Sacramento RT considers restoring late light-rail service
Published: Monday, Jun. 27, 2011 - 12:00 am | Page 1A
In a surprise reversal of fortune, Sacramento light-rail trains may soon resume late-night runs, hardly more than a year after transit officials cut the service amid fiscal woes.
It would mark a swift end to an unpopular transit cut, and represent one of the first notable government service turnarounds in a region where most agencies this summer are still slashing staff and taxpayer services.
Sacramento Regional Transit officials said they will watch another month to see if recent unexpected sales tax revenue increases hold steady before they expand service. But officials sounded confident last week they can restore previously cut light-rail service and some bus runs by January.
"Given where we've been the last four years – just cut and slash and reduce – it's great news for the riding public," RT General Manager Mike Wiley said. "We've taken the hard hits. We've positioned the organization to the point we're actually talking about service recovery."
That optimism is thanks in good part to increased consumer spending in Sacramento this year, mirroring a growing statewide trend. RT's sales-tax revenue last month was 6 percent higher than May of last year, the agency reports. Officials had been budgeting for an increase of just 1 percent.
Any uptick in sales-tax revenue benefits RT greatly, because sales tax makes up 48 percent of the agency's operating budget. Passenger fares account for 26 percent.
Government agencies that depend more heavily on other revenue streams have been slower to recover. The city of Sacramento, for instance, gets just 17 percent of its annual revenue from sales taxes. The upswing from consumer spending is projected to add only $2 million to Sacramento's $359 million July 1 budget. City government's main source of revenue, property taxes, remains depressed, leaving the city in the position this summer of once again lopping off city jobs and services, notably in the Police and Fire departments.
The county government of Sacramento also remains mired in red ink. It gets even less of a boost from increased sales-tax revenue, which accounts for just 3 percent of its budget.
RT officials say they will play it safe for the moment by passing a proposed "steady state" 2011-12 budget today with the same service levels as last year.
But, if revenues hold, agency officials say they will launch a public conversation next month about bringing back some rail and bus service.
Last June, RT cut bus service by 20 percent and light rail by 10 percent. The rail reduction turned out to be a bigger blow to ridership than expected, as many people stopped riding the system hours earlier in the evening.
Officials theorized swing-shift workers were unwilling to catch early evening trains, knowing there would be no later trains available for the commute home.
RT officials said they will consider extending rail service to around 12:30 a.m. nightly, as had been the case in previous years. Currently, trains finish their nightly runs at about 9:30 p.m.
RT will look at restoring some service as well to a handful of the most popular bus lines, including runs on Stockton Boulevard, Florin Road, Broadway, Greenback Lane and Sunrise Boulevard.
The agency continues to lay plans for larger service increases over time, but officials say significant improvements are not likely to be affordable for another several years. It may take until 2017 for service to match 2009 levels, RT officials said.
The agency continues work on extension of the light-rail system. A short expansion is under construction between downtown and the Richards Boulevard area. That line eventually is planned to run to the airport. The agency also is planning to extend its south rail line from the current Meadowview terminus to Cosumnes River College.
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