Unfinished Business

At 8:09 on the morning of July 30, last year, I sent this email:

from John Hughes
to CAD@sacrt.com
date Thu, Jul 30, 2009 at 8:09 AM
subject Map of proposed change in No. 82 bus route

I would like to have a map showing how the No. 82 bus route would be changed under the proposal currently under consideration.

A portion of the route is going to shift to pick up some of the No. 9 route on Walnut. I want to see where the split will occur and which current No. 82 stops will be affected.

--
John Hughes

Later that afternoon, I received this reply:

from Robert Beverly
to John Hughes
date Thu, Jul 30, 2009 at 3:22 PM
subject Re: Map of proposed change in No. 82 bus route
mailed-by sacrt.com

Mr. Hughes,

Thank you for contacting Regional Transit. Your question has been forwarded to our Planning Department for an response.

Sincerely,

Robert H. Beverly
Customer Advocacy
Sacramento Regional Transit District
916.557.4545
916.456.1752 fax
cad@sacrt.com

This message, together with any attachments, is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to whom it is addressed and may contain information that is confidential and prohibited from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, or copying of this message, or any attachment, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify the original sender immediately by telephone or by return e-mail and delete this message along with any attachments. Thank you.

The next day I replied:

from John Hughes
to Robert Beverly
date Fri, Jul 31, 2009 at 3:39 PM
subject Re: Map of proposed change in No. 82 bus route
mailed-by gmail.com

Can I at least get a street by street description of changes proposed in No. 82 route?

Three days, 23 hours and six minutes later I received this response:

from Robert Beverly
to John Hughes
date Tue, Aug 4, 2009 at 2:45 PM
subject Re: Map of proposed change in No. 82 bus route
mailed-by sacrt.com

hide details 8/4/09

Mr. Hughers,

The person who handles that information is currently on vacation, he will be back on Thursday.

Sincerely,


Robert H. Beverly
Customer Advocacy
Sacramento Regional Transit District
916.557.4545
916.456.1752 fax
cad@sacrt.com

So maybe it wasn't such a big surprise to have the Sacramento Regional Transit Planning Department get back to me on my original inquiry six months, four days, two hours and nine minutes later.

from Mark Bennett
to jlhughes@gmail.com
cc Jamie Poole-Canevari ,
Robert Beverly ,
Sharon Cohen ,
Theresa Weaver
date Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 10:18 AM
subject Route 82 split
mailed-by sacrt.com


2/3/10





Dear Mr. Hughes:

Please excuse my long delay in answering your email of 7/30/09, but with furlough days, numerous projects and hundreds of letters I trust that you understand. However

your comment about Route 82 was included in the information given to the RT Board of Directors. Because of letters, emails and public testimony such as yours, the RT Board voted to have minimal route and schedule cutbacks and instead raise the fares again.

The proposal to split Route 82 is internal to the RT Planning Department. I have no map to send you because there is none. If the split was to occur one portion would follow the existing route while the other would use either Whitney Avenue or Marconi Avenue to reach Walnut Avenue. No research or analysis has been done to determine which alignment would be better nor will anything be done until the upcoming round of massive service cuts and staff layoffs are completed and the budget balanced.

Our state funding was eliminated and our revenue from the county sales tax vastly reduced by the economic downturn. Cost reduction options including salary and hiring freezes, furlough days, benefit cuts, and other measures have already been enacted with more underway including RT staff layoffs. Some of these cost reductions are taking much longer to implement than would be desirable, but that is the nature of our complex society.

The ending of all state transit funding was illegal. RT, along with other transit providers, sued and won in the lower courts. Recently, the State Supreme Court refused to hear the States’ appeal. Now all that remains is for the state to find the additional money, something that is not likely to happen. Also the Federal Government ended the subsidy that RT had received for compressing natural gas.

Hopefully the future will be better with a major service expansion through the Transit Action Plan and a ballot initiative for a sales tax increase to pay for it. Information is available on our website.


Yours truly,


Mark Bennett, Planner

mbennett@sacrt.com

I don't know what the purpose of publishing this is. Better late than never, my mother would always tell me when I showed disappointment for this or that forgotten nicety. I suppose we can all celebrate together that Mr. Bennett has finally reached the month of July 2009 in his archeological dig through his email inbox. And he took the time to respond! Who could have expected that?

Sacramento Regional Transit's budget woes can all be laid at the feet of the worst governor Californians have ever mistakenly placed in office. Even a recession so massive that it brings to mind the Great Depression more than 80 years would not have had the impact on RT that this governor's budgets have had. And this governor is supposed to be the Great Green savior! Without transit, all of his green talk is hallow and meaningless.

Now, excuse me while I return to my 365 Days of Photography. It is so much less painful.