Dan attended the Sacramento City Council meeting on Tuesday, August 8. The main topic of the evening was discussion on the General Plan 2040 draft. Every single member of the public who spoke was in favor of more emphasis in the plan on infill and affordable housing, reducing VMT (vehicle miles traveled) through transit, walking and bicycling, and better managing parking. Council member comments were very similar, and again, no council member spoke in favor of maintaining or reducing the goals of the draft plan. Several neighborhood associations do want to weaken the plan in order to preserve their privileged neighborhoods, but they were not at the meeting.
What was most interesting for transit is the demand of Natomas residents, organizations, and council members for BRT (bus rapid transit) to service Natomas. Natomas currently has limited bus service, two routes that are not frequent, and has the promise of the Green Line to the Airport light rail extension. But that extension is years away, if ever. It is such an expensive project that it may never happen at all. The project is unlikely to be competitive for federal grants because it has many miles of track but poor projections of ridership. The current SacRT 142 bus combined with Yolobus 42A/42B achieves a frequency of 30-minutes for portions of the day, but it is very poorly used. It is a quick trip, probably quicker than light rail would be, since it does not stop between downtown Sacramento and the airport, whereas light rail would have a number of stops.
The North Natomas Community Coalition, recognizing that the Green Line is years away, at best, requested bus rapid transit along the alignment of the Green Line. Lisa Kaplan, council member for District 1, which is mostly North Natomas, also supported BRT along the Green Line. Several other people mentioned transit service to Natomas. It was not clear whether the support is for BRT to North Natomas, perhaps to Del Paso Road, or whether service all the way to the airport is desired. STAR would like to hear more from the community about what they are thinking.
BRT makes sense. STAR has always supported the idea of incremental increase in service and capacity. A low frequency bus is full, or doesn’t serve the riders – increase frequency and/or span of service. High frequency is full – implement bus rapid transit. BRT is full – consider light rail. Light rail is full – consider a subway. It makes no sense to leap from a low frequency route to fixed rail, as ridership is NOT likely to follow. Though STAR supports direct bus service to the airport, the fact that it is not well used does not argue for light rail, in fact, argues against light rail. Perhaps someday light rail to the airport will make sense for ridership and economics, but that day is not now.
Support among elected politicians for Green Line to the Airport light rail has kept the project at the top of SacRT’s priority list, and has caused every other potential light rail extension or new route to be discounted and deferred. It is time for SacRT and the politicians to defer the Green Line, and to get back to addressing what light rail or bus service would best serve the public and increase ridership.
For more information on light rail extension and infill, please see STAR light rail framework, Light Rail & Bus Framework, and SacRT Green Line extension.
Sacramento Transit Advocates and Riders (STAR) 