Credit where credit is due

Between the fear-mongering and the unnecessary panic at Monday's meeting of the Sacramento Regional Transit board was an assessment of the district's management that deserves some publicity.

"Year-to-date revenues exceed expenses by $6.4 million due to total revenues being above budget by $4.3 million and operating costs being below budget by $2 million," according to the Key Performance Report.

For the eighth month in a row, the amount of money brought in from fares to cover the cost of the service exceeded the district goal. General Manager Mike Wiley told the board that the 29.5 percent the district recovered in June is a number the district hasn't seen in many, many years. June's fare recovery was 8.9 percent higher than budgeted. Total June fare revenue -- $3.3 million -- was the first time the district took in more than $3 million in a month. The 2008 fiscal year ended 5.5 percent over budget. That increase will come in handy. About $1.1 million will be available to back-fill any lost state money.

For the 2008 fiscal year, total ridership was up 3.14 percent. June light rail ridership was up 15.7 percent over last June, and ended the fiscal 2008 year up 8.07 percent. June bus ridership was up 4.3 percent. But the bus numbers for the fiscal year weren't as good. RT's bus service took a 5 percent cut in January. By the end of the fiscal year, bus ridership was 1.1 percent below the year before.

These figures helped RT cut costs. The district's cost per passenger mile was below budgeted goals for both rail and bus service. Rail service was 11 percent below the goal and bus service 1 percent less. Viewed in terms of passenger productivity, bus service was 2 percent above and rail productivity 5.15 percent higher.

One other bright spot was news about crime. June's crimes per 1,000 passengers -- both felonies and misdemeanors -- was 0.016. For the fiscal year, the rate was 0.017.

About the only area where RT missed its goal was in bus on-time performance. The district missed that goal by 3.5 percent. As the report points out, the district was a victim of the very reason buses are so valuable: traffic congestion. As the report said, "This will likely continue to challenge RT and affect our on-time performance."

"Meeting a greater demand for transit service in the face of a three-sided economic squeeze that includes the Governor's proposed raid of dedicated transit monies, the rumored suspension of Proposition 42 funds and losses from declining sales tax revenue, RT will continue to maintain strict cost containment measures into fiscal year 2009," declares the Key Performance Report's management notes.

Clearly management at RT is doing its part. It's time for state lawmakers to get on board and keep their funding promises.

Not even once a week

At last night's hearing, a speaker asked how many Sacramento Regional Transit board members actually use the transit system they govern. Only one board member was willing to respond. Sacramento City Councilman Steve Cohn said he "occasionally" uses it. Even when prodded by a crank in the audience, none of the other board members spoke up. Instead, Board Chair Roberta MacGlashan said the question was out of order.

I can sympathize with the board. It must be hard to sit in judgment of a service they don't use and won't promise to use, even for just one day a week.

Back on Feb. 17 I sent the following e-mail to Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo and each of the RT board members:

On Feb. 12, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa boarded a bus to work with a gaggle of press following along. He was promoting a local drive to get people to make a commitment to ride transit once a week.

"If I said to everybody, `Get out of your car and take public transit,' the likelihood of people doing that isn't great," Villaraigosa told the Los Angeles Daily News.* "So the goal is: Get out of your car once a week. I want to model that."

According to the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District**, "If you leave your car at home one day a week, you prevent 55 pounds of pollution each year from being emitted into our air."

Would you be willing to make a public commitment to leave your car at home and ride transit at least once a week?

John Hughes
http://rtrider.blogspot.com
* Story is available at http://origin.dailynews.com/news/ci_8245023
** see http://www.sparetheair.com for SMAQMD stat

And what response did I get?

from Patrick Hume
to jlhughes@gmail.com
date Sun, Feb 17, 2008 at 6:53 PM
subject Re: Riding transit once a week
mailed-by elkgrovecity.org

Mr. Hughes,

Unfortunately, even once a week isn't feasable for me. I live in Elk Grove and work in Galt, so there is no convenient public transit alternative. You may suggest the same idea to Mayor Davis, he works at Sac State, so it would take some transferring, but it could be done.


Thanks,
Pat

Patrick Hume
Councilmember, City of Elk Grove
Phume@elkgrovecity.org. (916)201-4091

(I responded: "Thanks for replying. Perhaps you could look into the Highway 99 e-Tran service from Elk Grove to Galt City Hall. http://www.e-tran.org/downtown-sacramento.htm.")

from David M. Sander, Ph.D.
to John Hughes
date Mon, Feb 18, 2008 at 6:09 PM
subject Re: Riding transit once a week
signed-by ix.netcom.com

John:

I'd be happy to make such a pledge, but living in Rancho Cordova, I don't have much in the way of bus service -- none to my current neighborhood.

Also, I work from home, so by definition I don't drive that many miles, nor do have any regular commute.

So, I could take such a pledge, but I'm not sure what it would mean in the end. I already use transit when I can use light rail to get to and from occasional meetings downtown.

All the Best,

David

(I replied: "Thanks for the reply. It does make it difficult to take transit when you work at home. I was thinking of expanding the pledge idea to promising to take transit OR ride a bike OR walk. The goal, after all, is cut down on the single-occupant auto trips. You'd have it made with pledge to walk to work." And he said, " Yeah. It's about 25 ft from bedroom to office! I've had fun with that concept -- appearing at bike to work events and the like over years I've always explained that I'd like to bike to work, but that hallway turn near the bathroom is tough to navigate.")

from MacGlashan. Roberta
to John Hughes
date Tue, Feb 19, 2008 at 4:42 PM
subject RE: Riding transit once a week
mailed-by saccounty.net

John, Thank you for emailing me regarding Mayor Villaraigosa’s efforts to increase transit ridership. I wish my response could be as clever as David’s.

Public transit works very well for people whose jobs follow a regular schedule. I grew up in a single-car household with a mother who did not drive, so I relied on transit, walking and bicycling to get where I needed to go as a child and young adult. In fact, I did not even have a drivers license or own a car until I was in my 20s. When my husband was in law school, we also had just one car and for those three years I rode public transit to work (that was the old Southern Pacific line on the San Francisco peninsula – now CalTrain).

The reality of my schedule as a County Supervisor is that my schedule requires me to be at many different meetings throughout my district and downtown in the course of the day and often into the evenings (with unpredictable schedule changes) – making transit an impractical option for me most of the time. However, 2 of the 4 members of my staff use public transit daily to commute to and from the office; it is very rare that they drive to work. I am very proud of the high utilization of public transit by my staff, and believe that my office probably has the highest transit use of any of the Sacramento County Board offices.

Good luck with your new job.*


Roberta MacGlashan

(* When MacGlashan first responded she asked: "John, Did we meet at a Bee editorial board meeting on the Transit Master Plan? Am I remembering correctly?" To which I replied, "John the blogger is not the same as John at the editorial board, at least not any longer. Cutbacks at The Bee have moved me to a new job. My e-mail to you is strictly a personal query related to my rtrider blog. The e-mail was in no way work related. The best response so far comes from David Sander, who works at home. He's willing to promise to walk to work, but riding a bike is problematic -- "hallway turn near the bathroom is tough to navigate.")

from Lauren Hammond
to John Hughes
date Tue, Feb 19, 2008 at 8:26 PM
subject Re: Riding RT once a week
mailed-by cityofsacramento.org


John,

You're behind. I suggested this eight years ago when I was Chair of
the Sacramento Air Quality Board.

Frankly, I don't drive once a week. I live more than 3/4 of a mile
from light rail and 1/2 mile from the nearest bus stop.
If the public doesn't mind me not attending two thirds of the meetings
and functions I'm currently scheduled for.

Thanks

Lauren

(I never did really understand what "If the public doesn't mind me not attending two thirds of the meetings and functions I'm currently scheduled for" meant since it followed "Frankly, I don't drive once a week.")

from Dickinson. Roger
to John Hughes
date Tue, Feb 26, 2008 at 7:00 PM
subject RE: Riding RT once a week
mailed-by saccounty.net

Thanks for your email, John. Prior to my election to the Board, I was a regular transit rider, generally two to three times a week. I still use transit when I can; however, that is not as frequently as I would like. Since I often take a large amount of material home at night to read and have numerous daytime and evening meetings, it makes it difficult to use transit on a regular basis. Nonetheless, I will take a look at my schedule in the upcoming months to see if I can increase my use of transit, even if I can't get to a routine of once a week.

ROGER DICKINSON
Supervisor, District One
Sacramento County

None of the other board members felt that it was necessary to respond. There silence speaks volumes.

Scared silly

Anita Adams is old enough to earn one of Sacramento Regional Transit's lifetime passes. "They wait until you have one foot in the grave," she explained as we waited for tonight's hearing to start.

I met Adams on 29th Street between Q and P streets. I was heading toward RT's auditorium at its headquarters at 29th and N streets. Adams was shuffling slowly toward the light rail station. She looked frail and unsteady with her cane.

As our paths crossed, she asked me, "Where's N Street?"

"It's behind you," I said, pointing.

"There's a big hearing at RT about service cuts and fare hikes tonight," she said in answer to my unasked question. "Lots of people are going to be there."

Fifty-two people signed up to speak before the board. When the hearing started at 6 p.m., it was standing room only in the small auditorium, with at least four television stations represented. Of course, the TV cameras were long gone by the time folks in the audience got their chance to speak.

RT Board Chair Roberta MacGlashan called out, "Anita Adams." When MacGlashan didn't see any movement, she called the name again. "I'm coming," Adams said. She waved her cane as she struggled to get up from her chair in the audience.

Adams suggested to the board that perhaps they were moving too fast on the plans to cut back service and increase fares.

"We're going to have a new administration in Washington soon," she explained. "It's going to get better."

But when she suggested that perhaps the planned extensions of light rail be delayed just until the federal government starts sending more money, Mr. Light Rail, Roger Dickinson, was quick to get staff to explain that money set aside for capital improvements can't be used for operating expenses. Many in the crowd found the distinction between capital and operating expenses hard to understand.

Of course, the crowd was already suffering from a certain handicap. It seems that Paratransit gave several customers free rides to the meeting after telling them that RT was planning to increase Paratransit fares to $6.

After the third or fourth speaker mentioned the "planned" Paratransit fare hike, the board was clearly confused at where this was all coming from. The board stopped the testimony and had RT General Manager Mike Wiley explain that the staff suggestion was to eliminate the free ride Paratransit-qualified riders get on buses and trains, not to increase the $4 Paratransit fare. In the course of that explanation, however, Wiley mentioned that RT was prohibited from charging more than twice the basic fare for Paratransit.

Ah, ha! the Paratransit crowd murmured. And Wiley had to admit that the proposed increase in basic fares would open the door to consideration of a Paratransit fare increase. But when Wiley asked the board if they wanted staff to pursue that option, he was quickly told not to go there.

Unfortunately, the whole hearing, at least the public input portion of it, suffered from the scare tactics that RT had employed as it banged on pots and pans and tried to get everyone's attention. The July Next Stop News flyer's suggestion that ALL routes would be affected by service cutbacks had many people at the podium defending routes that would never be on RT's list of changes.

On the train ride home, I rode with a mother from Rosemont who had brought her two high-school-age children to testify in defense of the buses they take to school. She too takes the bus to work. She's a teacher, and she is a choice rider. She's even trying to take the bus to run errands.

RT had wanted to manufacture alarm in the hope of motivating riders to get involved, to write letters, to appreciate the severity of the threat. But somewhere a line was crossed.

RT faces real problems, and if the state were to adopt cuts on a level originally proposed by the governor, big fare hikes and real service reductions would follow. But the Democrats in the Assembly and the Senate have tentatively agreed to cuts of less than half what the governor proposed. Yes, there will likely be fare increases, but the horror tales of ending weekend bus service or shutting down the trains at 8 p.m. just aren't going to happen.

Crying wolf got everyone's attention. But what happens when the real wolf shows up?

Transit-oriented planning in a car-centered world

I've been corresponding with a visitor who lives in an area of Santa Clara outside the convenient reach of transit. I certainly sympathize. Outside of certain corridors, that's the story of most of Sacramento.

In a perfect world, there would be more transit-oriented communities. That's not just better bus and train service. It's the ability to get around without a car, whether that's walking to a neighborhood store, biking to a regional park or taking the bus to work.

The problem, of course, is that we live in the world we created, not one we wish we had. The sprawl of the last half of the 20th century guarantees a painful future as we cope with the changing economics of $4-plus gasoline. But that same pain will move us toward the solution.

The first street cars were built by companies seeking to bring customers to their businesses or to the homes they had built on the edge of the city. The profit motive was the engine of change. Yes, it would be nice if the world were inhabited with people who willingly subsumed their personal needs to the greater community good, but, again, we live in a world we created.

Perhaps if we make the cause today to make the world less dependent on automobiles, we will reach that new world. Just wanting to go there is a start. As more people call for better noncar ways to get around -- better sidewalks, more bike lanes, improved transit -- the profit motive will start to attract the people who can build those communities where jobs and homes and schools and parks are all within reach without needing to drive.

In the interim, incremental improvements in service will be more likely if more people are clamoring for change.

Tonight, Sacramento Regional Transit will be discussing how it will cope with pending state funding cutbacks. Keeping the focus on the future will pull us through today's short-term problem. It is important that service reductions be avoided. Even if that means some people will have to pay more to ride.

Money and influence

Down in Elk Grove, the City Council is deciding what to do about the transit system it buys from MV Transportation in Fairfield. As The Bee explained back on July 19:

When the city of Elk Grove unveiled its new transit buses four years ago, it laid claim to the nation's only all-hybrid municipal commuter fleet.

Then came the bus fires.

Now the 21-bus gasoline-electric hybrid fleet costing $10 million is sidelined, and the city is suing the manufacturers and other transit-related contractors for breach of contract.

Among the complaints: at least four bus fires, some 30 catastrophic engine failures, noxious exhaust fumes inside buses and buses unable to achieve freeway speeds with full passenger loads.

Now it's clear that e-tran, the city's transit agency, is destined for change. Elk Grove City Council members say they need to raise fares and increase scrutiny of the city's transit contract.

In the next few months, they will consider cutting ties with transit operator MV Transportation Inc. of Fairfield when its contract ends June 30. MV is one of six defendants named in the city's May 20 lawsuit.

One course of action to be considered, according to staff, was returning to Sacramento Regional Transit. Given RT's current fiscal mess caused by state funding uncertainty, the idea does seem a stretch. And then there is Elk Grove's history with RT. There's a reason Elk Grove decided to go it alone rather than rely on a distant agency to meet its transit needs.

So it wasn't surprising at all when, on July 24, a majority of the Elk Grove City Council members said the option of returning to RT was a nonstarter.

"My point of view is going to RT is like going back to the Dark Ages," Councilwoman Sophia Scherman said. She was joined by Councilmen Jim Cooper and Michael Leary.

But is there something else involved? ElkGroveNews.net suggests maybe there is.

The Sunday, July 27, post reveals "Scherman’s 5,000 reasons not to return to the ‘Dark Ages’."

According to Scherman's campaign Web site, her top donors include MV Transportation, which gave a hefty $5,000.

Very interesting, indeed.

Transitarian comics

Found this in the July 26 paper:


It's not surprising that someone giving up a car and riding transit, all in the pursuit of going green, would be dismissed as someone hiding their true intentions. Still, the day will come.

First one, then another, and pretty soon . . .

Making ends meet at Sacramento Regional Transit

The staff at Sacramento Regional Transit has set the stage for an important discussion Monday over how the district will absorb expected state reductions in operating funding. Among the proposals sure to bring crowds to the board meeting is the elimination of free bus and light rail rides for Paratransit-qualified residents. Instead, they would have to pay the same 50-percent discount as students and seniors.

Without a state budget, RT can't predict exactly how much it will have to cut to make ends meet this year. The cuts proposed by the governor had RT looking at a shortfall of $11.3 million. Thankfully, a compromise is in the works in the Legislature. According to RT General Manager Mike Wiley in his report to the district board, "If the compromise budget is approved as written, RT will experience an operating shortfall of $4.8 million in (state) revenue in (fiscal year) 2008-2009."

That $4.8 million is much better than $11.3 million, but it is still a big hole to fill. Making things harder is the fact that the easy cuts were made last year, when state funding was reduced $14 million below what RT had budgeted. Making ends meet last year required cuts in service. RT wants to do everything possible to avoid more service cuts.

"Staff firmly believes and agrees that RT is in the business of providing service and not cutting service," Wiley told the board.

The one spot of good news in the report is the estimate that the increase in ridership generated by higher gasoline prices and the Interstate 5 fix have brought in about $1.1 million more in fare revenue than the district had budgeted.

That will help, but something else will have to give and first on Wiley's list of options for the board is the elimination of the Paratransit Group Pass.

"The group pass originated to provide a lower cost alternative for Paratransit eligible riders and their qualified care givers," Wiley explains. "The cost of riders to ride Paratransit is now $4, although the cost to RT is $60 per ride."

Anecdotal evidence cited by Wiley suggests that many people apply for Paratransit eligibility just so they can get the free RT pass.

A staff survey of transportation agencies found the free ride option is unusual. "Of the 20 transit agencies surveyed," according to Wiley, "only two, besides RT, offer free ridership."

As Wiley points out, while charging $1 is a big hike from a free ride, it is still a substantial discount from the $4 Paratransit charge.

Making Paratransit-qualified riders pay the same fare as the elderly will generate about $1.1 million in new revenue.

Another proposal that many will find annoying is the addition of a parking fee at light rail park-and-ride lots. Wiley is proposing a $1 to $2 fee, with the $2 option his preferred choice. Wiley estimates the $2 fee would generate $1.1 million, assuming a midyear start.

Wiley and his staff have found some staffing cuts, areas that he admits will cause morale problems, and a couple of options for stringing out how the district funds its pension. (This will not affect the actual pension benefits.)

And, finally, there's proposed fare increases. The staff has put together four scenarios. At one end, riders would see basic fares rising to $2.25, daily passes to $5.50 and the monthly pass going to $95. At the other extreme, basic fares would increase to $2.50, the daily pass to $6.25 and the monthly pass to $106.

Putting all of this together, Wiley offers two examples of how this could play out.

If the district needs to raise $5.3 million, RT could do that with the extra money from increased ridership, the end of Paratransit free rides, reduced staffing levels, a modest shift in the pension contributions and the smallest of the proposed fare increases.

If the state doesn't come through and RT has to make up for a cut of $11.8 million, then the real pain will happen. In addition to the other stuff, RT would institute the parking fee, increase the fares to the highest option, make an even more drastic adjustment to the pension contributions and reduce bus and light rail service enough to scrap together $6.6 million per year to achieve $3.3 million in fiscal year 2009. Wiley provides a number of ways to cut service to raise this money. (See this press release.)

It's time for more of those letters to lawmakers telling them the importance of transit and the reason why it should remain a priority for the state. The alternative is just too bleak to consider.

* * *

The public hearing will be held July 28 at 6 p.m. in the RT Auditorium located at 1400 29th Street (at N Street).

An infusion of live blogging

Live blogging from the infusion chair at the University of California, Davis, Cancer Center. We've got our beanie baby, best of Maria Callas on CD, the laptop connected to the hospital wi-fi and enough anti-nauseous meds to invite a daylong ride on an amusement park roller coaster.

We'll be back here every other week for 16 weeks. This will likely be the last photo I'll be allowed.

Beyond the obvious challenges we face, the cancer treatment has also disrupted our joint efforts to leave our cars at home.

Today, the wife was expecting to take the bus and trian and use the Medcenter's shuttle, but I suggested we drive instead. We don't know how she will react to her first infusion of anti-cancer drugs. Getting there would be fine, but the hourlong trip home might have been problematic.

The wife's future use of transit is also in doubt. The treatment has the effect of lowering the body's immunity to ordinary illnesses. Riding around for an hour in an enclosed environment with a bunch of other people is not encouraged. It's not prohibited, but it is certainly not recommended until the wife knows how well her immune system is holding up.

By the time the wife is finished with the chemo and recovered from surgery, Sacramento Regional Transit should be finished with its latest round of service cuts and fare hikes. There may not be any service for her to come back to.

Walk about with Google maps

The fantastic folks at Google have added walking to the options when you ask for directions at Google maps. Now you can drive, take transit or walk to your destination.

Here's an example covering a trip I take often from my neighborhood to Watt and El Camino:

Here's the directions that come with the map:

Driving
Transit

Walking

Pretty cool.

* * *

In an earlier post, I ragged on Google for its inability to show a transit option for the wife's trip to work. Google kept showing this:



Apparently Google is getting closer to figuring out how to represent the wife's bus-train-bus-walk daily commute.



Unfortunately, Google still sometimes stretches to make a connection where there isn't one:



Well, it's the thought that counts!

UPDATE: Here's an example of how it's supposed to work when you have to walk:

Outrageous Hero on the bus

Finished Maureen Collins Baker's "Outrageous Hero: The B.T. Collins Story." This book is more a sister's remembrance than a biography.

"As a biographer, I make no claim of impartiality, although I have traveled the country, watched miles of videotape, and conducted over 300 interviews before completing my brother's story. I have written to let you know B.T. Collins. I have written to honor heroes, and to preserve our memory of his kind of American. I have written out of love for my brother and for my country."

B.T. Collins served two tours in Vietnam, first as an artillery forward observer and finally as a Green Beret. It was while leading indigenous forces on June 20, 1967, in a firefight that a South Vietnamese mercenary tossed him a live grenade. The resulting explosion cost B.T. his right hand and right leg.

Baker's description of B.T. during his time at law school works for any period of his long career in public service:

"He was both deadly serious and frivolous; things mattered terribly or not at all. His behavior was unthinkable, yet totally without pretense. Somehow, people knew immediately they had to take him exactly as he was. Among the many lessons learned in Vietnam was the necessity of being pure. In combat, all men are laid bare. In the terror of the moment they are stripped to the soul and beyond. He would remain faithful to that essential truth and, in so doing, became, according to one of his professors, 'One giant breath of fresh air in a bullshit world.' "

I particularly enjoyed the chapter on B.T. time working for Gov. Jerry Brown -- the yin and yang of the governor and B.T. who were so different and yet fit so well together.

My favorite example of B.T.'s style of leadership came during his time in charge of the California Conservation Corps. His "troops" were going to fight in a war on the Mediterranean fruit fly, which threatened to devastate California's agriculture industry. The CCC crews were tasked with harvesting infested fruit after it had been sprayed with Malathion. CCC workers became concerned about the health hazard they faced.

"B.T. chose a highly unusual method of allaying their fears. He drank a glass of Malathion. He drank a glass of Malathion, diluted to same strength used for spraying. He drank a glass of Malathion in front of them, after assuring them that he would never put them in harm's way.

"Soldiers understand: Never ask your troops to do what you wouldn't do yourself."

B.T. Collins served in both Democratic and Republican administrations in Sacramento. It was one of the compelling things about him. He came to serve. It didn't matter which party was in power.

B.T. Collins died on March 19, 1993. He was 52. Are there any men like B.T. alive today?

I highly recommend this book. It's a fine read, especially if you are already familiar with B.T. Collins.