What do people here think about the light rail? Personally I never use it. If it had better coverage or frequency maybe but it’s never a very efficient way to get around for me.
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This is uncanny, as I happened to be in Auburn with a bike earlier this week, and needed to return to Sac. I’ve otherwise not ridden SacRT light rail in years. The Placer bus took me to Watt/80 station, where I connected onto the Blue line into the city. This was in the early morning, around 8 AM. The bus was early, allowing me to catch the earlier train, which arrived on-time.
From that experience, I’d say solo-rider light rail is perfectly viable if you have a bike to use while in the city, and you’re coming in from the suburbs roughly along 80, or along 50. The clincher is getting to that first station, because once you’re on the train, it’s smooth sailing (unless something locks up the grid).
That SacRT buses (6-ish AM to 9-ish PM) have a narrower schedule than light rail (5 ish AM to midnight) means broken connections late at night or in the early morning, which is a travesty. Placer buses have even narrower hours, with no Sunday service whatsoever.
In my case, I didn’t have a car to drive to Sac, and even if I did, needing to bring the bike would complicate things. But I’ll admit that it’s unlikely I’ll find myself in that specific situation again, since my other option was Placer’s commuter bus from Auburn, directly into Sac.
I would say light rail adds options, which in this case, I needed and appreciated.
Yeah the main problem I have is I live in the central city and it’s almost always faster to bike unless the line literally goes to my destination which almost never happens.
Your experience matches that of folks I know that also live within the grid. Barring inclement weather, the flexibility of a bike is the clean winner over light rail while in town.
But I think perhaps LRT really shines when visiting destinations outside of the grid. Certainly, students at Cosumnes College have an easy ride out. As does anyone in Sac who wants to go shopping at Folsom Outlets, or just Folsom in general (zoo, walkable downtown, Folsom Lake).
I think the best way to view it is as a bus line, but better than a bus. And just like a bus, if none of its destinations are of interest to you, or are simply already too close, then LRT won’t fix that.
P.S. If you bring your bike on light rail, then your “catchment area” grows to approximately a 10-15 minute zone around each LRT station. It’s one of the reasons I think SacRT should have bike-share at every station.
