Commenting on RT's proposed cutbacks

Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2007 12:48:45 -0700
From: "John Hughes" 
To: servicechanges@sacrt.com
Subject: Commenting on RT's proposed cutbacks

Please include the below comments in the record of the public hearing
scheduled for Monday, Aug. 13, at 6 p.m. in the RT Auditorium at 1400 29th
Street.

*  *  *

Sacramento Regional Transit's proposed service cuts don't affect the No. 82
bus or the No. 30 bus or light rail, all of which I use regularly to get to
and from work. The cutbacks don't even affect the No. 1, No. 80 and No. 84,
which I sometimes rely on.

Doesn't affect me. Must be OK then. Good job, RT!

But it is not that easy.

Transit is a critical piece of the puzzle of the region's transportation
picture.

Take a little here to make ends meet. Take a little there to shave costs.
Cut back some more and then some more, just a little bit each time. And then
one day everyone wakes up and finds what's left isn't worth saving, and at
that point it will all collapse.

Cutting transit isn't going to make anything better.

From what I have read of the documents justifying the changes, management
has singled out the least productive runs for cuts. I am willing to accept
that the proposed cuts are the least damaging of the options considered, the
best of a bad deal forced on the district by state legislators too cowardly
to face their own real budget problems.

I have a request to make of the board: More must be done to emphasize
transit's broader role in the community. The vision guiding transit must see
beyond mobility for the poor and disabled to the greater environmental
benefits that accrue with a feature-rich transit system. Only with a broader
base of riders, those who choose to leave their cars at home and ride
Sacramento Regional Transit, will RT find the resources to expand.

Thank you,

John Hughes
Sacramento, Calif.