alternative route (i.e. only South Land Park area)
134 McKinley Commuter	Suspend all but two trips, due to low ridership and a reasonable alternative route (i.e. Route 30). Keep trips starting at 7:03am and 2:30pm due to student ridership from Sutter MS and River Park.
193 Auburn Commuter	Suspend all service due to low ridership and alternative option of using park-and-ride at Watt/I-80 and Route 93.
23 El Camino	Suspend the trips beginning at 3:18, 3:48, and 4:18 pm from Sunrise Mall and extend the trips beginning at 4:11, 4:41, and 5:11 pm at El Camino and Watt to begin at Sunrise Mall. Suspend the trips beginning at 3:38, 4:08, 4:39, 5:08, and 5:39 pm from Arden/Del Paso Light Rail Station.
81 Florin	Suspend most morning and early afternoon short trips running only on Florin Road (between Riverside and Florin Towne Center) including all 18 short trips beginning at Riverside from 5:34 am to 1:58 pm and including 14 short trips beginning at Florin Towne Center from 6:16 am to 1:18 pm. Keep the trip beginning at Florin Towne Center at 7:17 am due to student ridership.
82 Northrop/Morse	Suspend the trip beginning at 7:32 am from University/65th Street station.
86 Grand	Suspend the trips beginning at Marconi/Arcade station at 6:47 and 7:17 am.
142 Airport	Lengthen headways from 30 minutes to 60 minutes on all days.

Vehicle Trips

These changes would reduce 109 vehicle trips from the schedule. This compares to a recent average of 125 daily cancellations, which itself has required extensive day off work and over time for Operators to not be more severe.

Revenue Hours

Ridership

Ridership would be estimated to be down 0.7%. However, these changes could potentially improve ridership over what it would be from daily unplanned service cancellations. Ridership figures are based on data from September 2021 to December 2021 and factor in that customers may opt to use another route, another trip on the same route, in the case of headway reductions.

• SacRT
• SacRT service changes