Auburn City Council approves shuttle bus pilot program to American River confluence
The Auburn City Council on Monday approved a new bus route pilot program which may help to ease traffic congestion near the American River confluence.
Since the coronavirus pandemic started in spring 2020, Californians have been taking to the great outdoors to stretch their legs since much indoor activity was ruled out due to economic restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of the virus.
Only a few months after COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, Sacramento-area residents were rushing to scenic Placer County vistas to stretch their legs — and in numbers that were sometimes overwhelming. Placer County officials in July reported a huge influx of visitors at Yankee Jims Bridge, which came with dangerous traffic jams and illegal parking. Officials restricted parking on Yankee Jims Road to curb the surge, which threatened to block out emergency response vehicles.
A similar phenomenon has been ongoing at the confluence of the north and middle forks of the American River, just off Highway 49 at Old Foresthill Road east of Auburn city limits. Weekend visitors have seen nearly bumper-to-bumper traffic at peak times and parking is sometimes impossible to find along the river.
Mengil Deane, the city’s transit manager, said he’s expecting more visitors to the confluence this year than ever before, as coronavirus restrictions are continuing to lift across the region, but that scarce parking in the river’s recreation area is also not a new problem.
“This is something that’s been needed for a while,” he said. “We think that this service is going to take right off.”
The new shuttle route — which utilizes electric buses — started on Friday, and runs Fridays through Sundays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. There are a total of six stops, including stops in downtown and old town Auburn.
That means out-of-town visitors could park their cars in Auburn, where parking is more abundant, then hop on a bus and head out to the confluence at a cost of $3.50 for a round trip, less than the $10 it costs to park at the confluence recreation area.
“The idea is to incentivize people to use public transit,” Deane said. “We want to see everyone in Auburn use it.”
Councilwoman Alice Dowdin Calvillo raised some concerns over the prospect of recreational visitors parking en masse in the central city instead, as it could end up deferring the parking problem from the river confluence onto business districts in Auburn.
“What I would hate to see people do is park downtown in a nice, primo spot in front of a shop, then go to the confluence,” she said. “I’d rather they park somewhere so they’re not taking that valuable space away from our merchants downtown.”
In response, Deane identified the route’s stop at the Gold Country Fairgrounds as a potential “staging area to get around the city” for visitors coming in from out of the area, where parking is plentiful.
Buses are set to start at the Springhill Suites hotel every hour and are set to arrive at the confluence in about 40 minutes. There, the buses will pick up returning visitors and head back to complete the loop.
The City Council unanimously approved the pilot program. A city staff report said that the new confluence route, along with an additional and unrelated on-demand public transit pilot program, would together cost $60,000 in start-up costs, but are not expected to add long-term operational costs. The amount will be paid with federal coronavirus funding provided through the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021.
This story was originally published May 15, 2021 at 12:22 PM.
