“The fiscal year ending on June 30, 2018, continued the District’s historic journey to excellence,” says the Sacramento Regional Transit District’s 2018 financial report. Really? Based on the June 2018 National Transit Database report, Sacramento RT carried 4.5 percent fewer riders in FY 2018 than it did in FY 2017. Ridership had fallen 22 percent since FY 2014 and 42 percent since 2008. Among major transit agencies, only Greater Cleveland Regional Transit and Memphis Area Transit are doing worse.
Back in 2012, RT opened its quarterly ridership reports with a chart showing ridership each year for the previous twelve years. By 2018, RT’s ridership reports had given up on showing past ridership — too depressing, no doubt — and instead opened with charts showing on-time performance. The agency’s monthly performance reports are densely packed with information but only compare the month’s ridership with the same month of the previous year, not any years before that.
Recent ridership declines happened in spite of a 7 percent increase in service (measured by vehicle-revenue miles) since 2014. However, service declined a stunning 34 percent between 2009 and 2012, no doubt due to reduced tax revenues after the 2008 financial crisis. Recent increases in vehicle miles still leave service 27 percent below 2009. Continue reading
