As mentioned in the recent MAC post, the future of SmaRT Ride, the on-demand micro-transit service provided by SacRT, was on the agenda. SmaRT Ride, as it is currently configured, will probably end on December 31. The MAC heard about plans before the SacRT board or public did. The item will be on the agenda for the board meeting on Monday, September 23, though it will be for information only, not for any decision. Staff presented ideas to the MAC, but does not have full details of the replacement.

STAR has been concerned since the second year of the program that it was not sustainable. The program was initiated with funding from the City of Citrus Heights, and greatly expanded with funding from Sacramento Transportation Authority (SacTA), using community bus service funds. But those funds are now a fraction of what they were. SacRT staff kept telling STAR and other transit advocacy organizations that there was no problem and that funding would be found. But there is now a shortfall of about $7M per year, and no additional funding has been found. If the program were continued, it would take money away from fixed route bus service, with a reduction in frequency, span of hours, or even routes.

SmaRT Ride costs SacRT $47 per ride, whereas fixed route bus service costs about $10 per ride. A rider paying the regular or reduced fare ($2.50 or $1.25) can go anywhere in the system on fixed route buses and light rail, for any trips starting within 90 minutes. The SmaRT Ride cost to riders is the same, but good only for rides within a SmaRT Ride zone.

When SmaRT Ride started, it was sold to the public and riders as a way to get to and from light rail and buses. But it was implemented as a point-to-point (door-to-door) or corner-to-corner service. No wonder it was popular – a personalized ride at the same cost as a light rail or fixed route bus ride.

SacRT staff will present to the board a program replacement using primarily ride hailing, likely Uber.

Though the program is just being designed and subject to small or great changes, some of the characteristics are:

• Rides provided by private companies, not by SacRT.
• Rides subsidized by SacRT for about $5 per ride, with a voucher system, with registration of users being required on the SacRT website to qualify for the vouchers. There would be a monthly limit to the number of vouchers per person, though that number was not clear.
• Those needing service that Uber does not provide, at least in the Sacramento region, would be directed to other providers including licensed taxis and handicapped transportation companies. The subsidy would like be the same, though these other services may be quite a bit more expensive.
• The SmaRT Ride zones would be maintained, with ride subsidies only available for travel within a zone, not between zones.
• Ride timing would be much more responsive than the SacRT Go paratransit service, since ride-hailing does not need to be (though can be) reserved a day in advance.

There is now a page on this transition, SacRT to Transition SmaRT Ride Service to an Innovative Rideshare Voucher Program in January 2025, which was not available at the time of the meeting.

Apparently some members of the public had caught wind of the coming changes, and spoke about it even before it came up on the agenda. Disabled riders pointed out that Uber does not provide any vehicles for handicapped people, nor for guide dogs used by limited vision/blind people, at least not in this region. Uber tries to maintain the fiction that vehicle choice is up to each driver, since they are contractors and not employees, but it is well know that this is a legal dodge.

There are people with disabilities that do not rise to the level of needing paratransit, but yet could not use unmodified Uber service. These people might fall through the cracks between paratransit and ride-hailing.

There are low income people who depend on the SmaRT Ride service and could not afford regular Uber rides, even with the subsidy.

Several MAC members and members of the public commented on bad experiences they’d had with Uber, including being refused rides with various disabilities and with guide dogs.

An Alternative

It is early in the process of replacing SmaRT Ride, but a better alternative than that presented by staff has some appeal.

SmaRT Ride would be reconfigured as a service for that tier of disabled and senior riders who have difficulty with regular fixed route bus service and light rail, but yet do not need the full accommodation of paratransit. It would no longer be open to those who have not registered with SacRT with their status, and would not be open to the general public. The SmaRT Ride zones might be reconfigured.

SacRT would implement low income fares, by which low-income riders would receive reduced fares equivalent to disabled and seniors. The most common way of identifying these people is to use participation in CalFresh (supplemental nutritional assistance program SNAP) as the criteria, though others are used as well.

We do not know how well this program would work, and what it would cost, but it is an idea that should be considered by staff and board.

• SacRT SmaRT Ride