Alert! Alert! New feature at Sacramento Regional Transit

Sacramento Regional Transit has quietly opened an email alert system for the Neighborhood Ride bus routes.

Do you want to know if your Neighborhood Ride bus is delayed before you walk to the bus stop? With RT’s new Transit Alert service, all you need to do is enter your travel schedule and contact information to receive notification by e-mail or mobile phone about disruptions that may affect your trip.

Transit Alert is a free subscription service that will quickly notify you by e-mail or mobile phone if your Neighborhood Ride route is affected by schedule changes or service disruptions. Information will only be sent about the Neighborhood Ride routes you choose, when you choose.

Transit Alert subscribers will receive text message notifications as soon as RT learns that a route has been disrupted. In addition, subscribers can sign up to receive other RT information and updates, including service changes and RT news.

According to Mike Mattos, chief of facilities and business support services division, the new service is known as the "CBS Transit Alert System," and RT's marketing staff will launch its information campaign next week.

When asked if the system will eventually be available for the other fixed bus routes and light rail, Mattos replied, "Staff will be presenting our future plans and reporting on the CBS implementation of the alert system at the 13 April board meeting. At that meeting or subsequent to it, staff will provide details regarding our future plans."

On the drawing board, according to Mattos, are telephone automated next bus/train information, e-mail transit alerts and passenger information signs at light rail stations.

The Neighborhood Bus alert system has a number of "nice" features. For instance, you can specify when you need to receive the alerts.

Click on the image to see the details. In this example, I've requested to receive information weekday mornings and weekday evenings and at a special period Wednesday evening. Couple this with the rest of the fixed-route service and you will have a very useful service.

These are the routes currently available for alerts:

9 - Carmichael - Walnut Ave (A.R.C. - Manzanita/Fair Oaks)
10 - Carmichael - Dewey Dr (A.R.C. - Manzanita/Fair Oaks)
16 - Del Paso Heights - Norwood Ave (Norwood Center - Arden/Del Paso)
18 - Del Paso Heights - Bell Ave (Norwood Center - Marconi/Arcade)
33 - Dos Rios (Richards to D & 12th)
37 - Tahoe Park - 21st Ave (Sim Park - 39th St Station)
47 - Phoenix Park (Florin Mall)
85 - McClellan Shuttle (Roseville Road - Luce & Peacekeeper)
94 - Citrus Heights - Mercy San Juan (Citrus Heights - Auburn Blvd.)
95 - Citrus Heights - Antelope (Citrus Heights - Antelope Rd.)

The direct URL of this service is alert.sacrt.com.

The "welcome" page is here.