RT's communications deficit (cont.)

The Sacramento Bee is trying to do a good deed by providing information about options for commuters when The Big Fix starts on Interstate 5 in less than two weeks. They've set up a special page www.sacbee.com/i5. Today's article on the plans for coping with the disruption repeats the general info about Sacramento Regional Transit's plans:

The agency will add three trains each on the Folsom and Meadowview light-rail lines. They'll also position 10 extra buses around the county.

For more information, the story then suggests visiting www.sacrt.com, where we find . . .

NOTHING!

Well, nothing about The Big Fix or RT's fix for the fix.

Is RT just going to place the 10 extra buses randomly around the county to be found by riders like Easter eggs?

Later in the day, I learned that RT and three local hospitals have launched a shuttle service. According to the press release reprinted on the Sacramento Business Journal Web site:

The Sacramento Regional Transit District and three area hospital providers started the Capital City Hospital Shuttles on Monday, a free weekday transportation service for patients, employees and the general public.

The shuttle, introduced during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday, connects passengers to the 29th, 39th and the University/65th Street light-rail stations.

Mercy General Hospital in east Sacramento connects to the 29th and 39th street stations; Sutter General Hospital in midtown moves passengers to the 29th Street station. Sutter Memorial Hospital in east Sacramento connects to the University/65th Street station and Sutter General Hospital, while UC Davis Medical Center on Stockton Boulevard offers the service to the 39th Street station.

FREE public transit to and from area hospitals. What a great idea. The press release reprinted by the Business Journal says:

For information about the Capital City Hospital Shuttles, call 321-2877 or visit www.sacrt.com.

Where we find . . .

NOTHING!

Well, not exactly nothing.

There's the flier for the RT Summer Student Intern Program. When you click on the link, you discover that applications must be submitted to the "Human Resources Department no later than Wednesday, May 7, 2008, at 5 p.m." And, just to underline the point, "Late applications will NOT be accepted regardless of postmarks or FAX transmission times."

Today is May 19. Is there a reason why RT is tormenting high school students who failed to apply before the May 7 deadline? It's probably the same reason why RT includes on its front page that May 10 was National Train Day.

In fairness, I suppose I should point out that if you know to look under "RT Newsroom" and then under "Press Releases," you can find the original RT press release, which includes this info:

For Mercy General Hospital shuttle information, call 916-453-4722 or visit www.mercygeneral.org. For Sutter General Hospital and Sutter Memorial Hospital shuttle information, call 916-361-5466 or visit www.suttermedicalcenter.org. For UC Davis Medical Center shuttle information, call 916-734-8630 or visit www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu. For RT route, schedule and fare information, call 916-321-BUSS (2877) or visit www.sacrt.com.

And RT's is not the only dysfunctional Web site. I could find no information about a new FREE shuttle service on any of those Web sites.