Elk Grove to leave bus service unchanged; proposed light-rail plan unpopular

[KamaAina]

http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article22527069.html

Faced with intense opposition from residents, Elk Grove has backed off a proposed plan to scrap its direct bus service to downtown Sacramento and instead give commuters a lift to light rail....

Elk Grove residents were vocal in their opposition to scuttling direct bus service. More than 450 people filed public comments in response to the proposed change – with 98 percent saying that would not consider taking light rail for their commute.

On Wednesday evening, the council heard from nine residents who opposed the change. They cited concerns about crime on trains and the time that taking the train would add to their commutes.

Resident Jonathan Meltzer attended Wednesday’s meeting to weigh in on behalf of his adult daughter, who rides the e-tran bus into Sacramento. “I would not let my adult daughter ride light rail,” he said. “There is a question about security at stations. There have been far too many incidents on light rail where people have been hassled or lost possessions.”

Need I mention that far more light rail than e-tran riders are people of color?

[LeftyMom]

1. I think there's some context you're missing, it's slightly more complicated than that.

Since I live along the light rail spur they're trying to avoid (and I don't blame them one bit) I'm going to do my best to explain: Right now Elk Grove has direct shuttle bus service from Downtown Sacramento. Regional Transit has been extending the light rail spur south and is about to open a new stop at Cosumnes River College. This is right around the dividing line between South Sacramento and Elk Grove. It is however along the northern edge and well to the east of most of Elk Grove proper, so getting people there on a bus (especially considering that many of those buses would have to poke along the 99 during commute periods to get to CRC) wouldn't be a particularly efficient use of their time.

Add to that a fairly long train ride, a disembarkation and transfer to a different train, and it's definitely more work than getting on the shuttle at the closest stop to one's home, and it doesn't sound like a good trade-off to me. It's more time, more hassle and a lot more standing around in the elements. Which wouldn't be a huge deal some places, but it gets over 110 here in the summer.

Also keep in mind that most of the Elk Grove shuttle ridership are park and ride commuters who are driving to the park and ride lot and getting on their bus. The park and ride lots are free, the Cosumnes lot is not.

There is a substantial crime problem on the light rail system. This is true along the entire system, probably because it's a system with open access to the station areas and no fare verification when one gets on the trains themselves. Security is a joke. The cars smell like stank armpits and piss, and the erratic and threatening behavior of passengers is substantially worse than anything I've seen on any other transit system I've encountered. By comparison BART is heaven. Seriously.

It's not a problem specific to the South Sacramento line, nor is the notion that the objection is racist particularly reasonable. The entire area is pretty damned diverse, and there's not a single line that doesn't travel through neighborhoods associated with majority-minority neighborhoods. When the light rail line was being planned the more moneyed neighborhoods fought to keep it out, so the only residential neighborhoods well served by light rail that are unusually white and affluent are East Sac and Folsom, and Folsom was a later addition to the system. So essentially all of the stops outside of downtown/midtown are in less affluent areas- Rancho Cordova, Del Paso, Arden/Arcade, North Highlands...

I don't blame them for wanting to avoid switching to a slower, less pleasant, more inconvenient option. And I'm slightly amazed that Elk Grove was pressured into a sensible decision for once.

[KamaAina]

2. Simple solution: Raise the fare into downtown Sac

VTA down here charges $4 instead of $2 for express service, mainly to Fremont BART in the next county.

So you keep the service, and the funding issue goes away.

[LeftyMom]

3. How is that a "solution"?

The problem is that light rail is awful, not that there's a transit option people in an exurb actually use.

[KamaAina]

4. I've only ridden it once

but it didn't seem any worse than ours, except for the lousy wheelchair access.

[LeftyMom]

5. I live here. It's slow, it's hot, it smells like piss. There are a lot of muggings.

We have by far the worst transit system I've ever had the misfortune of using.