Sacramento Regional Transit District
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| Locale | Sacramento, CA |
|---|---|
| Transit type | Light rail, bus |
| Began operation | March 12, 1987 |
| System length | 36.9 mi (light rail) |
| Daily ridership | 43,600 (light rail) |
| Track gauge | 1435 mm (4 ft 8½ in) (standard gauge) |
| Operator | Sacramento Regional Transit District |
The Sacramento Regional Transit District, commonly referred to as the RT, is the agency responsible for public transportation in the Sacramento, California area. It was established on April 1, 1973, as a result of the acquisition of the Sacramento Transit Authority.
The RT operates a large light rail system and connecting bus service in the Sacramento area, covering 418 square miles.
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[edit] Bus service
The RT system operates 80 bus routes, as of 2005, with service between 5:00 a.m. and 11:30 p.m. daily. Frequencies range between every 15 and 60 minutes. Since light rail has opened, buses have generally acted as feeders to light rail routes.
[edit] Light rail
The RT operates a 36.9-mile light rail system, with two lines, 42 stations, and 76 vehicles (Siemens AG Duewag U2A vehicles and more modern CAF vehicles). There are 76 vehicles in the entire fleet. Lines on the system operate from 4:30 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. daily, with service every 15 minutes in the day and every 30 minutes at night.
[edit] Watt/I-80-Downtown-Meadowview Line ("Blue Line")
The first line, which opened in 1987, was an 18.3-mile route between Watt/I-80 station in North Sacramento, through downtown, and continuing east on Folsom Blvd. to Butterfield Way station. It was built at a cost of $176 million USD (1987), including the cost of vehicles and maintenance and storage facilities. Much of the line, when it was first built, was single-tracked, though improvements over the 1990s allowed much of the original system to be double-tracked. The line was mainly built using a railroad right-of-way, coupled with use of structures of an abandoned freeway project. A limited amount of the route runs on streets, mainly in downtown Sacramento.
Surprisingly, the line was becoming more popular than anyone anticipated that further expansions and improvements were necessary. Two new stations at 39th and 48th streets opened in 1995 and a 2.3-mile extension to the Mather Field/Mills station opened in 1998. In June 2004, a further extension from Mather Field/Mills to Sunrise was opened.
On September 26, 2003, the South Line opened for 6.3 miles between the 16th Street station on the Watt/I-80-Downtown-Mather Field/Mills line and a station at Meadowview Road in the south end, which is the first phase of a planned longer 11.2-mile line to Elk Grove. Much of the extension follows a railroad right-of-way. When it opened, 7 new stops were added to the system. Following a June 2005 reconfiguration of the light rail lines, the South Line merged in with the Watt I-80/Downtown line (formerly part of the previous Watt/I-80-Downtown-Sunrise line) effectively combining the old line with the new.
Listing of stations on the Blue Line:
| Station | Opened | Parking on site | Bike lockers | Transfers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Watt/I-80 | 1987 | Yes | Yes | RT buses 1, 9, 10, 15, 19, 26, 80, 84, 93, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107 Buses to Citrus Heights |
| Watt/I-80 West | 1987 | Yes | No | No transfers on site |
| Roseville Road | 1987 | Yes | No | No transfers on site |
| Marconi/Arcade | 1987 | Yes | No | RT buses 18, 25, 86, 87 |
| Swanston | 1987 | Yes | No | No transfers on site |
| Royal Oaks | 1987 | No | No | RT buses 20, 22, 23 |
| Arden/Del Paso | 1987 | Yes | Yes | RT buses 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 22, 23, 25, 28 |
| Globe | 1987 | No | No | RT bus 15 |
| Alkali Flat/La Valentina | 1987 | No | No | RT bus 33 |
| 12th & I | 1987 | No | No | No transfers on site |
| Cathedral Square (westbound: 10th & K, eastbound: 11th & K) | 1987 | No | No | No transfers on site |
| St. Rose of Lima Park (westbound: 7th & K, eastbound: 9th & K) | 1987 | No | No | Gold Line Many RT buses |
| 7th & Capitol (southbound); 8th & Capitol (northbound) | 1987 | No | No | Gold Line |
| 8th & O | 1987 | No | No | Gold Line |
| Archives Plaza | 1987 | No | No | Gold Line |
| 13th Street | 1987 | No | No | Gold Line |
| 16th Street | 1987 | No | Yes | Gold Line RT buses 6, 63, and 64 |
| Broadway | 2003 | No | No | RT buses 51, 62, 63, 64 |
| 4th Avenue/Wayne Hultgren | 2003 | No | No | RT bus 62 |
| City College | 2003 | No | No | RT buses 64, 83 |
| Fruitridge | 2003 | No | No | RT buses 61, 64, 205, 252 |
| 47th Avenue | 2003 | Yes | No | RT bus 63 |
| Florin | 2003 | Yes | No | RT buses 54, 65, 81 |
| Meadowview | 2003 | Yes | No | RT buses 4, 5, 47, 56, 63, 64 Buses to Elk Grove |
[edit] Downtown-Sunrise Folsom Line ("Gold Line")
In June 2005, following a reconfiguration of the light rail system, the Sunrise-Downtown Line (Gold Line) was created (it formerly continued beyond the downtown St. Rose of Lima Park station to Watt/I-80); it runs from St. Rose/K-Street to Sunrise with an extension to the Folsom area that opened on October 15, 2005.
Listing of stations on the Gold Line:
| Station | Opened | Parking on site | Bike lockers | Transfers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Rose of Lima Park (outbound: 7th & K, inbound: 9th & K) | 1987 | No | No | Blue Line Many RT buses |
| 7th & Capitol (outbound); 8th & Capitol (inbound) | 1987 | No | No | Blue Line |
| 8th & O | 1987 | No | No | Blue Line |
| Archives Plaza | 1987 | No | No | Blue Line |
| 13th Street | 1987 | No | No | Blue Line |
| 16th Street | 1987 | No | Yes | Blue Line RT buses 6, 63, and 64 |
| 23rd Street | 1987 | No | Yes | No transfers on site |
| 29th Street | 1987 | No | No | RT buses 38, 50E, 67, 68 |
| 39th Street | 1995 | No | Yes | RT bus 37 |
| 48th Street | 1995 | No | Yes | No transfers on site |
| 59th Street | 1987 | No | Yes | No transfers on site |
| University/65th Street | 1987 | No | Yes | RT buses 26, 34, 36, 38, 76, 81, 82, 83, 87 |
| Power Inn | 1987 | Yes | Yes | RT buses 8, 61, 63 |
| College Greens | 1987 | No | Yes | RT bus 61 |
| Watt/Manlove | 1987 | Yes | Yes | RT buses 72, 80, 84, 255, 261 |
| Starfire | 1987 | No | Yes | RT buses 80 and 84 |
| Tiber | 1987 | No | Yes | No bus transfers on site |
| Butterfield | 1987 | Yes | Yes | RT bus 28 |
| Mather Field/Mills | 1998 | Yes | No | RT buses 21, 28, 72, 73, 74, 75 |
| Zinfandel | 2004 | No | No | RT bus 28 |
| Cordova Town Center | 2004 | No | No | RT bus 28 |
| Sunrise | 2004 | Yes | Yes | RT buses 73, 74, 91 Buses to Citrus Heights |
| Hazel | 2005 | Yes | No | |
| Iron Point | 2005 | Yes | No | |
| Glenn | 2005 | Yes | No | |
| Historic Folsom | 2005 | Yes | No |
[edit] Future projects
As mentioned above, there is an extension to Folsom which will tie with a 0.7-mile extension in downtown Sacramento to the Amtrak station, known as the Sacramento Valley Station. Other future plans also include a light rail line from downtown, via the neighborhood of Natomas, to the Sacramento International Airport, which will open in the future. A planned extension to Roseville, once a top priority, has been on the back burner for years. Extensions to Davis and other locations are shown on the 20-year plan.
[edit] Paratransit
To meet the requirements of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, the RT established a Paratransit service in 1993, which is a door-to-door service for the disabled.
