It's SRO on many commuter buses as gasoline prices climb

With the price of regular gasoline creeping toward $4 a gallon, commuters in Davis, North Natomas and Placer County are reporting a shocking sight when the bus pulls up.

All the seats are taken. Suddenly, it's standing room only on commuter buses around the region.

It's also evidence of what some transit officials say could be a ridership jump bigger than during the gas crisis of the early 1970s.

"I think we're heading for big demand that the region's (bus services are) frankly not ready for," said Sacramento Regional Transit official Mark Lonergan.

Jay Walsh is a frequent standee these days on the packed North Natomas Flyer, which charges $1 a ride into downtown Sacramento. Walsh hangs by a strap – as the bus travels on the freeway.

"A few of us, trying to be gentlemen, we'll stand and let the ladies take the seats," the state employee said. He doesn't mind. The ride is short.

But other passengers are grumbling, especially those who face 45-minute rides from the suburbs.

In Roseville, where commute buses started going SRO months ago, some would-be riders are just giving up.

"They'll see the line waiting for the bus and just get back in their car to drive to Sacramento," lamented Roseville transit official Teri Sheets.

Sacramento transit officials say gasoline, again, is the catalyst. Prices hit another record Wednesday – averaging $3.86 per gallon for regular unleaded. Some experts said the price could hit $4 early this summer.

Roseville Transit charges city residents $110 for a monthly commuter service pass; Sacramento Regional Transit charges $85. Many local employers and state agencies provide additional subsidies to employees who buy passes.

At Sacramento RT, the region's main transit service, officials report 60,000 daily bus boardings, up 7 percent from last year, coupled with 56,000 daily boardings on light rail.

While most buses still have seats available – some have plenty – strap-hanging has become a daily occurrence on more popular morning and afternoon commuter express buses.

That includes Sacramento RT's No. 51 bus on Stockton Boulevard, the Yolobus commuter express No. 43 between Davis and Sacramento, and a number of daily buses out of Placer County.

Standees are commonplace now on Elk Grove's e-tran buses on Highway 99 and Interstate 5, rider Nancy Cooper reported. She's lucky. She has had to stand only once – for 30 minutes on the freeway.

"You've got your bag between your feet," she said. "I hung on with both hands. I didn't like doing it, but it was tolerable."

Boon and bane

Crowded buses are both boon and bane, bus officials and riders say.

After years of begging for passengers, bus operators are excited more people are climbing aboard. It suggests, some say, that transit in Sacramento is finally becoming a viable alternative to congested freeways, expensive gas and pricey downtown parking.

But Elk Grove rider Nancy Cooper lamented that getting packed like sardines and being forced to stand "doesn't promote people wanting to ride more transit."

Transit officials said they feel the strain of their sudden popularity and worry about what's to come. They don't have the budgets or the buses, they say, to handle many more people on commute-hour buses.

E-tran chief Carlos Tobar in Elk Grove said he's already heard of people walking away, or being turned away, from some commuter buses.

"It's sad," Tobar said. "People want it and here we are, we don't have enough resources."

Ridership jumped 25 percent this year, Tobar said, to more than 1,000 boardings each morning. If he had the money, he said, he could fill 20 more buses.

Placer Commuter Express official Will Garner was forced to send word out recently: No more riders, please. His trio of buses was full.

The state Department of Transportation has jumped to help fund a fourth bus for Placer.

Caltrans also has promised money to several local transit districts to bolster services in June and July.

But Garner, Tobar and other bus officials say they worry they are going to be in worse trouble in June.

Partial I-5 closure looms

Caltrans plans to close downtown sections of Interstate 5 for six weeks for rehabilitation work, beginning May 30.

That should prompt a new group of commuters to consider buses and trains.

"It's the perfect storm," Yolobus official Terry Bassett said. "If we are overcrowded now, what's going to happen June 2" – the first commute day of the partial I-5 closure. "It may be an absolute zoo on our express buses."

Caltrans has promised $118,000 to help Yolobus. Bassett said he is considering adding temporary express buses between Davis, Woodland and Sacramento, but says he worries those buses will just get mired in stalled traffic during the I-5 closures.

So, he said, he's talking with Capitol Corridor train service officials about letting would-be bus riders board the Davis-to-Sacramento train instead, at a reduced cost.

"The train doesn't get stuck in traffic." he said. "Problem is, I don't have enough feeder buses to run to the train station."

Other bus agencies say they aren't any better off.

In Roseville, the city is ordering seven new buses but says it'll take a year to get them.

Sacramento RT officials reduced bus service in January, blaming state budget cuts and a local sales tax slump, right when riders were demanding more service.

Longtime bus rider Judy Bowen, an RT employee, said bus riders may need to accept a transit experience more like that of a bigger city.

"People have to get used to cozying up," she said.

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• Call The Bee's Tony Bizjak, (916) 321-1059.