At $55 million per mile in construction costs for 2.4 % of the riders that Sacramento light rail represents, you think the money might be better spent on maintaining and expanding where the other 97.6 % of commuters choose to transit, roads and bridges.
You think?
Editorial: Troubling time as RT faces some key decisions
With its ridership and revenues declining, transit agency must select the right leader
Published 12:00 am PDT Monday, September 17, 2007
Sacramento Regional Transit celebrated 20 years of light rail last week. Despite all the happy talk , local transit leaders are worried -- and with good reason.
This year, RT suffered its first ridership loss in almost a decade. The number of bus riders dropped 7 percent in the first half of 2007 compared with the same period last year; light-rail ridership declined 2 percent….
…While RT's light rail is popular, the $55 million-per-mile construction cost demands that the new RT leader begin to explore cheaper ways to provide transit options to the airport or, eventually, perhaps even to Roseville. Also, RT needs to be a serious player in any discussion of land-use planning. Transit will never work unless local leaders build communities that are more compact.
Finally, RT needs a leader who can work constructively with other transit operators. There are 12 other transit agencies in the six-county region. To best serve the public, these systems must cooperate. Schedules need to mesh. Transfers need to be seamless. Efficiencies, such as sharing bus stops, fueling stations and maintenance yards, need to be explored.
In the six-county Sacramento region, transit ridership grew at an average rate of 2.6 percent between 1990 and 2005, outpacing population, which grew 2.2 percent. But transit riders still make up just 2.4 percent of those commuting at peak times.
