The expert on the state's transit industry and financing, Joshua Shaw of Shaw/Yoder, Inc. will be the featured speaker at the State of RT Breakfast, Friday, March 19. Shaw is executive director of the California Transit Association. Mike Wiley, RT General Manager/CEO, will also address the transit service priorities of the Sacramento region. This breakfast event will focus on TransitAction, RT’s new transit vision that will shape the future of transportation over the next 25 years. The event, hosted by the Sacramento Metro Chamber and the Sacramento Regional Transit District, also includes the annual TransitAction awards, given to organizations and individuals promoting public transit.

Preliminary work is paving the way for the first mile of the Sacramento Regional Transit District's newest light rail line, which will one day run to Sacramento International Airport. A contractor's crew has begun identifying the location of utilities — water, sewer, electric and phone lines — that must be relocated before the tracks for the new "green line"are laid. The line will initially span a little more than a mile, starting downtown at the Sacramento County courthouse at Eighth and H streets and running north to a terminus at Seventh Street and Richards Boulevard. The new line is now expected to open in January 2011, rather than November as initially reported, said RT spokeswoman

Officials broke ground Monday on the city's newest light-rail line. The first segment of Sacramento Regional Transit District's "green line" will run just more than a mile, from downtown north to the River District. Eventually, the line will carry public transit riders to Sacramento International Airport. "It's the first great step to a complete transportation system. This is going to connect everything together," said U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui, standing at the future site of the line's initial terminus, 7th Street and Richards Boulevard. "We have an investment in an expanded airport. We're going to have to have another way to get there — and that's going to be light rail." The line will s

Despite temperatures that soared past 100 degrees, construction crews worked hard this week to help K Street get its groove back. Sacramento Regional Transit supervisors have been on-site daily to inspect, while crews selected by general contractor Otto Construction dug trenches and laid electrical conduit for a new light rail stop and handicapped-accessible "mini-high" platform on Seventh Street. The roughly $4.5 million first phase of the K Street makeover includes a facelift for St. Rose of Lima Park, a light rail platform relocation and a streetscape renovation for the 700 block of K Street Mall. The city and Sacramento Regional Transit are partnering on the project. The long-term go

  Sacramento, CA- Early Thursday after noon, a small blaze broke out off of Hing Avenue, near Franklin and 47th. The fire was contained to the dry field area between the homes and railroad tracks.   Light Rail service was minimally impacted. Trains were briefly delayed during the high part of the blaze then permitted to move through at a reduced speed due to limited visibility resulting from heavy smoke, per on scene RT rail worker. Several structure firefighting engines were in place to protect the homes along the field, while brush rigs and crews moved through the field to attack the fire and bring it under control. Per Captain Doucette, the cause of the fire is unknown.  

"When are the Operators going to get a furlough day?" Hearing that question from one of Regional Transit's Admisistrative staffers who happens to be a close friend of mine, I had to pause and chuckle. The powers that  be at Regional Transit have taken on the arduous task of bridging a 9 Billion dollar budget defecit, and that ain't no easy fix.  Furloughs, hiring freezes, unfilled vacancies....the list goes on and on but makes nigh a dent......See, the problem lies with how Regional Transit recieves, and in turn allocates funds from the Fed's and the State. Why are we facing service cuts and possibly layoffs?  Simply put, our Operational bucket is almost empty while our Capital Bucket

If it wasn't a serious situation, it would have been almost humorous today as a Sacramento Police Department motor officer stopped Jaywalkers left and right at the railroad crossing on Broadway between 19th and 20th Streets. Some may say it's just revenue for the police department, while others contend that the Jaywalkers coming and going from the Broadway Light Rail station are a true traffic hazard as they weave in and out of vehicles. According to the California Vehicle Code, "Between adjacent intersections controlled by traffic control signal devices or by police officers, pedestrians shall not cross the roadway at any place except in a crosswalk." The citing officer stated that fine

On Thursday night, Sacramento's Preservation Commission held a special meeting to review plans to expand and refurbish Sacramento's historic passenger depot. The depot's environmental impact report includes two alternatives: a "move the depot" option that would involve rolling the historic building 400 feet north to meet the new track alignment, or a "don't move the depot" option that would build an expanded station between the current depot and the new track alignment. The commission was asked to provide their recommendation to City Council as to whether the city should move the station or not. Union Pacific's railroad tracks adjacent to the depot currently form a sharp S-curve that limi

The $615,000 the Sacramento Police Department will spend to purchase security cameras and related surveillance equipment comes from a pot of federal Homeland Security funds. Mayor Kevin Johnson said earlier this week the surveillance equipment may be used at K Street and at Regional Transit stations. But what is the connection between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Sacramento sites such as K Street and the local light rail stations? Sgt. Norm Leong of the Sacramento Police Department said terrorism is a Homeland Security concern, but other threats fall under the definition of “Homeland Security,” as well. “Transit hubs are naturally potential targets for terrorism,” Leong

At 9:40 this morning, a suspicious object was spotted on the light rail and called in by a citizen at the Amtrak station on 4th and I Streets, causing a flurry of emergency vehicles to come to the scene. The Sacramento Police Department responded, and the Sacramento Fire Department, HAZMAT team, Federal Protective Services, District Attorney's Investigator and the FBI were all on the scene. Cars were not allowed into the Amtrak parking lot to allow for emergency vehicle access, however, people on foot were allowed into the station. According to Sergeant Norm Leong of the Sacramento Police Department Public Information Office, Amtrak and light rail will still be running. "First thing the

Free Webcam Chat at Ustream This is a live feed from our office window, which is the epicenter of the hazardous materials threat ongoing at the Sacramento Valley Station Light Rail stop. The feed captures a small fraction of the law enforcement officers involved, but shows the ones at the center of the problem UPDATE: Live feed was discontinued at approximately 12:45p.m. as all the law enforcement had left the scene.

 A downtown bound Sacramento Regional Transit train collided with a sedan at the Stockton Blvd. crossing this afternoon. The green sedan, carrying only the driver, somehow ended up in the path of the on-coming train when it was struck. No injuries were sustained by the single occupant of the sedan or by any light-rail passengers on board. Officer Schumacher with the Sacramento Police Department confirmed the lack of injury in the incident saying only that the vehicle was on the wrong side of the crossing arm. Richard Williams was working across the busy street and heard the accident but said that he did not see it happen. “It looks like the arms came down before we heard the crash,” s

Got a question about the operation of Sacramento's bus and light rail system? You can take your question right to the top Friday and ask Sacramento Regional Transit General Manager Mike Wiley directly. Wiley will be answering questions in a live online web chat between noon and 1 p.m. at iportal.sacrt.com/WebApps/Onlinechat/ What was the thinking behind raising the monthly pass from $85 to $100? How is it determined where and when security personnel are assigned to the light rail? Can you make the 80 and the 84 every 30mins? Why doesn't RT offer free rides on Spare the Air days? Do you ride transit to work? Questioners are anonymous. There's no registration requirements. To participate,

In no particular order here are ten green benchmarks in Sacramento during 2008: The City Council voted in August to allocate $650,000 to count trees in the city as well as to gauge the health of our conifers. TV's CBS 13 assigned an "outrage alert" to the move inferring it was misuse of precious funds. Mayoral candidate (now Mayor) Kevin Johnson echoed similar sentiment. BTW a tree limb did fall on a campaign party in June for then-incumbent mayor Heather Fargo causing some injuries. Sacramento lost its only progressive talk commercial radio station in June as Talk City 1240 became Rejoice 1240 KRJY with a format known as hip-hop gospel. This reporter read some of the newscasts for a tim

Is it safe for individuals to ride the light rail alone at night? In a word, no. I ride the light rail on a regular basis, and have had considerable time to evaluate both the strengths and weaknesses of the system as a whole. The major problems are a lack of security, a lack of reliability, and a lack of destinations. The system suffers from a lack of sufficient/effective security on trains and especially in stations. There are no security guards at most station stops, though the busy stations such as 16th street typically do have 1-3 guards during peak hours. The trains are equally destitute of security/authority; I have never seen a train with more than one security guard, and most tr

 As of October 2008, there were 182 crimes reported for the year.  These statistics are for the transit system, which also includes bus travel. Crimes include everything from assault, robbery, auto theft and vandalism to petty theft and trespassing. In an average month, there is far less crime reported for someone riding the light rail than reported crime in Downtown Sacramento. The Sacramento PD offers a crime mapping tool where you can obtain a detailed report of all crimes during a specified period for either a particular neighborhood or intersection. In the month of October, 2008, 100 incidents were reported in the downtown area. With 17,000 residents in the downtown area, this make

In researching light rail station crimes, it's been difficult to find a conclusive study regarding overall safety. There appear to be several isolated incidents that could easily cause uneasiness about riding the light rail. It should be noted that the majority of these incidents took place at the light rail stations rather than on the trains themselves. Toward the end of November, a woman was robbed at gunpoint  at a light rail station between Folsom Blvd and 65th Street. A little over a month ago, 28-year-old Ricky Bufford was shot while sitting in his car at the Watt Avenue light-rail station, Sgt. Tim Curran reports to the Sacramento Bee. An entry on Sacramento Bee's Crime Blog dat

I live in Rancho Cordova in an area where I question the safety of stopping to pump gas after dark. The light rail station in my neighborhood, which is near Mather Field and Folsom Blvd., is not the most friendly-looking location. I've never ventured to give the light rail a try. But this system has many perks.  It's convenient, you can catch a train either every 15 minutes or every half hour. There are 47 stations throughout the Sacramento area, 25 of these stations are connected with the bus system and 18 are park-and-ride stations where you can leave a vehicle. The price can't be beat, with standard fare only $2.00 for a single trip and $5.00 per day. Discounts are available when you

50,000 people a day on average ride light rail. That to me is a success. Of course it can always improve. Gas prices are coming down, but that's no reason not to still take light rail. While light rail may not be the ideal choice for everyone, if you live outside the City of Sacramento and need to get to the center of town, there is hardly a better way to go I take light rail to work often. There is a station about 3 blocks from my home at 23rd and R St. and it lets off right at my office. This makes it an inexpensive and convenient choice of transportation. I often hear people making excuses s to why they shouldn't take light rail. One of the excuses I hear often is that Light Rail is

Our office, The Sacramento Press office, is located at 431 I Street right next to the Sacramento Valley Station. We share a parking lot with the train station. Parking at this location is not a pleasant experience. The lot serves as parking for our building, the train station and often times the Sacramento Federal Court house. Most days I choose not to drive to work, firstly because I prefer to use the very convenient light rail option, but secondly because the parking situation is so terrible. By 10 a.m., the lot is almost certainly full and the few remaining spots are almost always 2 hour spots, not suitable for those hoping to park and ride the train. After finally finding a spot mo