One happy transitarian

Upfront I must confess that I want to be able to say Sacramento Regional Transit is a great service. I want people to use the system because the more people who ride transit, the better the system will become. I'm not an unbiased observer.

So perhaps my enthusiasm today can be blamed on my unyielding desire to promote RT ridership, but frankly I have proof that sometimes stuff just works.

On Aug. 27 I need to get from my home near Carmichael to the City College campus for a 9 a.m. orientation class.

My first stop in planning any trip is always infoweb.sacrt.com, RT's online Trip Planning service. I'm not sure what riding RT would have been like back before the Internet. My experience with 321-BUSS hasn't been encouraging. But the infoweb.sacrt.com site has been a real joy to use, although I learned today that you still need to be careful.

I decided to try out my options before Aug. 27. I asked infoweb.sacrt.com for schedules today between my home and City College, explaining that I want to arrive at City College at 8:30 a.m. I figured I would need time to find the classroom by 9 a.m.

The Trip Planning site offered 10 choices of routes that would get me to City College between 8:08 a.m. and 8:40 a.m. Nine of those choices had me leaving my house before 7 a.m., which I don't want to do. But one choice left at 7:24 a.m. -- No. 82 to 65th Street light rail station, No. 81 bus to 65th Street and 14th Avenue and No. 83 bus to from 14th Avenue to City College -- arriving at the light rail station at 8:40 a.m.

Today, I took that route and discovered that if the No. 82 bus is just a little early (as it was today) I can catch the No. 83 at the 65th Street light rail station and skip the No. 81. I arrived at City College at 8:40 a.m. Having successfully tested this arrangement, I happily caught the Watt/I-80-bound train to 16th Street and walked to work.

Back at work, however, I returned to infoweb.sacrt.com. Instead of an 8:30 a.m. arrival time, I said I wanted to arrive at City College at 9 a.m. This time the 10 choices included three new ways I could leave my home at either 7:24 a.m. or 7:26 a.m. and arrive at City College at 8:38 a.m. on the Meadowview-bound train.

I know from experience that the No. 82 bus runs late once Sacramento State students return to school. Therefore, the No. 82 most likely won't be early at 65th Street and could even miss the No. 81 connection. But now I find I can leave two minutes later than I did today, catch the Meadowview-bound train at the start of its run at the Watt/I-80 station and ride all the way to City College, arriving two minutes earlier.

The new route will require meeting the train at Watt, but even if I miss that scheduled connection, the next train will put me at City College before 9 a.m. As an added bonus, I will be sure to have a seat for the long train ride and therefore plenty of reading opportunity.

From a transitarian perspective, this is heaven.

Fishing from the bus

"That's a 30-pound female salmon, full of roe," the man said, pointing at the large plastic bag on the sidewalk beside the No. 87 bus stop at the 65th Street light rail station. "The other salmon was a good 25 pounds before it was cleaned."

I was waiting for the No. 87 bus rather than my normal No. 82 because I had been forced to work late by the president of the United States. To say I'm not a big fan of the president would be an understatement.

Leaving for home an hour later than I normally leave therefore became something of a transitarian adventure. I asked infoweb.sacrt.com what my options were if I left 21st and Q streets at 8 p.m. for my home. I was hoping to leave earlier, but 8 was the most likely when I checked. The first choice came back as a 68 minute trip leaving the 23rd Street light rail station at 8:11 p.m. and meeting the No. 82 at 65th Street. I would get home at 9:19 p.m. But the second option, which required that I get to the 23rd Street station by 8:41, said I could get home by 8:49 p.m. However, I would need to take the No. 87 from the 65th Street station to Sacramento State, where I would catch up with the No. 82. This didn't make any sense. The No. 82 bus goes to 65th Street before Sac State. If I'm catching the No. 82 at Sac State, I should have been able to just wait for it at 65th Street and skipped the extra transfer.

When it finally came time to leave and I realized I could get to the 23rd Street station by 7:41, I decided to take infoweb.sacrt.com at its word and catch the No. 87 bus.

So there I was chatting with the fisherman. He said he had been fishing above the Nimbus Fish Hatchery. I'm not a fisherman, as evidenced by this tale. I asked if he considered his catch big fish. No, he explained, those were just middling. They were quite impressive middling to my untrained eye.

The conversation went from salmon to their eggs. When my son was stroller age, I would push him to our neighborhood park. I would often run into immigrants from the former Soviet Union watching their kids play. One guy I would meet regularly supplemented his county welfare checks with the proceeds from harvesting salmon roe, which he would turn into caviar and sell.

I asked the fisherman whether he sold the roe from the fish he caught, and it turned out that he too knows an immigrant from the former Soviet Union. My acquaintance was Russian; his is Ukranian. The fisherman takes the row to the wife of his Ukrainian friend, and she in turn gives him a jar of her homemade caviar. The fisherman tried to engage me in a conversation about the finer points of difference between caviar made from salmon roe and caviar made from sturgeon eggs. That was a conversation too rich for me.

When the No. 87 bus boarded, I took a seat near the back and the fisherman stayed up front. He was a real hit with the other riders, especially one man who apparently is a recreational fisherman -- never catches anything but has fun trying.

Besides the tall fish stories, the most impressive thing about the trip was the number of passengers. When I finally caught the No. 82 bus at Sac State the bus had at least one rider in every seat and for a good portion of the ride I shared my seat. I suppose this explains why the bus route that goes by my house runs as late as it does.

I arrived home at the predicted time, the ride having passed quickly as I read my book. The real mystery of infoweb.sacrt.com's recommendation for my route was revealed when I got home and went back online to find out why I couldn't have just met the No. 82 at the 65th Street station.

Forgetting that I had originally used an 8 p.m. departure time, I asked for options leaving at 7:30 p.m., which was when I was actually ready to go. The second option on the list was again light rail to No. 87 to No. 82 and leaving at 7:41. But now the first option was my standard light rail to the No. 82 leaving at the same 7:41 time. Nowhere to be found was the suggested 8:11 p.m. departure.

I will add this to my cautionary tales about infoweb.sacrt.com. You need to experiment with the time parameters. The results can vary greatly.

Still, it didn't take any longer to take two buses rather than one and I did get to talk fish on a cool, fall evening. Not a bad night, despite the president of the United States.

Between good and better trip planners

When I first used Sacramento Regional Transit's online trip planner at infoweb.sacrt.com I thought I had found the perfect tool for getting the most out of RT's service. This was certainly more useful than sitting on hold for several minutes and then discussing your options with a 321-BUSS person.

And then Google launched its Google Transit service and added Sacramento's routes. The differences are noticeable.

Here's a for instance: I wanted to visit the Vedanta Society of Sacramento garden on Saturday afternoon.

Infoweb's answer: Give up, no way, is that on this planet?

The actual wording was:

I'm having trouble planning your trip. This is due to one of the following reasons... 1. Your origin or destination are not within .4 mile of a transit stop, or they are outside of our service area. If you are within our service area, try using a nearby Landmark or major intersection which is more likely to have a stop nearby. If you are outside our service area, please consider traveling to/from one of our Light Rail stations (listed in Landmarks). 2. There is no service on the day or at the time you've requested. Please try a different date or time.

Google, on the other hand, suggested a nice fall afternoon walk might be in order.

OK. So maybe a walk that Google estimates would take about 45 minutes is so long as to be the same outcome as RT suggested: You can't get there from here. But at least Google's trip planner gave an option that allowed the person taking the trip to understand why it might not be doable.

At the very least, the infoweb.sacrt.com web site should allow users to set the acceptable walking distance. The 0.4 mile limit may be necessary for elderly passengers, but healthy middle-age men should be expected to walk a mile without discomfort. Besides, with RT's spotty coverage in suburban areas, the 0.4 walking limit makes RT service look worse than it is, especially when dealing with weekend service outside downtown.

Now when I was planning with this I was willing to give RT's service a pass. But then I checked whether it would be possible to make the same trip during a weekday afternoon when RT has its entire fleet on the streets. The outcome was a big surprise.

I asked about leaving Edison and Eastern and heading for 1337 Mission Ave. at 2:35 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 5. RT insisted it still couldn't be done.



And then I asked Google Transit about the same departure time and addresses and got these three options:

There's no walking involved. Sure it's not exactly a quick trip, but if that's the criteria, little that RT offers will be acceptable. Why are these options not offered by RT's trip planner?

Google Transit vs. RT's Infoweb

In newspapers across the wide expanse of America readers awoke to news today that stubborn belly fat in middle age can triple the threat of dementia in old age. Again, Google Transit comes to the rescue.

Ever since I started planning for the adventure of getting the wife to leave her car at home and take transit to work, I've had a gut feeling that something more than bus routes and train connections was governing Google Transit's algorithm for mapping point-to-point transit options.

This something is the difference between getting from Point A to Point B the innovative Google Transit way or going there with the suspiciously self-serving Sacramento Regional Transit way.

Pick up these images: In the one hand, young, creative techno wizards at a company that proudly proclaims "You can make money without doing evil." In the other hand, see middle-aged transit operators and bureaucrats, many of whom, we learned today, are at risk for dementia in old age.

Now, put the images down and go your computer and open up your Web browser. Create two Web-browsing windows. In one, go to www.google.com/transit. In the other, go infoweb.sacrt.com.

In the Google window, put Watt & Whitney, Sacramento as the start address and White Rock Rd & Prospect Park Dr, Rancho Cordova as the end address. Set the departure time to 7:20 a.m. (Any weekday will do.) Click "Get Directions" and then select either of the two "Did you mean" links to get Google Transit's suggested transit options.

In the Regional Transit Trip Planning window, put Watt & Whitney in the "I'm starting from ..." line and White Rock Rd & Prospect Park Dr in the "I am going to ..." line. Specify 7:20 a.m. for the departure time. Click on "Get trip plan" and then select WHITE ROCK RD @ PROSPECT PARK DR, RANCHO CORDOVA and again click "Get trip plan."

Now compare the suggested routes.

Sacramento Regional Transit suggests catching the No. 84 bus, and transferring to the outbound light rail train. RT says to get off at Mather Field station and board a No. 74 bus for the trip to the destination.

Google Transit suggests the same No. 84 bus to light rail. But here is where the two algorithms for mapping point-to-point transit options depart. Instead of getting off at Mather Field, Google suggests continuing on to the Cordova Town Center. From there, the young, creative techno wizards at a company that proudly proclaims "You can make money without doing evil" suggest a walk of about 16 minutes. It will do you good, lower your risk of dementia, make you attractive.

Of course, the middle-aged transit operators and bureaucrats, many of whom are at risk for dementia in old age, will point out that you won't live long enough to enjoy your dementia-free old age if you take Google's suggestion. That leisurely 16-minute walk to your destination includes a brisk dash across Highway 50. In other words, it can't be done. Certainly you can't walk from light rail to White Rock Road and Prospect Park Drive in 16 minutes.

An algorithm, according to the Wikipedia definition, is a type of effective method in which a definite list of well-defined instructions for completing a task, when given an initial state, will proceed through a well-defined series of successive states, eventually terminating in an end-state.

Everyone is working off the same basic data. Perhaps Google thinks it is foolish to throw away that extra $2 that it costs to make a two-transfer trip on Regional Transit. Perhaps Regional Transit really believes that offering routes with just four minutes between transfers is a realistic option and not just wishful thinking.

For a middle-aged man working on reducing his risk of dementia in his rapidly approaching old age, it's all a mystery.

So far the wife has avoided RT's two-transfer penalty by buying a $5 all-day pass. In three trips using RT's suggested schedule of buses and trains, she has only once had to run to make a connection. Perhaps her beginner's luck will hold.

Defeat of the transitarian

I was determined that I wouldn't start my day the way I had yesterday. I'm on the second day of a two week vacation and I had spent the first day driving from appointment to home, out on an errand and back. Not a bus in sight.

Today, I boarded my neighborhood bus, the No. 82, and took it to the Starbucks on Watt near Kings Way. I joined a half-dozen riders, mostly students, judging by their age.

Along the way, a middle-aged woman boarded and asked for an all-day pass. "I'm going to do some errands," she explained.

If only it were really that easy. Yes, I have only myself to blame since I live in the unincorporated suburbs of Sacramento, but I can wish.

Yesterday, I needed to get to an office building near the corner of Watt and American River Drive at 9 a.m. The normally helpful infoweb.sacrt.com couldn't help.

I'm having trouble planning your trip. This is due to one of the following reasons...

* 1. Your origin or destination are not within .4 mile of a transit stop, or they are outside of our service area. If you are within our service area, try using a nearby Landmark or major intersection which is more likely to have a stop nearby. If you are outside our service area, please consider traveling to/from one of our Light Rail stations (listed in Landmarks).
* 2. There is no service on the day or at the time you've requested. Please try a different date or time.

This has happened before. It would be nice if the site allowed users to set an acceptable walking distance, rather than limit walking to less than 0.4 miles.

As it happens, the No. 80 and No. 84 buses cross American River Drive on the Watt bridge, but the nearest bus stop is north of Fair Oaks at a little side street named Cosmos Avenue. Still, according to www.gmap-pedometer.com, the distance from the stop on Cosmos to the end of the Watt off-ramp that drops traffic onto American River Drive is actually just 0.36 miles.

Since I had never been to this office before, I didn't check the time for getting to Cosmos and walking. I just drove. Me and hundreds of others riding alone.

This morning the bus had a baker's dozen riders by the time I got off at Kings Way, still mostly students but with several elderly salted in the crowd.

At Starbucks I had an apple fritter and a coffee and read a chapter in a book. When I finished the coffee, I walked over to Emigh Hardware to pick up something I needed for a Honey-do project, and then walked to the Watt and El Camino bus stop. When I checked the schedule I found I had less than 10 minutes to wait for the next bus home. Fortunes of clean living or just the sort "good luck" that comes when you don't care if the wait is a half-hour.

I arrived home relaxed and feeling good about my choice of riding the bus. And then the phone rang.

The Honey-Do Ranch foreman explained that I needed to take her sweater to the cleaners -- yes, today, not tomorrow; it must be back in time for our trip to Oregon Friday -- and while I'm there I can pick up some chocolate that we will be taking with us.

And all the transitarian enthusiasm that had ballooned in me escaped in a long hiss. Pffffft! I just don't have enough time in my day to take two buses to get to the cleaners and then two buses to get back.

Defeated, I will take the car out on another errand.

Ride and learn (continued)

RT Rider: Learn the meaning of Transitarian. Or just travel with a rookie commuter as he explores the ins and outs of relying on Sacramento Regional Transit to get around.

That's my motto. It could also be: I walk so you can ride.

At least that's what I kept telling myself as I walked home tonight.

Back in June, when I explored how to get from 21st and Q streets in midtown and arrive before 7 p.m. at Watt and Whitney avenues in Arden Arcade, I was told to take the train toward Sunrise/Folsom and get off at Watt. I could then take the No. 80 bus. I even used that route a couple of times and it worked fine.

But when I checked infoweb.sacrt.com the other day it now gave me a different route: The No. 62 bus downtown to 10 and L streets, a short walk to light rail at Cathedral Square and then out to the end of the line at Watt, where I catch the No. 84 bus for the short hop to Whitney. The new route takes 15 minutes less time overall. I took the route to my appointment. It worked fine.

If I had just left well enough alone everything would have been fine. But, silly me, I noticed that, according to the schedule, I could use the same route and cut at least 10 minutes off my trip home. The key was transferring from the No. 84 to the No. 82 at Watt and Whitney. The No. 84 is scheduled to arrive at 6:31 p.m. and the No. 82 is scheduled to arrive at 6:35 p.m.

So, today I was late getting out of the office and missed my regular train home. As I was considering what to do while I waited for the next train connecting with the No. 82 bus, it occurred to me I could take the new route and catch up with the same bus I would have been on, thus leaving later but arriving home at the same time.

I know better. I have blogged before about what happens when relying on a train-bus connection that has only a three-minute cushion. A bus-bus connection with just four minutes leeway will be just as unreliable. But why am I here if not to prove the point.

The No. 62 bus to the train and the train to the No. 84 bus worked like a charm. But the No. 84 arrived three minutes late at Watt and Whitney and the No. 82 arrived one minute early, erasing the four-minute cushion. I was getting off the No. 84 on one side of Watt as the No. 82 was turning off Watt onto Whitney on the other side of the street.

So I hoofed it home -- 1.5829 miles according to gmap-pedometer.com. Now, it wasn't a total waste of time. Besides the Transitarian Diet benefits of the evening stroll, I still managed to arrive home 10 minutes sooner than I would have arrived if I had waited at work for the next train-bus combination.

Google Transit comes to Sacramento

Above is a screen capture of what Google's interface with Sacramento Regional Transit's on-line trip planning data produces. This service went live Monday. It is still in the testing stages, but it is fully functional.

Go to google.com/transit, click on Sacramento, enter a starting address and a destination. It is just like using Google Maps. You can even click between the transit option and the route if you are driving.

The difference between RT's infoweb.sacrt.com and Google Transit is the difference between the original, text-only computer adventure cames and the modern interactive software.

This is going to be my first choice for trip planning.

Dear Mr. Transitarian

Here is my dilemma, my son, who just turned 15, finds himself totally annoyed with me for moving us all the way to the other end of Truxel (near Club Center & Natomas) from where we once were. It is too far to ride his bike and I won’t let him cross over the Interstate anyway because he would be killed dead by the crazy non-pedestrian respecting drivers in Sacramento at the entrance/exit ramps for I-80.

I told him he could take the bus from Natomas Blvd and be dumped off by Natomas High School, but then realized I have no idea how to do that. I can’t make any sense of the schedule. How would he go about this? How much would it cost? And, can he always take his bike and have it loaded on the front of the bus? Help me Oh Great Transitarian.

Let's put the bottom line up front: Dumb move on your part.

Sacramento Regional Transit is rightfully criticized for having failed to expand bus service as residential development has spread. Since RT took over for the old Sacramento Transit Authority in 1973, all of its "expansion" has been focused on light rail.

Today, RT has one bus route serving residents north of Del Paso Rd. in Natomas. That's the No. 11. And the No. 11 would be perfect for connecting your kid with Natomas High School -- if he wanted to ride during regular commute hours and didn't mind staying home and helping you around the house on the weekends. The No. 11 ride from Club Center and Natomas to Truxel and San Juan takes 16 minutes and costs $1 with a student ID.

If your son wants to get to Natomas High School on the weekend, he'll have to ride his bike down to Truxel and Arena Boulevard, where he can catch the No. 14 east -- which runs hourly between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. -- and then transfer to the No. 86 west at Northgate and San Juan. The trip will take 39 minutes and cost $1.10 with a student ID.

As for taking the bike, buses can carry two bikes. If a third bike rider shows up, he's out of luck.

RT's Web site at infoweb.sacrt.com and Google Transit at www.google.com/transit can help with specific times. But pay close attention to what Google offers for weekend options.

I've blogged before about its suggestion that the wife walk across Highway 50 for the final leg of her commute to work. If you ask Google for suggestions for leaving Club Center and Natomas at 12:02 p.m. next Saturday, May 31, Google Transit says the best option is to wait until Monday, June 2, and catch the first bus of the morning at 6:07. Bring a sleeping bag and a camp stove.

If anyone at RT is listening, the plight of the No. 11 bus in Natomas is still another good example where a little improvement -- evening and weekend service -- would go a long way to improve RT's image as a transportation service of choice.

Wishful thinking

Sometimes the truth hurts. Or it is at least inconvenient. I was checking to see if I could get from midtown to a location in Oak Park just off Broadway on the bus. Piece of cake, said Google Transit.

But you will be throwing money away.


I am not going to suggest that Google Transit modify its programming for the convenience of fanatical transit advocates who want to ignore, or at least downplay, any trivial, inconsequential details that might detract from the glorious truth of transit's enduring value.

I am not going to suggest that when the program multiplies the distance times the IRS-allowed auto mileage expense, that it then check that sum against the fare. Shame on me for even imagining that when the fare is more than the cost of driving, that the program cough and knock that piece of superfluous parenthetical data on the floor, never to be missed.

No, it would be wrong to suggest that.

* * *

And in another example of wishful thinking, I checked the same destination and arrival time with Sacramento Regional Transit's online wizard at infoweb.sacrt.com and discovered that RT offered a shorter, more convenient route to my destination.

Where Google Transit suggested I walk four minutes and then take two buses for a 22-minute trip, infoweb suggested I just catch light rail to 29th Street and hop on the No. 68 or 67, which both eventually go down the portion of Broadway near my destination. Total travel time: 10 or 12 minutes, depending on when I left.

When I checked the details of RT's suggestion I think I figured out why Google didn't offer that choice. The train is scheduled to get to 29th Street just three minutes before the bus is scheduled to leave.

The chance of that happening? Not something I would want to bet my plans on.

This does raise an interesting idea. While I will agree that trains can't be expected to wait for buses to make connections, what's to prevent buses from waiting for trains?

Why not have the bus departure at bus transit centers set to the arrival of a specific train (plus a couple of minutes for people to walk to it)? Sure, that would delay the bus departure several minutes on occasion, but not always.

Promising that the bus will meet the train would be a nice piece of customer service that wouldn't cost a penny to implement.

Don't mind me. Just wishful thinking out loud.

The lucky lady

The call came about 5:40 p.m. It was the wife. She was breathless from the combination of walking and talking, but between gasps she managed to explain that she had decided to walk a longer, alternate way and meet her bus coming down a different street.

"I know it goes down this street," she said. "Well, I know it goes near here."

She was approaching the intersection of Disk and Data in Rancho Cordova, she explained. I looked at Google Maps and found the location. Zooming in, I located the bus stops. There wasn't one at that intersection going in the direction she wanted. She would have to walk up Data back to White Rock Road, essentially making a big U and circling back to the stop she usually used.

Once upon a time, I could click on the bus stop icon and up would pop the next time a bus was scheduled to stop. If several routes used that stop, each would be displayed. No more. This has been missing from Google Maps and Google Transit for more than a week.

I could tell which bus stopped there. I then took that info to infoweb.sacrt.com and used the "Schedules" link to select the 74 route and determine when the next bus was due.

"You've missed your bus," I told the wife.

"What?" she gasped.

"It's 4:44 and the bus is due at White Rock at 4:44," I explained. "This bus runs only once an hour, so you'll have to cross White Rock and wait for the next No. 73."

"What?" she gasped.

"You are going to have to walk to ... "

"Hold on," she said and then for several seconds I heard the sound of rustling clothing and wind.

"Made it," she said.

"What?" I asked.

"The bus," she said. "It was turning onto to Data and I ran and made it in time."

The luck continues.

It was only after this that I remembered that RT's Infoweb offers "next bus" information. The problem is that you have to know the bus stop number and finding that when you are not standing next to the bus stop requires several extra steps.

Oh, well. Maybe Google Transit will bring back the "next stop" feature to the bus icons.

* * *

The wife's postscript: She wants a bus stop or two added somewhere on Data Drive near Disk. After all, she points out, there’s a whole new housing and retail development there, with stores open and homes occupied. Why isn’t there a stop there?

Between Portland and Phoenix

During the Sacramento mayoral campaign debate on May 7, Mayor Heather Fargo and challenger Kevin Johnson were each asked which city they would like Sacramento to be more like. Fargo chose Portland and Johnson Phoenix. If I lived in the city of Sacramento, that alone would have been enough for me to know which candidate to vote for. Nobody could confuse the transit options in Phoenix with transit in Portland.

Now that Johnson has been elected, I certainly hope he can put aside his fascination with sprawl and look instead at the value for everyone -- even developers -- from an interconnected and extensive transit network.

We've got a lot of catching up to do. Since 2001, Portland transit riders have been able to call a number and find out when the next bus at their stop will arrive. Not the next scheduled time -- something you can get at Sacramento Regional Transit by calling 321-BUSS and waiting a half-hour to speak to a customer service rep -- but the time the bus will actually arrive.

In Portland, the buses are all equipped with GPS linked to the district computers. Since the district knows where all the buses and trains are at any given moment, it's a simple computer task to compute when they will arrive at the next stop.

If you look on the back of bus stop signs here in Sacramento, you'll see large numbers like those shown on the Oregonian video. You can even use those numbers at RT's "Next Bus" feature at infoweb.sacrt.com. But only the very newest buses have GPS and without the GPS locators on every bus and train, there's no way to know when the next bus or train will really arrive.

But at least we're not in Phoenix (yet). That city will inaugurate its first light rail line with grand opening ceremonies on Saturday, Dec. 27. At least we in Sacramento have had light rail for more than two decades.

What sort of vision does Kevin Johnson have for transit?

Coupling on the bus

The wife has discovered the joys of transit meet-ups. Now if I just had reliable work hours. Monday we were able to meet at 65th Street and take the No. 82 bus home. Tonight, she had to kill a half-hour when I got delayed by work. Luckily, she managed to loiter in Office Depot without buying anything.

This will only work on Mondays and Tuesdays, but it adds a new dimension to the transit experience.

Actually, the day was a grand success from a transit perspective. The wife wanted me to pay our supplemental property tax bill at the county offices downtown. A quick check of infoweb.sacrt.com revealed that I had two or three options depending on how lucky I was feeling. And when I missed the early option because I wasn't paying attention, the backup plan worked just as well.

I suppose that people who live in cities with real transit systems will find my day unremarkable. But here in the domain of Sacramento Regional Transit, it is plenty surprising to find running errands a convenient transit option.

Sacramento Regional Transit should print up some bumper stickers that say "My Other Car Is RT" and hand them out to regular riders as a promotional gimmick. I could put it on the car the wife is leaving at home. We've gone a month now on a half-tank of gas.

Making lemonade from whine

Whine should age with a cork jammed in its throat, bottled. Then, when the whine's time is right, it can be transformed into lemonade and sipped on the porch.

Consider this post from back on April 9. Whine, whine, whine. I had to get in my car and drive to the Watt/I-80 light rail station because Sacramento Regional Transit couldn't get me to 20th and J streets at 9 a.m. Whine, whine, whine.

Put a cork in it!

This weekend I expected to pour more whine into that bottle when I started exploring options for getting to 12th and K streets before 10 a.m. tomorrow. I even started with a little test Sunday to see how long it would take to walk from my house to Auburn Boulevard, where I could catch the No. 1 bus to the Watt/I-80 station. I figured I'd have to give myself about 30 minutes for the 1 mile walk to be on the safe side.

So then I checked infoweb.sacrt.com, RT's trip planning Web service, and discovered that I didn't have to walk any farther than the bus stops on either side of the street in front of my house. In fact, I had a choice of leaving at 8:26 on the No. 82 bus going to American River College, transferring to the No. 1 bus and arriving at the station in 21 minutes, or I could take the No. 82 bus at 8:39 in the other direction and transfer at Watt to the No. 84 bus, arriving at the light rail station in 23 minutes. The train trip to Cathedral Square takes about 20 minutes. And if that wasn't enough, I could take the 8:39 No. 82 bus to Sac State, get on the No. 30 bus and arrive at 12th and L streets at 9:42 a.m.

Now I had more options than I knew what to do with. If I were commuting daily to this destination, I'd use the 82 to 30 combination and walk the block to 12th and K streets. But tomorrow I need to find an office in a building I've never been in before and so I need some extra time.

Today I tried out the 8:26 departure route. I was out at my bus stop at 8:21, unsure whether the No. 82 would be early or late. It turned out to be three minutes late. I was on the 82 at 8:29 and at American River College at 8:35 a.m. The No. 1 bus was scheduled to arrive at 8:39, but I didn't board until 8:46. The bus arrived at the light rail station 8:56 a.m., eight minutes late, but still in time for me to make it down the stairs and to the station before the 8:59 a.m. train departed. The train passed through Cathedral Square at 9:20 a.m., which means that even if I missed the 8:59 train I'd still have plenty of time to walk from 11 and K streets back to 12th Street and find the office where I have my appointment.

Pour me some lemonade.

Ride and learn

The transitarian derivation of the adage "live and learn."

Tuesday I needed to get from 21st and Q streets to Watt and Whitney avenues for a 7 p.m. appointment. After a little checking at infoweb.sacrt.com I found I had two choices: Leave at 5:41 p.m. and arrive 17 minutes early or leave at 6:11 p.m. and arrive five minutes late. Hey, at least I had a choice.

The online trip planner does a nice job, but I still like to look at the actual bus routes just to see if there might be middle option, and in this case there was. Or at least it appeared there might be.

I figured arriving early was a better option. That meant taking the 5:41 p.m. light rail train heading for Folsom and getting off at Watt and taking the No. 80 bus to Watt and Whitney. The train arrives at Watt at 5:55 and the No. 80 departs at 6:10 p.m. Simple and straightforward.

But then I looked at the 5:56 p.m. train. It is scheduled to arrive at Watt at 6:10 p.m., the same time as the bus departs. Could I leave 15 minutes later and thus shave 15 minutes off the trip by making that connection?

I have enough experience with RT to know that "better safe than sorry" might as well be RT's motto. So Tuesday I took the 5:41 train and made the connection to the No. 80 bus. But then I discovered that the bus makes a second connection with the train.

The bus follows the train tracks along Folsom to the Starfire station before heading north on La Riviera Drive and eventually to Watt. Tuesday night, the No. 80 bus stopped at Starfire and waited long enough to meet the train and board a passenger. This presented an intriguing possibility.

On paper, the train arrives at Starfire at 6:11 p.m. and the No. 80 bus isn't scheduled to arrive until 6:14 p.m. Now that's a tantalizing connection.

Since I need to make the same run next Tuesday, I decided to test just how reliable RT's schedule is.

I should underline at this point: I did this on a day when it didn't matter if I didn't make the connection.

And so I was out at the 23rd Street light rail station in time to catch the 5:56 p.m. train to Sunrise. Well, I was in time if the train had been on time. Instead, I had to wait until 6 p.m.

The train cruised into the Watt station at 6:13, three minutes late. On paper, the train takes just a minute to get from Watt to Starfire, so there was a theoretical chance of still catching the No. 80 before it departed at 6:14 p.m. But there is a place called reality that lives between the official schedule and the theoretical connections.

I got off at Starfire at 6:16 p.m. and walked over to the street and looked east on Folsom. There, just beyond the Highway 50 overpass, was the No. 80 bus waiting in the turn lane heading for La Riviera.

Missed by that much.

OK. So now I needed to get back to 65th Street to catch my regular No. 82 bus home. The next No. 82 was scheduled to depart at 6:28 p.m. But -- yes, you know what's coming now -- the next train downtown doesn't arrive at 65th Street until 6:33 p.m.

Missed by that much -- again.

So when I arrived at 65th Street, I sat on the ground and leaned against the No. 82 bus stop sign and read my book, "California Rising: The Life and Times of Pat Brown," by Ethan Rarick. It's a good book. One of those educational books. I'm in a learning mood after weeks of Richard Brautigan.

Know your limits. Know RT's limits. Get smart.

The No. 82 arrived at 6:46 and I got to wait in the air conditioned coach until finally leaving for home at 6:58.

Ride and learn.

Oops

The hardest thing to do is admit you goofed. Don't believe me? Just look at the Bush administration and it's "So?" sorry attitude.

I had not been waiting long at the 65th Street transit center when the No. 82 bus rolled to a stop in front of me. I closed my book and showed my pass to the driver and took a seat.

Almost immediately the driver closed the door and started to leave. This was unusual. Normally, there's a wait of several minutes before we leave. But I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth, or a gift bus driver, for that matter.

As the driver pulled away from the curb I saw a regular rider wave the bus down. The driver stopped and let the guy board.

"You're leaving a little early," the guy said as he showed the driver his pass.

The driver demurred, saying something that included the word "approximate" and the word "schedule."

The guy disagreed, but he let the subject drop, satisfied to have his ride home.

Earlier in the evening the wife had called me at the office to find out whether she should get off light rail at Starfire or wait until her train arrived at Watt. I checked RT's infoweb.sacrt.com and told her to get off at Starfire. The bus she wanted would be there in just four minutes.

Ten minutes later, the wife called back: "Where's my bus?"

I explained that she is not allowed to ask until the bus is 15 minutes late. (See this post.) I checked the schedule of the bus. Her train was on time, so she didn't miss the bus. "It must be late," I said. At that time I was not yet aware of the "approximate" nature of the "schedule."

"When the bus is 15 minutes late you can call 321-BUSS and find out what happened," I told her. "Or you can call now and wait on hold for five minutes. That'll work, too."

"Nevermind," the wife said, "here comes the bus -- 15 minutes late."

Better late than sorry, I thought at the time. Better late than early, I considered as my bus left the transit center and turned onto 65th Street.

"Well, I guess you were right," the driver said to the guy who had mentioned that the bus was leaving early. "Now I see we left three minutes early."

The driver then turned right on Folsom and then right again back into the transit center while he explained his confusion with the schedule of the No. 82.

"Maybe another train has arrived since we left and more people are waiting," the driver said as he worked his way to the No. 82 bus stop.

The driver parked the bus and opened the door and waited. No one was waiting to get on, and no one else arrived before we left again.

Better on time than early, I thought as I returned to my book.

Transformers on the bus

Friday, I was making my way to the comics in the back of the Scene section of The Bee when I stumbled upon the ad for the IMAX version of the movie Transformers. This seemed like an interesting idea for a Saturday outing.

Both the wife and the kid, however, had other plans, so that evening I purchased the ticket online for myself and then checked infoweb.sacrt.com for my transit options. After more than six months of weekday riding, I am familiar with how to get downtown from my home, but the question was how Sacramento Regional Transit's reduced weekend schedule would affect my ability to reach Cathedral Square around 10 a.m.

Think good thoughts; get good karma. And there it was: I could walk across the street from my front door before 8:49 a.m. and catch the No. 82 bus to American River College. At ARC, I would have a short wait for the No. 1 bus to the Watt/I-80 light rail station. From the station, I would catch a train downtown and arrive at Cathedral Square at 9:51 a.m.

I can hear the transit pessimists already: "Why would you take a bus and a train that takes 62 minutes for a trip that would take less than 15 minutes on a Saturday morning?"

Society today puts far too much emphasis on the time it takes to get somewhere and not enough on how we get there. This is a reflection of our personal poverty. We are so crushed by the burdens of making ends meet and accomplishing the everyday tasks of life that we can't afford to "waste" a minute.

This overriding grip of time pushes away all other considerations and separates us from the greater community. Even in those rare cases where transit is readily available, people reject it because it would take a little more time out of their day. When they do this, they discard any responsibility for the consequences of driving alone to work, consequences that pile on top of other consequences and affect everyone in the community. Our message: I am more important than you. Easing my poverty is more important than the community's general welfare.

Driving solo has consequences, and taking transit just one day week has benefits. According to the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District, a daily commuter who leaves a car at home and takes transit just one day a week prevents 55 pounds of pollution from being emitted into the air each year.

The community has value, and thinking about our community is the first step away from our destructive obsession with self.

I'm writing this in my steno notebook on the table in the back of the Starbucks at J and 19th streets. It's 1:20 p.m. on Saturday. Outside it is wet but not raining. Inside it's warm and crowded. I find the number of children in the coffee shop odd. Two elementary school age children sit at the window bar. One of them appears to be writing in a journal. A baby in a stroller has been positioned in front of a window for its amusement while the adults chat nearby. This is all part of the midtown of families that I don't see during my weekdays. I feel like a tourist, which I guess I am.

It is nice to be rich enough to be able to afford a day like today.

The Internet rocks and Google Transit bubbles

Today, another guy named Anonymous added a comment to one of my posts. He said:

Uh, I seem to recall being able to get around on public transit -- in Sacramento and elsewhere -- long before anybody ever heard of the internet.

This prompted my snide rejoinder:

And at one time you could find streetcars in downtown Sacramento running so often that you didn't need a schedule.

At a minimum today you need the bus schedule book RT sells for a buck. RT's service is so sporadic and uneven -- half-hour service for awhile and then a 45-minute break; bus lines that only run during "peak" periods; bus lines that don't run on the weekend -- that someone who wants to use transit is REQUIRED to plan ahead. The Internet makes that easier.

Allow me to throw the wife under the bus as an example.

After having problems with late or missing buses two days in a row, I spent some time this afternoon trying to map out escape routes for the wife. I can imagine the conversation if I called 321-BUSS and explained that I needed help deciding what the wife should do if the train and bus don't meet.

"Get off the train at the Starfire stop and take the No. 80 bus."

"And if the train is late?"

"Then you will miss your bus."

"Oh."

The obvious escape route is to continue to 65th Street and catch the No. 82, which is the bus I ride home from work. Under the ideal scenario, the wife would get off at Starfire and if the bus did not arrive by the time that the next inbound train arrived, then she would board the train and go to 65th Street.

But, of course, nothing that involves Sacramento Regional Transit scheduling is that easy. The train that matches up at 65th Street with the No. 82 is the same train that is supposed to catch the No. 80. If the wife gets off to wait and the bus doesn't arrive, she might as well wait for the next bus, a No. 84, that runs a half-hour after the No. 80.

After consulting RT's infoweb.sacrt.com, I decided the wife is going to have to decide each day whether to get off at Starfire or continue to 65th. If the train is on time, she can play Russian Roulette with the No. 80 -- bus arrives on time, empty chamber; bus arrives late, misfire; bus never arrives at all, bang!

If she knows the train is running late -- or she tires of playing the No. 80 game -- then she can just stay on the train. She'll get home a half-hour later than if she made her No. 80 connection, but she'll get a ride all the way to her front door.

Today, the wife watched traffic on Folsom Boulevard as the train approached Starfire, looking for the bus. The train was running six minutes late, which meant that if the bus was on time, it would have already driven past the station. But as she looked west on Folsom she could see a bus approaching. She got off the train and was able to catch the bus.

Tomorrow? Who knows.

* * *

Three cheers to the Google Transit guys and gals for restoring the next-stop bubbles to the Google maps. If you click on a bus stop icon now, you will see a bubble that shows the next two departures for each bus using the stop. As I have mentioned before, RT's trip planner offers the same information, but Google's map interface is unbeatable.

Taking the bus to the Salmon Festival

Sacramento Regional Transit will operate continuous bus service from the Hazel light rail station (Folsom Boulevard and Hazel Avenue) directly to the American River Salmon Festival at Lake Natoma/Nimbus Hatchery on Saturday, Oct. 13, and Sunday, Oct. 14, 2007.

RT's bus service will run every 15 minutes from 9:55 a.m. until 4:40 p.m. The last bus from Lake Natoma/Nimbus Hatchery will depart at 5 p.m. Complimentary ride tickets are available upon boarding. Passengers can park free of charge at any of RT’s 18 park-and-ride lots, including the Hazel light rail station (432 parking spaces).

According to infoweb.sacrt.com, the Gold Line trains to Folsom run on a half-hour schedule on the weekend, arriving at Hazel at 16 minutes after the hour and 46 minutes after the hour. The trains headed back downtown run every half-hour from Hazel at 7 minutes after the hour and 37 minutes after the hour. The last train from Hazel leaves at 7:07 p.m.

The Salmon Festival features entertainment and educational activities, including wildlife demonstrations, live music, food, exhibits, guided rafting and more. Admission is free. For more information about the event, visit www.salmonfestival.net.

Computers will do that

Last week, a bus arrived at Sacramento State with No. 88 on the side and the route summary for the No. 88 on the front. Two co-eds with backpacks asked the driver if the bus was going to the Amtrak station. I was about to tell them they wanted the No. 30 bus when I heard the driver tell them he was going to the station. The two co-eds boarded the bus.

I walked over to the bus, and the driver explained that this was the No. 30 bus. I pointed out that both the front and side signs said this was the No. 88.

"Computer will do that," he explained.

I had been waiting for the No. 30 bus and if the two young women looking for the Amtrak station had not tipped me off, I would have missed the bus.

This all comes to mind because I was researching getting to American River Drive when the infoweb.sacrt.com coughed up this helpful suggestion:

Computers will do that, I thought.

Ins and outs, but mostly ins (knock on wood)

The RT Rider blog has a motto. It's up there on the top of the site. It goes like this:

Travels of a rookie commuter as he learns the ins and outs of relying on Sacramento Regional Transit.

And travel I have.

Since I started leaving my car at home, I have had to drive just once, and that was only as far as the nearby light rail park-and-ride station. Every other day I've been able to rely on Sacramento Regional Transit.

Today was one of those great convergences of good fortune and RT scheduling.
Sort of like the clock that's broken and still tells the correct time twice a day.

I needed to get from 21st and Q streets to 11th and J and arrive at 2:30 p.m. That's a distance of 1.4419 miles, according to the Gmap-Pedometer. That's not too far to walk. Yesterday on my way to work, I took the No. 30 bus to 11th and L streets, walked to 11th and J and then walked to work, keeping track of the time. Thanks to the Transitarian Diet, walking is an option. But I'd be walking in the afternoon, and I didn't want to arrive looking and smelling like a sweaty dog in a tie and sport coat. I already look funny enough in a tie and sport coat.

While I was walking down 21st Street yesterday afternoon to time how long it would take to walk to L Street to catch the No. 30 bus, I had an epiphany, a big bus epiphany. A bus passed me on 21st Street, announcing "FREEPORT/DOWNTOWN" service.

OK. I have no idea why it didn't occur to me that buses travel downtown on 21st Street. But there is was, big as life and just as noisy -- the No. 62 bus.

But what about timing? my cynical self said to the gift horse. Back at the office I went to infoweb.sacrt.com and checked on the No. 62 schedule traveling downtown. Sure enough, the No. 62 is scheduled to arrive at 11th and L at 2:24 p.m. "Damn," I exclaimed out loud. That's plenty of time to walk two blocks to 11th and J.

When you consider that the Freeport to downtown bus runs just once each half-hour, getting such a perfect schedule had to be more than coincidence. This was divine transitarian intervention.

The bus is scheduled to arrive at 21st and Q at 2:16 p.m. I was waiting this afternoon at 2:10 just to be safe. I began to sweat despite the cool breeze when 2:16 rolled around without the bus. But soon I could see it in the distance, rumbling up 21st Street.

I was on the bus and on my way to my appointment by 2:19, and I was at my destination waiting for the elevator at 2:30. I would be hard pressed to get my car out of the parking lot, drive the 1.4 miles and find another parking space in that time.

Among the ins and outs of relying of Sacramento Regional Transit, this afternoon was a definite in.