Sacramento Regional Transit ridership down significantly due to coronavirus shutdown
Sacramento Regional Transit ridership is down 75 percent amid the coronavirus pandemic as California officials continue to urge decreased public activity.
As of Friday, Regional Transit was reporting significant attrition as school closures, business shut-downs and social distancing further cut into patronage of buses and light rail in the Sacramento area.
Last week, the public transit company was showing a 60 percent decrease, but California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stay-at-home order has since intensified that dropoff.
Regional Transit previously said it expects to see driver shortages and decreased ridership during the pandemic, but has managed to maintain basic services.
“Thanks to the perseverance of SacRT employees in all functions, we have been able to maintain essential bus and light rail transit services during this unprecedented time,” the company said in a prepared statement.
The company has, however, had to scale back the number of buses it runs by quite a bit. On Monday, RT dropped down to 38 percent of normal service as it transitioned to a modified Sunday schedule.
Most routes are still running, but with far fewer buses operating at any given time. Peak commute hours will receive the most service.
Regional Transit has been monitoring ridership patterns and is considering increasing the number of trips during peak hours, depending on patronage.
Customers can expect a newly revised schedule next week, according to RT.
RT officials have been advising passengers to remain at a distance of at least six feet when riding on buses or light rail trains, which are cleaned daily to prevent transmission of COVID-19.
This story was originally published March 28, 2020 at 12:25 PM.
