Obscure Transit: SacRT Light Rail

Cities all over the world have transit systems that often go overlooked. In this episode we explore one of the most forgotten light rail systems in the US. Sacramento is home to not 1 not 2 but 3 light rail lines, but how did they get this network, who uses it and what are their plans for the future? watch this week's video to learn more about the SacRT Light Rail.

My Socials!

Join The Discord!
My Podcast!
@radiofreeurbanism

[climateandtransit]

Hey everyone! quick clarification pointed out to me by @thatrandomguy8124 but the green line does not run on weekends or holidays.

[silvercrystal]

Wow the first ever urbanist coverage of RT!

[heyharlan]

Use to have 4-car trains during peak hours pre-pandemic and they were packed. I miss those days

[jacob_e_lynch]

I live in Sacramento and I use the light rail a lot. I love it.

[ScoobyDooIsDead]

One of the biggest issues with SacRT is the fact that it turns into a streetcar downtown. If it turned into a subway downtown like MUNI Metro or Link Light Rail I feel like way more people would use it.

Also, it was too many stops on the Gold Line that are severely underutilized or surrounded by terrible land use. Pretty much every station in Folsom and Rancho is surrounded by parking lots and high speed roads (like Folsom-Auburn road.)

[toadscoper]

Wow… those headways are ridiculous. No wonder this is a forgotten system.

[patrickking]

Cool video! I was in Sacramento in October of ‘22 and was staying near the golden1 center with all the pedestrian centered development, which has a couple convenient SACRT stops. I took it to a few places and found that while it’s pretty awesome in downtown Sacramento for getting a few stops over, I wouldn’t want to make my daily commute on it. It reminds me a lot of Denver’s system and the critiques I have with that. But if they can make more areas like the area around Golden1, I think it’s going to be great. I loved sacramento and I’d love to come back!

[sirrebral]

Living in a neighborhood near the University, it's convenient for getting to and from international flights out of San Francisco: RT to Sacramento Valley Station, transfer on Amtrak to Richmond, then transfer on BART to SFO.

[luke-tpnu]

the ann phong add really adds to the video! a california treasure

[CalsTransit-World]

I really liked and enjoyed this video. As a resident of Sacramento, I think the new Siemens S700 will be a game changer and a better light rail system for SacRT in the future.

[bryanCJC]

Value engineered light rail, while reducing upfront costs, often hobbles a light rail line by placing stations where few people and not near where they want to go and forcing unnecessary bus transfers because of that. Saving money by locating a station 1/2 mile away from a major destination such as Cal State Sacramento or the large UC Davis Medical Center District (which is served by the city's busiest bus line) has a high cost in reduced ridership potential. This is why the University light rail station, serving a school with 31, 000 students, only sees 900 boardings a day in 2024. This station is the system's 3rd busiest station! The city's Oak Park neighborhood has the top 3 busiest bus lines running through it, yet the Blue Line runs 1.5 miles, and on the other side of the freeway, west of the neighborhood.

Sacramento does have a commuter transit culture with the Amtrak Capitols line between Sacto and the Bay Area, w 900, 000 annual riders, being among the nation's top 5 busiest Amtrak lines and is the 2nd busiest Amtrak rail station in CA w 450, 000 annual riders. Commuter rail and local rail go hand in hand. The Sacramento Amtrak station should be one of the light rail systems busiest stations but isn't one of the top 4, which means it gets fewer than 870 riders/day.

The main advantages of light rail, capacity, speed/lower commute time, and lower operating costs per passenger are totally lost with "value engineering". These lines are placed where they "can" put it rather than where they "should" put it. To it's credit, Sacto light rail deviated the Blue Line from the ROW the 2.5 miles to get to Cosumnes Comm College, yet still misses two major medical center complexes by 3/4 mile. The deviation should have been made on Mack Rd rather than Cosumnes River Blvd. to serve both medical districts, several apt and condo complexes, and the college.

We have seen this "value engineering" all over the place resulting in forcing riders to decide whether the one or two seat bus ride, which may be 15-20 minutes longer, is better than the two to three seat bus/light rail ride. Because these light rail lines aren't typically going through dense neighborhoods, a bus is often required to get to/from the rail station. Each transfer risks the waiting time which can be substantial and seriously adds time to the entire commute, negating the whole proposition. Sacramento's intense summer heat is also a factor. The fewer transfers the better. Transit agencies don't seem to understand the calculus of riding transit, because most of the employees of these transit agencies outside of NYC, Chicago, DC, Boston, and SF, never use the systems they're working for.

Because these are mostly freight rail lines, these ROW's are typically located in industrial corridors rarely going through dense neighborhoods or directly into busy business/retail districts. Some segments of these old ROW's may be still good ones, but a transit agency needs to understand that it may need to sometimes deviate from the ROW to serve high demand corridors and activity centers. Value engineering can be good as long as it doesn't override good transit planning.

[SpaceboyYT]

I’ve been to Sacramento before! I first took the 42A YoloBus to J St & 4th St (I think), walked to Sacramento Valley Station, took the Gold Line a few stops, and then back on the 42A to Davis to see my Great Grandma.

[christophermclean]

I'm really looking forward to riding the new rolling stock this summer (hopefully) and the double tracking from Sunrise to Folsom, but those improvements seem to be the only tangible ones in years. I live blocks from one of the major stops and want to use it more, but it just is not as convenient as hopping on my bike. Some of the densest parts of the city aren't even served by any of the lines. I could complain about it endlessly, but on the positive side, I like the American River crossing portion on the blue line. Nice view of the river!

[corvetteskickass]

I remember riding the blue line from florin station to downtown, transferring to the gold line to ride to Mather field/mills and catch bus 72 to go to high school. 1 hour 30 minute commute. Driving the same distance was 20-25 minutes lol. Riding RT buses or light rail during my high school and community college years really made every day commuting super inconvenient. Students and state workers were the people who benefited from this setup, no one else did.

[williamwilliam]

The SacRT Gold Line uses the right-of-way of California's fist railroad (Sacramento Valley Railroad) which later became the beginning segment of the Transcontinental Railroad.

[MikeThePianoPlayer]

The 15 minute frequencies on the Gold Line is currently between Downtown and Sunrise station, and then reduces to every 30 between there and Folsom because that section is single-tracked. They’re adding a passing loop to enable 15 minute frequencies on the whole line as part of LRT modernization, but even then it’ll still have this arrangement on weekends.

As this is my nearest LRT system, there are some really odd quirks with it (such as the MASSIVE park and ride facilities between Roseville Road and Watt/I-80 on the Blue Line, the dated rolling stock means the bells echo a lot through Downtown, and of course the Green Line’s nearly decade-long status of being a weird little spur since Railyards development only recently picked up steam). Though some projects are at least being talked about (Blue Line extension to the Roseville city limits, Green Line extension to Natomas and the Airport, and another Blue Line extension further into Elk Grove), but they’ve been in discussions for about as long as ever, so I don’t know how viable/soon/serious they are these days.

[RipCityBassWorks]

SacRT has some weird ROW choices: parking right up against the rail tracks really isn't a good idea. The land use of around stations on the gold line is also abysmal.

[weirdfish]

even as a california resident, i’ve only been to sacramento about three times in my life and i’ve never ridden the light rail. although, i wasn’t really visiting with the purpose of going around the city, so that’s probably why.

i would love to ride sac rt at some point though. maybe once the new rolling stock is in service. my plan is the use the gold line to visit folsom prison (as a casual johnny cash fan) and the actual town of folsom is one of the few stations outside of downtown sac that has a nice little main street nearby.

[mattrancho]

My hometown! Sac RT (light rail) is decent for the city & region size.

[simonsv]

I feel like the Sacramento Light Rail is underrated. Their frequency may not be the best and land use is bad around most stations as well. There are some nice high-density buildings right next to some stations like Sunrise, University/65th, Royal Oaks and City College, even if they aren’t many. But the great thing about the system is how great the bus connections to the stations are. Lots of feeder routes that bring passengers to the light rail and allow it to cover a lot of the city even if the rail itself only covers smaller areas. Not to mention the amount of important places the light rail goes to. All lines serve the downtown area and have stations within walking distance of the Golden 1 Center, the Downtown Commons Mall. The Blue Line serves not just one, but 2 colleges. It’s within walking distance of the Sacramento Job Corps Center as well. The Gold Line has a station a 15 minute walk from the UC Davis Medical Center and if you don’t want to walk, 2 bus routes go from the station to the hospital. There are bus connections from the Blue Line Watt/I-80 to the American River College and from Cosumnes River College to 2 hospitals. The Gold Line to the University of California Sacramento. They are also building new high density development along the Green Line between Township 9 and 7th & I County so there they have the possibility to add infill stations on the Green Line. Sacramento’s transit may not be perfect, but they’re certainly getting there.