A penetrating and well researched (and absolutely must read) column from Katy Grimes of the Sacramento Union, about our local transit agency, whose leader for the past five years has been hired to a new job in Atlanta.
You can find it on page 7 of today’s Sacramento Union, and here is an excerpt:
Sacramento's Regional Transit Nightmare
...“I have discovered that the way RT counts ridership is questionable; they count not only riders on each bus or train, they recount the same riders on different legs of their journey if they have several stops until their destination. For instance, my route to work from my home has two bus changes for a total of three stops. I would be counted as three riders, everyday.
“I live 7 miles from my office. However, if I took RT everyday, my travel time, not including walking, would take 41 minutes and cost me $4.50. I don’t spend that in fuel, even in my gas-guzzling V-8 Jeep Cherokee, nor do I spend 41 minutes in traffic. But even if the additional expense was not an issue, I won’t subject myself to the dangerous conditions at the train stations or bus stops, or even on the buses and trains.” (Katy Grimes, Sacramento Union, September 7, 2007, p. 7 para. 6&7)
