SacRT’s Route 33 Dos Rios has been much in the news recently. When the SacRT board rejected in November the Dos Rios Light Rail Station, which would serve Mirasol Village and other River District destinations, staff proposed an alternative, enhancing Route 33 to serve the neighborhood. In January, the board reversed the decision against the station, and Dos Rios Light Rail Station will be built, though funding for it is still incomplete.
Don’t be fooled by the SacRT route map for Route 33. The route goes west to Bercut Drive only twice per day, once each direction. The SacRT map below is rotated toward north. For all practical purposes, the black line is the route. The second map below is a screen capture from Transit app, showing the route between E Street and Richards Blvd. Route 33 connects with Blue Line Light Rail at Alkalai Flat/La Valentina station. The layover point for the route is on the northwest corner of E Street and 12th Street, across the street from the station. The route does not connect with any other light rail lines or bus lines. The frequency of the route is 20 minutes, from 6:34AM to 5:34PM. There is only weekday service, no weekends.
The bus used for this route is a cutaway, meaning that it is a van cut away to add a passenger compartment, shown below at the layover stop on E Street at 12th Street. These types buses are used for a few neighborhood routes, and for paratransit services.
On a recent midday trip, Dan observed about seven passengers, about half homeless residents living along North B Street and other locations in the River District, and the other half residents of Mirasol Village. SmaRT Ride serves Mirasol Village, but not the remainder of the River District.
Route 33 Alternatives
When the Dos Rios Light Rail Station was turned down in November, SacRT staff worked with Mirasol Village residents, Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency (SHRA, the manager of MIrasol Village), and support organizations to develop alternatives to enhance Route 33 with a longer route so that it connects with Green Line light rail and Route 11 Natomas/Land Park. Additional ideas were to increase the frequency of Route 11 (current 45 minutes) and have Route 142 Airport stop in the River District at either Museum of Science and Industry, or near Richards Blvd. Route 33 serves Union Gospel Mission, but only once in the morning and once in the afternoon. The community requested access to 7th & Richards/Township 9 station for Green Line light rail, a connection to Route 11 Natomas/Land Park, and the Museum of Science & Curiosity on Jibboom Street. The Greyhound Station on Richards Blvd is served by Route 11, but the 45-minute frequency is not convenient, and it is a 0.3 mile (7 minutes) walk to light rail at 7th & Richards/Township 9.
The map (pdf) below shows those destinations. The Green Line overlays Route 11 along 7th Street, but both are present. Route 11 stops at the 7th & Richards/Township 9 station, so access to the station would serve both. The existing Route 33 is shown in thick brown, while the twice-a-day extension to Union Gospel Mission, and possible route if extended, is shown in thin brown.
All of these Route 33 ideas were preliminary and never developed in detail because the idea was dropped with the decision to construct the Dos Rios Light Rail Station. But all of them are worth considering for future enhancement of Route 33.
Service Changes
SacRT’s 2024 Proposed Service Modification proposes some minor changes to the route: “Extend evening hours so that the last trip departs Alkali Flat station at approximately 6:44 pm, contingent upon securing $115,000 of grant funds.” The increased service span would require about $54,000 per year, so the grant funds would fund two years of service. The grant funds would be from some elements of the Transformative Climate Communities (TCC) grant that were deemed ineligible. A small remaining amount of about $4,000 would come out of SacRT operations budget. The service document spends seven pages analyzing Route 33. As part of the Title VI analysis, the following minority and low-income chart was provided. Route 33 has the highest percentage of low-income in the service change routes, and probably in the entire system, at 91.7%.
Though the document is not entirely clear about this, it appears the extended span would add two bus trips to the end of the weekday schedule. The frequency at this time of day is 30 minutes, though the general frequency is 20 minutes.
The document rejects any expansion of the route, later evening service, weekend service, and greater frequency.
Given the importance of Route 33 to Mirasol Village, and to the River District, STAR feels that SacRT should give more attention, and funding, to the enhancement of Route 33, including:
- extension to connect with the Green Line at 7th & Richards/Township 9 light rail station
- increase the span of service into the early evening, perhaps 8:00PM
- increase the frequency to 15 minutes
- offer service on Saturday and Sunday
When the light rail station comes on line, it would still be useful to connect the Blue Line and the Green Line with bus service, and provide better coverage in the River District.
Sacramento Transit Advocates and Riders (STAR) 