What's Sacramento Regional Transit to do? There's just no good news. That at least is the conclusion to be drawn from the agenda package for Monday's board of director's meeting. General Manger Mike Wiley tries to paint a rosy tint on his Key Performance Report to the board. "Despite the economic challenges imposed by declining tax revenues and state budget cuts to public transit funding, the District's financial statistic report closing out fiscal year 2009 is positive ($6.6M*)," Wiley says. Yes, but... Take away the largess of the Obama administration and Congress' efforts to stimulate the economy -- $8 million more than RT had counted on in its budget -- and that $6.6 million evapor

Seniors who are 75 or older or will be prior to Sept. 1, should hurry down to the RT service center at 13th and R streets and pick up their free lifetime pass. On Sept. 2, the free pass will be no more. On Monday, staff will ask the board to approve a Super Senior Discount that will drop the monthly pass from $50, the price riders 62-74 pay, to $40. A good deal, but not free. (<a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/17598999/090727RTItem16SuperSeniorDiscount">Read the staff report.</a>) And while we're on the topic of the end of free things, commuters who park at Watt/I-80, Watt West and the Roseville Road will have to pay $1 a day to park beginning next year if the staff manages to get its p

On Monday evening, General Manager Mike Wiley volunteered to skip his monthly Key Performance Report to make time for the crowds who wanted to rail against proposed fare hikes and service cuts. He was most likely happy to avoid the onerous task of delivering still another report about declining ridership and fare income falling short of expectations. In May, the district experienced a double-digit decline in system ridership, the second month in a row of negative growth. And for the second month in a row, fare revenue was under budget, which has exacerbated the district's financial situation. The report Wiley wrote but didn't deliver at the meeting attempts to put a smiley face on May's

Sacramento Regional Transit's board of directors tinkered around the edges of a staff-proposed solution to the district's budget mess, but in the end accepted that fares had to be increased and services reduced. Only directors Roger Dickinson and Steve Cohn balked. In September, the basic fare will increase from $2.25 to $2.50 and the discount fare paid by students and seniors from $1.10 to $1.25. Gone will be the central city fare, the shuttle service fare and the discount shuttle service fare. Basically, there will be just two fares -- full and discount -- and you'll have to pay that fare each time you board a bus or light rail train. The 50 cent transfer fee (25 cents for students and

Sacramento Regional Transit's board will be asked Monday to decide whether to adopt a larger fare increase than originally proposed last month in order to accept a smaller reduction in bus service. But that won't be the end of the discussion. The staff has asked the board to hold a hearing next month to plan for the service cuts that will be necessary in January if the district's budget picture doesn't improve. "Given the uncertainty and potential severity of January service changes, staff intends to notice all routes for elimination, so as to allow contingency planning with maximum flexibility," the staff report says. RT had originally proposed to raise $1.8 million through fare increas