Or I'm sorry, July 27th, 2026 meeting of the Sacramento Regional Transit Board of Directors.

For the record, tonight we have three alternates attending.

Director Rodriguez for four Director Kennedy, Director Leary for Director Rohrbaugh, and Director Lopez Taff for Director Schaefer.

Tabitha, would you please take the role Director Brewer?

Here.

Director Budge?

Here.

Director Dickinson is absent.

Director Hume.

Director Jennings is absent.

Director Rodriguez.

Here.

Director Maple is absent.

Director Leary.

Here.

Director Lopez Taff.

Here.

Director Cerna is absent.

And Chair Sing Allen.

Here.

With that, we have a quorum of six votes.

And this meeting of the Sacramento Regional Transit District.

I'm sorry, a quorum with seven votes.

And this meeting of the Sacramento Regional Transit District is recorded with closed captioning.

The recording will be cable cast on Metro Channel 14, the local government affairs channel on the Comcast and Direct TV Uverse Cable Systems.

The recording will also be video streamed at Metro14Live.sacCounty.gov.

Today's meeting replays Friday, July 31st at 2 p.m.

and Sunday, August 2nd at 2 p.m.

on Metro Cable Channel 14.

Once posted, the recording of this meeting can be viewed on demand at YouTube.com forward slash Metro Cable 14.

Public comment may be given on any agenda item as it is called and will be limited by the chair for all participants, including those in person on telephone or on a virtual platform to two minutes or less per speaker.

The consent calendar, the general manager's report, and reports, ideas, and questions from directors and communication will each be treated and taken up as one unit.

This means that individual comment cards for certain reports in each unit will not be accepted, and speakers are only allowed two minutes total.

As an example, the consent calendar with agenda items 2.1 to 2.14 is treated as one unit, and speakers will be able to speak on the entire consent calendar or specific items on it for a total of two minutes.

In-person public comment will be taken first, followed by those participating by Zoom or phone.

Members of the audience wishing to address the board should fill out a speaker card located at the rear of the room and provide it to myself or Adam.

Once the item has been called, additional speaker cards will not be accepted.

If you're participating by Zoom, raise your digital hand.

And if you're participating by phone, press star nine when the agenda item you wish to comment on is called.

When the clerk calls your name or the last four digits of your phone number, please unmute yourself to speak and voluntarily state your name for the record.

All written public comment received has been provided to the board and is part of the record.

All right.

Thank you for that.

Uh next up is our Pledge of Allegiance.

Please rise if you are able.

Would Director Budge please lead us this evening?

I'm sure that we have to visit all that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Next up is our consent calendar items 2.1 through 2.14.

Tabitha, will you plead please read the correction to item 2.4?

Yes, the correction to item 2.4, First Amendment to the fiscal year 2027 capital budget.

The total of the amended fiscal year 2027 capital budget amount under the result of recommended action should be 1,975,122,673.

And exhibit A of the resolution should read FY27 instead of FY26.

The corrected staff report has been provided to the board.

It's posted online and there are some copies in the back of the room.

Excellent.

Thank you for that.

Are there any director questions on consent calendar items?

Looking to the right, seeing none, looking to the left, seeing none.

Now taking public comment on the consent calendar.

Okay, now taking public comment on the consent calendar.

The consent calendar is treated and taken up as one unit.

Individuals wishing to comment will be able to speak for up to two minutes.

If participating by Zoom, please raise your hand.

And if participating by phone, press star nine to comment on the consent calendar now.

And in the room, we have Jean Lizzano for item 2.6 and Helen O'Connell on 2.12.

Thank you.

Sorry.

Fair enough.

Really good.

Good afternoon.

My name is Jean Lasano.

I'm a writer of regional transit, fixed route, light rail, and SAC RT go and the supplementary services.

I'm in support of the contract with via transportation.

And I feel that they are interested and willing to make necessary uh modifications if asked to do so.

There's three things that I'd like to be uh to bring up though uh from and that is that the drivers they hire be fluent in written and oral line English that um they use Google Maps because in downtown Sacramento, like the county administration building, you cannot find it on most of the GPS uh software.

Google Maps can take you right there.

Uh that is a problem there.

And the most important thing is part of the training that we want to know that if there are people that are with disabilities that are actually riders of such transportation can actually be involved in the training so that they can actually give the life experiences that sometimes uh cannot be picked up in just and uh someone without a disability that has not experienced it or reading a book or something, but um thank you very much for uh listening to my comments.

Thank you.

Our next public comment, please.

We have Helen O'Connell.

Hello, board.

Um I'm gonna talk real quickly about uh 211 and then I'll go in to 212.

I believe that the uh bus rapid transit going to the airport would be the most um fiscally responsible because it it can be adapted, whereas if you put in a hard um train light rail, you you can't change it once it's there, and things are changing a lot at the airport.

Okay, 2.12.

The um Sacramento County Gent jury has made a report that uh states is Sacramento Regional Transit ignoring disabled riders.

There are several issues that were raised.

Um they have like what seven, six or seven um findings and recommendations.

I read the letter that Henry wrote with that Henry is going to leave, and then I have read the other letter by Blanca, I believe.

Um they're not being forthright.

Um we we have had many discussions over the issues that are raised in this report.

Um they only admit that they have one situation and they state that they have um addressed that situation and are working on it.

Um this concerns me.

So I suggest that each board member before you sign off on this letter that you actually read the report.

It is 23 pages.

Um thank you very much.

Thank you.

Next public comment.

Okay, we have Margie Donovan.

I'm not sure that I should be speaking now.

Mine is an open comment.

Is this the time for that?

No, have general.

Thank you.

That's what I thought.

Thank you.

Okay, and then at this time, there are no comments online.

All right, thank you.

Are there any uh director comments looking to the right?

Director Dickinson.

I'm just gonna comment on two or yes, please.

Oh, okay.

Uh I just I just uh will support 2.4, but oh, sorry, thank you.

Um I'm gonna support 2.4, but I I regret seeing this switch made necessary.

Uh and this is uh um not instigated at local initiative.

I think we should, at least as I understand it, we should make that that clear.

Um so um with respect to uh uh and and I I'm sorry, I'm I'm referencing the acquisition of new new buses in particular.

Uh with respect to 2021, I uh again I'll support that, but I will say that uh if it if it detracts from the ultimate objective of realizing uh light rail to the airport, then I then I think it it becomes uh a negative.

It's a weight.

So uh I I know your intention is that that not happen.

Um, but I uh but I want to just uh make the point for the record that um for a lot of reasons, which I'm not gonna bother uh uh going into at the moment.

Um I've been convinced for a very long time that light rail is the right mode uh to uh to the airport and for Natomas.

And so this makes sense as a practical matter and in the interim, but I hope and and I expect, based on on your intentions that it that it will not become a distraction from the that ultimate objective.

So thanks, Chair.

Madam Chair, yes, I completely agree with Director Dickinson.

Thank you.

Uh looking to the left, yeah, uh Director Maple.

Well, I think I'm just gonna pile on uh uh my exact thoughts.

Thank you.

Any other directors with comments on this or other items?

Seeing none.

All right.

Uh Chair seeing Ellen.

Rick Hodgkin raised his hand a little bit late.

I didn't know if he wanted to take that comment.

Yes, I would like to.

Okay.

I'm sorry, it took me a while.

I took me, it took me a while to find the mute button.

Um that's okay.

We're gonna get brace for the online for okay, great.

Um, so real quickly on item um on the item on the consent calendar dealing with um the added uh revenue for the update to the uh amendment to the revenue.

Um I hope that we will still move forward with having zero emission buses because don't uh natural doesn't even compress natural gas, doesn't that also pollute the air?

We shouldn't have to follow the agenda of our current president that who is against zero emission vehicles.

I'd say if we must still use fuel, then if compressed natural gas is um is gonna pollute, then why not uh recycled vegetable oil?

And on um the uh procurement um whether we have user or switching to uh via transportation that which I'm in support of uh one thing I would like to point out is some user drivers will not wait five minutes for a passenger.

Someone should have get out right now.

I hope that with um via that drivers will have a five-minute wait if a passenger needs at least five minutes more time.

And finally, on uh 2.12, I am very interested.

Um remind uh this is new to me as a member of as a new the most newest member of the Mac.

Um this is um very troubling and disturbing to me that a care provider would complain to um RT about uh have what happened with a SAC RT Go passenger that they support and or take care of.

I would like to get the history of that.

I just know that there's a grand jury report.

I didn't have enough time to read it all, but I would like to know the historics and basis of that if possible.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

All right.

Um if there are no further director comments, oh, there is one more director Cerno.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

Just uh back to item uh two uh point um one one.

I would like to ask the general manager um if it hasn't been completed yet.

Can the board and the public um receive either a oral report and or uh maybe a memo that gives all of us a better understanding of the current status of IODs along the extent of what would be the green line um light rail right-of-way because I think um that more than anything else, more than just interest and ambition to get light rail to the airport is probably going to foretell the future of the ability to do so more than anything else.

understanding of the current status of IODs along the extent of what would be the green line um light rail right away because I think um that more than anything else more than just interest and ambition to get light rail to the airport is probably going to foretell the future of the ability to do so more than anything else and I know that there are certain IODs that are in the county jurisdiction in Corporate County whose shelf life is coming to uh a close here fairly shortly so I think it's probably incumbent upon all of us who certainly have a history supporting myself included supporting a green line extension need to understand in the interest of what was said earlier the practical realities of um those elements of that extension that um uh have been set in motion but uh you know maybe uh coming to a closer uh again very shortly is that something that uh sounds reasonable right yeah uh yes uh you know uh I completely agree with uh well you know full board members uh uh uh advice and a guidance this item actually is now to you know uh say we're gonna go with the PRT first and then we're you know later it's actually it's just uh uh a practical matter you know uh STA county and the City Sakati um happened to have opportunity to apply for some you know Caltrand grant and actually 700,000 dollars grants uh 500 from Caltrands 200 K from the uh Major A money and uh we have that money in the uh this the the news grant is ready for us to just do some you know study it's announced to you know uh choose between one other and what we're gonna do in the future we have to bring this back to the board you know to get enough information and uh you know uh request board you know uh decision one way or another maybe the first option first go with the BRT and then make sure we have those you know IOA you know uh uh be continue to you know uh we still have those you know right of away uh then you know when time is right now we can change to the uh nine rail or you know hope if we get some additional money in the next two years or whatever then we can directly go with the nine rail without doing BRT.

So right now is just the study uh stage that's what you know uh uh that's what you know uh this uh item really full is not something we make decision to understood I just think that there's obviously enough comment that has been shared here generally on the subject that it just makes this board member um interested again on mostly on behalf of the the public who may not have as complete an understanding as certainly our administrators and the board have relative to the real estate implications of extending light rail it's not just having the will or having the federal cooperation or the physical ability to get across the river it also has a great deal to do with real estate decisions that have been made decades ago.

Well we will do a presentation next next time yeah thank you so um I think several of us would just like to know that there is a mechanism in place to extend those IODs that that Joe is talking about and making sure that they don't that they don't expire so that there is ultimately a route there I think that there's a lot of interest in this issue so if you could bring that back yeah um is time so we can share that out with the public.

Yeah okay are there any additional director comments seeing and hearing none um at this time I will look for a motion in a second second all those in favor please say aye aye any no's abstentions okay thank you next item please who moved on the last item move second okay yes second okay all right we have customer service response to feedback and comments and Lisa Heinz is here to present this item

Okay, I'm ready.

Chair Singh Allen, members of the board, I am Lisa Hines, Senior VP of Security, Safety, and Customer Satisfaction.

I am presenting customer satisfaction responses to public concerns and comments.

Public comment number one.

How will SACRT improve project planning and accountability to reduce repeated environmental studies and redesigns and ensure policies are followed and maximize limited public funding?

The Dos Rios project did not require multiple environmental studies.

Sequit clearance was completed in 2017 and NEPA clearance in 2019.

The recent board approved action was a construction change order, not a new environmental study.

The change resulted from higher than anticipated contaminated soil encountered during our excavation.

Change orders are a normal part of construction.

Significant change orders require board approval and a public meeting to ensure transparency and accountability.

Next public comment.

How does SACRT justify eliminating Route 33, which serves an underserved community when the public outreach was limited?

Will it also serve loaves and fishes?

A new Dos Rios Light Rail Station on the Blue Line between Alkali Flat and the American River is scheduled to open in the summer of 2026, serving the Richards Boulevard area, which has been a longtime gap in the blue line.

Since 2004, that gap has been filled with Route 33, which runs shuttle service between the Alkali Flat La Valentina Station and Dos Rios, the Richard and Richards Boulevard area.

Compared to Route 33, which only runs three times an hour from 6 a.m.

to 7 p.m.

with no weekend or holiday service.

The new station will provide residents with light rail service levels such as 15-minute headways, late night service, and seven-day service, and eliminate a time consuming bus rail transfer.

What is the net financial benefit of fair collection after accounting for the cost of fare enforcement, transit ambassadors, and kios management?

And how does it compare to the $2.50 average fare?

In 2023, staff did an in-depth analysis of the cost of the fare collection and potential impact of eliminating fares altogether.

This considers contract revenues and other subst subsidized past programs like ride-free RT, college passes, employer discounts, and others.

SACRT does not view fair revenue and security as competing priorities.

Regardless of fair revenue levels, maintaining a safe, clean, and convenient transit system requires continued investment in security.

Next public comment.

Many customers reported feeling less comfortable using the system and changing their travel behaviors due to safety concerns.

SACRT has maintained affordable fares, reducing fares in 2018, while many peer agencies have increased their fares.

Fair inspection supports a safe, secure, and clean transit environment and helps discourage misuse of the system.

Customer feedback consistently indicates that riders value fare inspection as part of maintaining a positive transit experience.

Consistent fare enforcement, including citations when appropriate, helps promote a safe, secure, and reliable experience for all of our riders.

Next public comment.

How is SACRT addressing concerns that enforcement first approach has made riders less comfortable and shifted transit ambassadors away from the original customer service role?

After hearing from concerned riders around the first of the year that transit ambassadors were not checking fare, we implemented quality assurance steps to ensure that TAs are consistently checking fare.

The board also recently approved the addition of $1 million to the security budget, allowing us to maintain a staff of 60 transit ambassadors with the goal of having a TA on every train consensus.

The transit ambassadors attend a three-month-long training academy where a balance between customer service and fare enforcement is taught.

Based upon feedback from the recent board meeting, we started issuing warnings versus citations for any issues regarding FAIR media.

We have issued over 1,700 warnings in the last couple of months since the past meeting as a result.

For perspective, from July 2025 to July 2026, TAs have tracked and took note that they provided 141,000 instances where they provided customer service to riders.

Next public comment.

Will SACRT rescind the CART policy given its impact on elderly riders who cannot easily empty or carry their carts?

SACRT quickly created a committee to address concerns regarding strollers' carts and wagons and also bicycles.

SACRT Legal is currently drafting a proposed policy change based upon the committee's recommendation.

This draft will be shared with the Mac once ready and then brought before the board.

Next public moment.

SACRT recognizes that not all riders use smartphones or mobile apps, and we are committed to providing accessible fare payments for all.

As Connect cards are phased out, Transit Connect will offer a smart card option that serves as a direct replacement for the existing Connect card, ensuring riders who do not have a working phone or simply prefer to pay with cash and have a physical card can do so.

In addition, Transit Connect will support riders who prefer to pay with cash, like I just mentioned.

Customers will be able to add value to their accounts at approximately 100 retail locations, as well as at fare vending machines.

The new fare validation equipment located will be located at light rail stations and will support Transit Connect smart cards, allowing riders to tap their car just as they do today.

We will have at least one connect card terminal tap machine at each light rail station.

SACRT is also developing training and operating procedures to ensure that transit ambassadors understand how to assist customers if a smart card does not scan or if there is a fair validation issue.

As we transition to Transit Connect, we will continue working with our regional partners to ensure a smooth transition for all riders.

Next public comment.

What additional steps is SACRT taking to improve bus bridge reliability, provide timely rider communication, monitor performance, and minimize service disruptions and ADA impacts on regular bus routes.

Emergency bus bridges require an immediate response.

We first assign available extra board operators.

If none are available, operators may be temporarily reassigned from high frequency routes.

Because these events are generally short in duration, operators are returned to their regular assignments as quickly as possible.

The reference day presented significant operational challenges due to the high number of operator call offs and an emergency bus bridge requiring immediate coverage.

As a result, Route 51 experienced several consecutive trip cancellations.

We recognize the impact service disruptions have on our passengers, especially when ADA accessible space is unavailable.

We are enhancing bus bridge communication and oversight through real-time alerts, station staff, and increased field supervision to assist passengers and promptly address service issues.

Blue line temporary light rail disruption.

This is an information item.

A temporary service disruption is in place on the blue line between the broad between the Broadway and Fruit Ridge Light Rail Stations through Saturday, August 15th, while crews complete major platform upgrades at the Fourth Avenue Wayne Holtgrin and City College stations.

These improvements are part of Sacrete's system-wide modernization program to prepare the blue lane for the new Siemens S700 low floor trains.

To minimize impacts to riders, SACRT will operate a bus bridge between Broadway and Fruit Rich stations throughout the construction period with frequent service and additional staff available to assist riders with transfers.

While construction may affect some students who use the fourth AV Wayne Holtgrin station to travel to CK McClatchy High School, Sacrete staff is working closely with McCat with the McClatchy administration to notify students through social media, news releases, targeted flyers, and emails to significantly reduce any impact.

The blue line upgrades will make boarding significantly easier for all riders, particularly seniors, individuals with disabilities, families with strollers, and passengers using mobility devices.

Unlike many gold line stations.

Yes, ma'am.

Director Maple has a question.

Thank you, Chair.

Just a quick question on the McClatchy update.

I see the dates between July 27th and August 15th.

Do we when does school start?

Okay.

So there's so there's a four-day difference in there that might impact the students.

Okay.

Is there any possibility of it maybe aligning better with the start of the I'll just put that out there as a comment and then it would be great if you could look into that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Unlike many gold line stations, Blue Line stations are bordered by active Union Pacific Railroad tracks or nearby buildings, leaving no space to safely stage heavy equipment while trains continue operating.

As a result, this work can only be completed when trains are not in service.

Public comment.

Will SACRT consider restoring Route 91 to the Sunrise Light Rail Station or implementing an express bus along Sunrise Boulevard to improve connections to the station?

Sacra T bus Route 91 was discontinued in 2008 due to low ridership and an overlap with existing bus route 21.

Since then, SACRT implemented implemented bus route 124 during the SacroT Ford Bus Network redesign.

This express bus route serves Orangevale, Citrus Heights, Sunrise Boulevard, Sunrise Light Rail Station, and Rancher Cordova.

Sacra T is looking to partner with the city of Citrus Heights to study the feasibility of a Northeast Bus Rapid Transit route along Greenback Lane.

This study will investigate additional service along Sunrise Boulevard to Sunrise Light Rail Station.

Next public comment.

Will Sacrete improve bus service to the Costco on Expo and the surrounding businesses to eliminate the long walk riders currently face assessed accessing transit?

The Costco on Expo Parkway was previously served by Bus Route 12.

However, it was discontinued around the year 2005 due to low ridership.

Due to unknown demand and it being out of direction for nearby bus routes, Sacra T has not considered service to this location.

This service change inquiry would require additional costs to SacroT operations and maintenance, of which SACRT does not have additional funding for.

That concludes my presentation.

Right.

Thank you for that very thorough presentation.

Are there any director questions regarding what we just saw?

Yes, Director Dickinson.

Thanks.

I I just have a question about the fare transition.

So I was trying to understand, Lauren, whether someone would be able to walk up to any station, tap their credit card and pay their fare.

They could pay for their fare of the fair vending machine and tap their card.

But the the connect card, you tech you tap your connect card.

Well, okay.

Maybe I'm not following what I was asked about is your credit card.

So that you could do that.

Because I know I know we've had some trouble maintaining the fair vending machines at stations in an operable condition.

So can you currently walk up to any station?

Yes, we got all new fair vintage machines.

Um good evening.

I just want to explain that.

So we're going to be installing new tap devices, replacing the old connect card.

And yes, you will be able to walk up to any machine and tap with a credit card, your watch.

It'll have all of that tap to ride ability.

Uh, we're working on that.

I think I'm not sure.

Do you know when we're going to install it?

I think next month.

Yeah.

Yeah, you're gonna start seeing them at the start rolling out, you're gonna start seeing them at all the light rail stations.

So you will be able to use a credit card.

Will that be part of the ferry vending machine, or is that a standalone?

Up right, it's a standalone standalone piece.

Literally um replacing some of the connect card areas where there's um electricity that you know we're gonna replace those old connect card tap readers with brand new ones that we hope are a little more vandal-proof and that are tied to the transit connect app.

Okay, you anticipated my next question, which is how secure are the if they're engaged.

Yeah, there you go.

Okay, um, thanks, Chair.

Thank you.

Uh, other director comments.

Director Rodriguez.

Uh thank you for the presentation.

So I've been writing to light up to um work for the past month.

And at um, and I write it about three to four time days a week, but the uh Bob Holgen station, Glenn Station and Bolsom, and the seventh and H station, both the tap cars have been broken for a long time.

And I was calculating, you know, for me, it's like five dollars a day, twenty dollars a week, eighty dollars a month, and that's just one person I could imagine for many other individuals.

But I'm glad to hear that we're we will get tap cards at least at one of the, you know, one of the boxes.

But my thoughts were um, isn't it possible or probably um less likely if somebody vandalizing those machines if you put them on this on the on the actual light rail buses, like put them somewhere somewhere somewhere on the actual uh light rail, whereas if I got on, I could just tap it, and the um possibility of it getting vandalized is least likely in comparison to the locations that I guess get vandalized quite a bit.

We'll have to get back to you on that.

I wasn't part of the study.

Oh, okay.

I was it just seemed like it was it would be less costly and um and and that leads that way if somebody gets on, um, they can tap their hard.

Deborah.

Ah, it's me again, yes.

Um, thank you for asking that question.

Actually, it's a safety issue.

We did have them on the trains, and what happens are people board and they go to tap and the train starts moving.

So uh, and plus it's also a Wi-Fi connection issue.

So there's two different things that happen there, but more or less it's really a safety issue.

Okay.

Um questions near the left.

Yes, Director Maple.

Thank you, Chair.

Well, just to um pile on a little bit to Director Rodriguez.

Um, and I I recognize every system's different, but um, this was not in the US.

This is uh on a trip to Amsterdam, very different transit system there, but uh they have uh light rail all over the city and they all of the they have tap to pay for everything and it's on the trains.

So um, but they have different stations throughout the trains and the buses.

Um so you don't necessarily have to congregate at the door to do it.

You can go in, find your spot and tap like while you're so um, but I do recognize the Wi-Fi issues, so it could be um, so I'm not sure how they've resolved that, but uh I think it's a an interesting thing to look into if we can revisit because uh maybe there's some ways to work around the safety and Wi-Fi issues.

Yes, actually, we're still discussing uh the new trends.

We try to install the Wi-Fi, then you know, looking for 264 can install the you know, uh tap device inside.

That definitely will be a long way away.

Okay, in the future, yeah.

Can I just give some other feedback?

Is um you know, another option because I I see it quite a bit where somebody has their connect card, but they can't they couldn't tap it and then they're on the train, and we get asked for approval purchasing and give them a card.

But if the uh the ambassador had some form of machine that we could just tap it, and that way it charges the price there instead of going unpaid.

We use when you get a pass.

We used to be able to do that.

Uh can you explain you know what happened and then can't we bring that back?

I'm just thinking of the revenue generation.

Transit of mass or cell phones, but the new program doesn't allow for that.

Excellent comments, though, Director Rodriguez, an active user of SAC RT, which I love.

All right.

Um, we will now take public comment on item 3.1.

Do we have public yes?

Yes.

In person public comment, we have Helen O'Connell and Dan Allison.

Hello, board.

Um I feel strongly that um a lot of these things are uh in good faith.

And um, as far as the new the buses being discontinued and not uh covered completely or even closely, those things need to be told to the public a long time before you actually discontinue a route.

Uh i.e.

the 33.

Um another thing I was talking was gonna talk about a friend of mine who is physically unable to get a boarding pass and validate it.

He can get it, but he can't validate it through due to his physical limitations.

He was boarding the train.

Uh someone gave him a ticket.

He tried to explain that he had physical limitations that made it unable to validate uh the person just said take it to court.

That didn't seem right to me.

Um I appreciate the fact that they are working on getting better communications.

I'm glad that um RT's executive board has heard me when I said that um oh, what was it?

Oh, the the communications between the the um bus bridges, not to take out several consecutive buses off of the same route at the same time.

I appreciate the attention.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next public comment, Dan Allison.

Dan Allison.

Um first um comment on the physical card for Connect Transit.

Umnect.

Um I'm glad to see that's happening.

I did not see it in any of the planning documents leading up to that.

So it was either a secret from the public or it simply wasn't thought of before, and that's kind of a bad thing.

Um, it should have been part of this the program from the beginning, and it was not.

I looked, it was not there.

Um, about enforcement on light rail.

Uh, I ride Metro, probably more than anybody in the room.

And uh Metro has far worse problems than anything we have here in Sacramento, but there are two characteristics.

One is they do not escalate situations, and two is that if there's not a situation, they are friendly to people.

Both of those things are often lacking here in Sacramento, despite the fact that they have worse problems there, they do a better job of dealing with the public.

I'm still disappointed that our transit ambassador program, which was supposed to be at least in part education, turned into a semi-law enforcement activity.

I don't think that's right.

Question about the committee.

Who's on the committee?

Is there a Mac representative?

Is there a parent who uses strollers?

Is there a bike rider?

Is it just an internal committee?

If so, you're not getting feedback from the people you really need to hear from.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next public comment.

Okay, now we're gonna move to online.

We have Nate Dobernick.

Good afternoon, Nate Oberk, on behalf of the McClachee High School parent teacher student association.

I want to underscore the importance of the blue line to the high school.

I appreciate Director Mikkel's comments where the disruption during the first few days of the year.

Heavily reliant on bus route 62 and the blue line.

And it is unfortunate we do look forward to the new improvements coming to the blue line station.

And just want to underscore that during that first week, we will be out there during student orientation to really uplift and illuminate all the transit options for the new students and parents to allow them to really partake even more of what's really a good program for McClatchy High School.

So we look forward to the improvements on the blue line.

And you'll probably be hearing more from us later on other programs to maintain and increase transit ridership to Sacramento's most celebrated high school McClache.

Thank you.

Any other online public comments?

Yes.

Next we have Via Long Wyn.

Yes.

Good evening.

My name is Viet Long Wien.

Um I wanted to comment on the really helpful discussion on the safety concerns with the card readers.

Um we can hear you.

Continue.

Are you finished with your comment?

I think so.

I think okay.

Next online public comment.

Next, we have Rick Hodgkins.

All right.

So I don't know if everybody can see me as well as hear me.

Uh, but um anyway, I would like to piggyback off of what uh council memberslash director maple said, and that is um again.

I also recognize each and every transit system is different.

The one legitimate reason I see to having tap machines on board trains is just probably perhaps the same reason why San Francisco Muni and other Bay Area transit systems have it on their buses and trains.

Um I could be at a light rail station tapping my phone or a card, if you will, and some idiot that's homeless come up and might say, give me, give me, oh, give me, give me, can I use it?

Can I use it?

Give me, give me, give me, can I use it?

And um that's that's my take on it because the safety issue for me is unless I'm on a train, um, I'm afraid that someone is gonna want to use my fare or or take it while I'm trying to validate it.

The other thing about um the bus routes being discontinued, such as the 12 and 91 back in the day, nobody told us back in the day that it was because of low ridership.

We were all told because then Governor Schwarzenegger forced us to cut routes because he wanted to cut, cut, cut.

I didn't know that there was uh low ridership.

Um, but now that I know that, I'd hope that we can revisit.

And again, we need to bring the California Apartment Association on board because I hate to sound like a broken record, but I've been we were told no one wants to give RT more money unless we help resolve the homeless issue.

Thank you.

Speaker on next public comment.

There's no more public comment.

All right.

Are there any follow-up director um comments based on Ms.

Heinz's presentation?

Looking to the left, seeing none, looking to the right, seeing none.

All right, we will move on to our next agenda item.

Public addresses board on matters not on the agenda.

Okay, in person we have Margie Donovan, Helen O'Connell, Robert Copeland, and Austin Kelly.

Good evening, Madam Chair and honorable board members.

First of all, thank you for your service to RT.

My name is Margie Donovan.

I reside in the city of Folsom.

And I'm here to address two things real quickly.

In reading the grand jury report, I guess it was the first time I remember learning about 120 SACRT go drivers.

The ridership is vastly increasing.

The demand is vastly increasing.

That 120 is a great number.

If there's no vacations, no call out sick.

And I'm gonna make a statement here.

Next thing.

We have Jackie and Willie.

And if it weren't for them, yeah, I'm gonna get emotional.

I've had to undergo some pretty serious medical treatment for 35 consistent days in a row.

When I leave that treatment, I am so out of it mentally and uh dizzy, etc.

Often nauseous.

These drivers go above and beyond.

These drivers communicate with each other.

If one of them takes me and they don't have me to be picked up at nine, they communicate to make sure I'm being picked up with each other.

They also, I know this is expected of every driver.

It doesn't uh operator.

I intentionally want to use word operators, these are bus operators.

They go above and beyond.

They come and get me, they give me an arm 99% of the time I need it.

And if it weren't for these drivers, I would not be able to do the things that I can do every day of my life with my new disability.

I wouldn't be able to get the medical treatment if I didn't have the love and the support of Willie and Jackie.

And I intentionally put those names forward because I know there's a lot of complaints, and I'm one that happens to write commendations as well.

And these two drivers go so far above and beyond that they have made it possible for me to get out of my house, make medical appointments, and if I feel well enough to even go grocery shopping.

Wanted to share that with you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for sharing and Helen O'Connell.

Hello, board.

I just want to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to get the information that some uh people get and some people don't.

So the um the address is Sacramento County Grandjury.gov forward slash report for the report that I referenced.

Again, I would like to also thank the forward thinking um employees of SAC RT.

Um, I'd like to piggyback on Margie Donovan's comment that yeah, they say we have enough money to pay for 125 drivers, but on any one day, we only have 90 or 80 drivers actually driving.

We have too many people to drive around, too many trips for that many people.

Um, it should be 125 active drivers, and then allow for people that are on vacation or sick leave or whatever.

Um, this would greatly enhance our on-time performance and the quality of service.

99% of the RT drivers um have the best interest of the patrons in mind and go above and beyond the call of duty.

This is um my comment today, and I hope that um this will be taken into consideration.

Thank you.

Thank you, Helen.

Next public comment.

Robert Copeland.

I want to talk about the half-cent ballot measure.

I think it should go to housing, not transportation.

I mean, uh, after hearing people want uh real to the airport, how would have got how much is that gonna cost?

Let real to the airport, maybe light real grow.

Uh-uh.

It should go to housing, which will solve more things than uh self-taff for transportation.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next public comment.

Austin Kelly.

Austin Kelly.

Dear members of the board, uh, when something is wrong, I will not be calling.

When something is wrong, I will not be calling any of the numerous personal injury attorneys.

RT proudly advertises on the side of their buses and trains to fix it.

For a system that is intended to take personal responsibility out of the equation when it comes to transportation, the system's advertising initiatives say otherwise.

Well, I understand that third-party marketers are responsible for contracting these ads across the system.

That doesn't take away the fact that a certain level of harm is expected within our community for these businesses to flourish.

The ad spots that are currently dominated by harmful businesses like these could be used to boost our local local economy in a meaningful way.

Providing premier advertising space to local community-building businesses and organizations will have a more lasting impact than hoping enough people get in carx for a billboard lawyer to justify shelling out more blood money on yet another SACRT ad campaign.

Selling out our community for less than 0.5% of the proposed revenues for 2027 cannot be a reasonable position for this board.

If this board is serious about providing a positive good for our community and demonstrating their commitment to moving the people of this region safely and on time, then I propose RT renegotiate their advertising contract with both Lamar Advertising and Clear Channel Outdoor to exclude the ability of community harming businesses to advertise on the system.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next public comment.

Okay, now we're gonna move to online.

We have Wendy Bogden.

Good afternoon.

Can you hear me okay?

We can hear you.

Great.

Hello, my name is Wendy Bogdan.

I am the president of the CK McClatchy High Parent Teacher Student Association where I'm on the board with Nate, who spoke earlier.

I have um two asks for you and an update.

But first, I just wanted to let all of you know uh over the last three years, the McClatchy PTSA has really been prioritizing traffic and transportation issues.

I've interacted with a few of the directors on this issue.

Um one of the things that came up um last spring that we worked on quite a bit was the ride-free program.

I think that our campaign had a role in um bringing the parties together and making sure that the funding continued for another year.

Um we've been following up with um with Henry, with Chris, with others to try to uh have a meeting this summer where we could talk to you about some um feedback that we receive generally and then also kick off a series of meetings with the city and county and other potential funders.

Unfortunately, probably for understandable reasons with summer vacations and leaves and the like, those meetings have been stalled, but I'd really um ask if the staff could refresh that effort.

We sent over another email today asking you to identify some times that you could meet, and it would just be great if you could dig at that email and provide some times to meet with us.

We'd really Nate and I would really appreciate it.

Um the other um ask that I have is that um we're we're working to increase ridership.

We'd really like some help with improvements on the bus stop in front of McClatchy, and we'd like to feature that as part of an activation week that we're doing that at the end of August, beginning of September.

And that will probably include Leo the Lion serving donuts to folks getting off at the fourth new shop stop.

We're also providing incentives.

The PTSA is funding incentives for the students who ride SAC RT bike walker, carpool.

Um, that's gonna be a big effort.

We're really looking forward to lifting up our SAC RT along with the other alternatives to underutilized cars.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next public comment.

That's all the public comment.

All right.

We will move past the public comment opportunity now and go on to item 5.1.

Item 5.1, new business uh information item draft Sacramento Regional Transit District Strategic Plan 2026 to 2030.

And shall Shelley Valentin is here to present this item.

Good evening.

Can you hear me okay?

Okay, good evening.

I am Shelly Valentin, Deputy General Manager CEO.

And tonight I will be giving you a proposed Sacramento Regional Transit five-year strategic plan.

And before we do, uh, we would like to do a quick look back of our, I would say present five-year strategic plan.

Um issues here.

Okay.

So this current plan that we have, the 2021-2025 strategic plan was really an effort that was starting from our board members.

They started with a board retreat that time, and then um all day planning from our executive team, also our um employees, a series of town halls and feedback.

We are very proud of the five-year strategic plan that we created during that time because it really shaped um our new uh strategic plan, our mission, vision, and values, and also uh provided us the opportunity to focus on a very data-driven decision making process.

Um it's focused on accountability, transparency with KPIs that we measure regularly.

The annual review of the general manager's performance was directly tied to achieving the annual strategic plan KPIs up to now.

And we are very proud that our strategic plan today is not one of those documents that you complete and put in a shelf collecting desk.

It has really been our guide, an active document that provides us with a clear framework for decision making, enabling the organization to adapt to changing conditions while maintaining our alignment with our long-term vision.

So, this is the performance scorecard.

You're probably familiar with it.

I hope you are.

We include this in our um uh quarterly board report by the GM to the board.

We also have that as a big and important piece of his annual performance review.

This performance scorecard is a critical tool for tracking progress against strategic goals.

It in it consolidates our key performance indicators into that one-page format that you see here, and it allows leadership and stakeholders to monitor achievements and identify areas needing attention.

We have come a long way in our KPI generation interview and staff's ability to analyze trends, benchmark our performance against our peers, and maintain a single source of truth on our data reporting.

Next slide.

This strategic plan that we have today has had a profound impact to our staff and our operations because it aligned our organizational focus and emphasized measurable outcomes tied to the mission and vision.

It has fostered cross-departmental collaboration and shared success.

It promoted accountability and transparency.

You see here in this slide some of the feedback we've heard from our own staff who really have been a part of this process from our executive management team to the management team to department level engagement.

Everyone has been actively involved in creating this plan and bringing it to life every quarter, really.

It's been so ingrained in our culture that you will often hear conversations about our KPIs.

We're nerding out about KPIs and our strategic pillars and our values among staff.

And they are embedded in other important plans and documents that we have, such as our capital planning process, our annual budget reports, and even how we select our employees of the quarter.

These are all based on our values and the um the strategic plan goals that we have for the agency.

They guide us in making data-driven decisions on priority projects as well as capital and technology investments.

And with that, Nora, I want to introduce our proposed new strategic plan.

Really, this has been working so well for us the last five years.

So for the most part, we propose to keep most of the elements of the current strategic plan that we have.

Um we maintain uh our SACRT mission, vision and value statement, and build upon the success of the previous plan that is included in your board packet today.

This current plan details SACRT's aspirations and the steps for attaining our goals and aligns our mission, vision, and values with strategic priorities.

It ensures that SACRT continues to strive to provide safe, reliable, and accessible transit service while meeting the evolving needs of the region.

So the five-year plan we're presenting to you tonight is the framework document.

So what you don't see as part of that document is the actual annual plan, because that's a leaving and breathing document that we update every year, starting with the performance goal discussion with the with the general manager.

Um, the annual plan is set by the leadership team afterwards based on the feedback from the board and the priorities based on our five-year strategic plan.

And then based on this annual plan, departments establish a work plan with specific quarterly KPIs and tactics to support the annual goals.

And then this is reviewed quarterly.

We have meetings after meetings for each department reviewing our KPIs and metrics every quarter.

We have updated the performance scorecard that's a part of this and made changes to allow for more stringent performance targets with an increased reliance on industry standards and peer agency comparisons to ensure accountability and alignment with best practices in public transit.

So this slide visually presents the strategic plan framework.

It demonstrates how our mission, vision, values, strategic pillars, goals, tactics, and KPIs are all interconnected to support the overall strategy.

In its simplest form, the strategic plan represents four fundamental and integrated elements.

First, you see here is our why.

Our why is why SacRT is driven to deliver high quality service.

So that's our mission, vision, and values.

Second is the what, what measurable outcomes do we strive to achieve?

And this is set in our annual goals.

Third is the how, how we will work towards achieving these goals.

And this covers our specific tactical activities every year.

And finally, the who.

I'd be like Dr.

Seuss here, the who.

This is the accountability piece.

Who within SACRT is contributing to the achievement of these goals.

And this involves the use of the performance scorecard system to monitor our progress on a quarterly basis.

And that four elements for uh form our four strategic pillars at holding all of these elements together.

So let me quickly walk you through each of the four elements, starting with our why.

Our why is our mission, vision, and value statement.

Um, you may recall some of you maybe were here when we simplified our very, very long mission and vision statement.

And this simplified version still work very well for us.

Mission is moving you where you want to go, when you want to go.

It's that simple, it's that straightforward.

We can all memorize it.

Our vision is to be a leader in providing mobility options for our community.

And you see here are five core values collaboration, innovation, trust, respect, and excellence.

These values establish the principles and expected behavior that shape our culture, decision making and interactions with customers, employees, and the community.

So the famous or infamous four strategic pillars.

We've talked about this a lot of times.

Customer satisfaction, operational excellence, community value and employee engagement.

Like before, they remain central to the new plan.

Each pillar addresses a critical area, enhancing customer experience, improving service and efficiency, strengthening community partnerships and economic impact, and investing in our employees.

Together, they provide a balanced approach to achieving SACCRT's mission and sustaining long-term success.

So this is the what, right?

Our annual outcomes.

The annual goals and outcomes that define what SACRT aims to achieve.

And these are operationalized in the strategic pillars into specific measurable targets.

They guide our departments in creating their own benchmarks and performance targets every quarter.

For the next five years, we propose to focus on further improving customer satisfaction, system reliability, and enhancing safety and security, modernizing transit infrastructure within reasonable budget and expand access to quality transit options, all while maintaining fiscal accountability.

And again, within our available means.

So the next slide is our how, the tactics and quarterly milestones.

It involves the tactics and quarterly milestones set by each department before the fiscal year begins.

So our departments collaborate with the OMB office and they align goals and track accomplishments, put that in a system and make it uh turn them into a measurable KPIs.

And then Sacarti's executive team reviews that also every quarter, approve the tactics, make sure we have the resources to support them and align them with our strategic plan five-year goals.

So there's an example on the bottom right of this slide.

It shows a very specific quarterly goal regarding our account-based ticketing system project and the accomplishments related to that goal.

So you'll see on the right-hand side the accomplishments that are tied to this goal for that quarter, which included, as examples, the launch of a transit connect app and the board's approval of the 175 light rail readers.

And this is just one of the hundreds of tactical activities and worksheets that we track and measure quarterly, tied to our strategic plan.

Achievements of the goals give us the points, like our reward system, right?

And those all add up and form our quarterly and annual overall score.

There's a whole process in science and math behind it.

Thank God it all have to do the math.

We have our finance experts doing the math for us.

What you see is the one-page scorecard as a report, but behind that scorecard is hundreds and hundreds of data points that they validate every single quarter.

So the last element is our who.

The quarterly performance scorecard represents the accountability piece, right?

Who is responsible for beating all of the goals that we set for ourselves?

This uh scorecard uses industry standards where available and internal historical data to benchmark performance.

It's our performance management tool and measures progress towards goals within each of the four strategic pillars.

And like before, the performance scorecard will be used to actively report to the board, the customers, and the community on progress towards achieving the strategic goal objectives.

And new for this year, we will see a different scorecard format.

It uses Power BI.

It's a Microsoft business analytics platform.

The Power BI will really enhance our accessibility and usability.

Umce it's all ready, our hope is that it will all be available on our website, and you just have to click a button and you get our uh performance dashboards in real time based on what data points you would like to see.

In closing, um, SACRT strategic plan will continue to serve as the guiding vision for the agencies, continued growth and success, positioning us to meet the region's transportation needs now and into the future.

This today is an information item.

We welcome additional feedback from the board and the public.

We will come back next meeting uh to ask for the board's approval of the proposed five-year strategic plan.

And I want to thank the board for your strategic guidance, our general manager, and all the staff.

We have so many staff members who work on their strategic plan.

I'm the one standing here before you, but I think all of our VPs and managers can speak to the strategic plan because again, it's so ingrained in our culture and how we do our work at SACRT.

And with that, I conclude my presentation and happy to answer any questions.

All right, thank you for that excellent presentation at this time.

I will open it up for director questions.

Director Rodriguez.

Comments come after.

Okay, I'll wait for comments.

So questions.

Uh yeah, I do have a question, Chair.

Um, thank you for the presentation.

One thing I noticed with our the structure of our particular strategic plan that is centered around uh kind of the science behind KPI is we we don't have any um section that's dedicated uh that uh um intends to express various metrics about financial stability for the organization.

Is it just a given that that is an underlying intent or goal?

Um it seems to me that we have such a unique place as a service provider here in our um in our city, county, and region that um it seems a little odd that we don't have specific metrics in a specific category called financial health or financial stability.

I've seen that um broken out and other KPI-centered strategic plans in the past.

So I was just wondering what is the uh assumption behind the financial aspect of our strategic planning.

Thank you for that feedback.

Um we can do a better job presenting it and highlighting um the financial pieces of the document.

You will see in the scorecard that we present that there's different um elements of it that's about financial um accountability.

One would be our cost per uh per ride and about um, you know, our other operational data points that show our cost um and our operations.

We also have data that's about Jason.

You can help me if I'm forgetting any of our data points, but there's a lot that's specific to our fiscal management team also.

I see Jason there.

Jason John.

Jason John's a CFO.

The only thing I would add is that we're so finance is a support department to a great extent support division.

So while there aren't specifics to the financial stability or fiscal stability overall, you see it throughout all the metrics that are in the strategic plan that we are supporting everything else going on throughout the district.

So that is part of it, but we can look at doing some additional metrics perhaps that go specifically to that fiscal stability, as that's been discussed in other meetings previously.

One thing I would one thing to add before Henry does quickly is that for at the department level, even when we were reviewing our tactics and our quarterly performance goals, we reviewed their budgets too and how it aligns with the uh performance uh objectives and whether they are exceeding or underperforming based on the budget.

So we assign dollar figures to each of the goals and the programs that we have before, but they could even be actual capital programs.

But again, we could do a better job articulating that in the document itself.

Okay, go ahead.

Yeah, uh I was thinking maybe you know um directly is asking about uh a strategic plan for our financial future, something like that.

And we can we can we can insert some of those element into the you know uh physical sustainability and short-term, medium term, long term.

Well, I I think it I think it's wise to to maybe uh rethink that just because there's so much of what is substantive to the rest of the strategic plan that is completely dependent upon financial health.

Yes.

And um uh director Dickinson in particular will probably remember when we used to really emphasize fair box revenue and understanding that as a metric.

Um this is more than a decade ago when I first joined the the board.

And even in the oral presentation, there's always that constant footnote, you know, within our means.

So that's a really important part of I think um probably any agency's strategic plan, but because the uniqueness of how we depend on various levels of subsidy, fair box revenue, um maybe uh um bring it to the surface a little closer than where it is currently in the strategic plan might be something to consider.

Absolutely.

We will add with um director Cerna, particularly, you know, when we do this deep dive with the strategic plan, we need to have a better understanding of where we are, where we're going.

Um, particularly in light of the fact that I think just most recently the signature gathering effort um was unsuccessful.

And what does that mean?

Not having dedicated funding.

Um I in as particularly in the best interest of transparency, we need to have that more thoughtful conversation and do the deeper dive on our financial well-being and how it overlaps with the strategic plan.

I don't think we can separate.

We will make sure to include that.

These are the kind of feedback that we really want to hear, so we could make it better.

Thank you.

Other director questions.

Uh thanks, Chair.

Well, I certainly uh uh endorse the conversation we've had so far.

I'm assuming I'm assuming there's uh considerable text to fill out what you what you have.

And by the way, thank you for the uh presentation, but what was presented under the agenda agenda item.

Is that my supposition is correct in that regard?

Okay.

And then we have the website that has all of the information and the dashboards also, and then I'm happy to add to it if there's any specific area that you'd like to expand on.

Well, I mean, it's uh uh it depends on on what that elaboration um says, but but I I uh uh do wonder about a uh a few things.

First, first of all, and these are not in a particular order, but um the success of public transit, I think increasingly depends on the ability to address first mile, last mile uh issues and considerations, but I didn't see that as something that was uh called out and in what was presented uh uh either in the either in the agenda material or Shelly in your comments.

Um and so uh one question is what is to what extent uh do we need to address to a greater extent though that um set of issues related to first mile and and last mile.

I believe we include it in our annual goals, but I think that is a very good point as far as making that defined too in the strategic plan document itself.

So we will make that adjustment.

Okay.

Um I mean, I just well, this is more how are we thinking about it?

What are we doing?

What are we what are we trying to accomplish and uh to achieve ultimately greater transit usage by virtue of uh taking advantage of of uh or incorporating first mile, last mile consideration.

That that that's that's really it it's a it's a question.

I'm not I'm not suggesting the answer.

I'm suggesting I think that's a big question out there for us to address.

It's a good question.

Um secondly uh to me, what was presented um uh hinted at, but didn't didn't really get to equity issues.

And and uh so it's you know, it's not just whether it's not just whether we're measuring did did the bus start when it was scheduled to start and did it finish when it was scheduled to to finish, and did it stop at the places that it was scheduled to stop at in between.

There are larger considerations for us, I think, and that are very difficult to address with limited resources, but even more necessary because of limited resources to in fact address.

And so I'm is there a comment that that um you would have uh in terms of the extent to which the strategic plan addresses equity.

Yes, um, I I wish I did include it in my talking points because it's the actual it's in the strategic plan document itself.

The language is there about um prioritizing serving disadvantaged communities and promoting you know equity um considerations, but we will think about how we could further focus on that.

And as a statement of intent, I think that's great.

But what does that translate to?

What does that mean with our route planning, for example, with our schedule planning with with um uh all of our service elements, what does what does it mean to implement that intention?

And I'm not asking you to to um uh necessarily address that uh substantively at the moment, but I think the strategic plan needs to needs to indicate how how, in fact, are we uh incorporating our intention with respect to to equity, having said that it that it's uh an important principle uh for us.

Okay.

Um I don't know the extent to which you look at the strategic strategic plan is to a certain extent being aspirational.

But for example, you say um under service, it should be safe, convenient, and reliable, all of which I agree with.

But I think the for me over all the years, those three are critical, and one more is frequent.

Now, frequency is really tough for us, again, with with very limited resources.

But uh if we're not aspiring to to provide service on a frequent basis, then I then I think we're not going to be ultimately successful in attracting riders.

We have to be all for all four of those those things, I think.

And um so uh maybe that's aspirational in terms of uh making the Route 19 someday frequent, whatever that might mean in that context.

But is that in fact an element that we care about or we aspire to?

And that that again is a question.

I don't know, but I didn't get that from the presentation.

Thank you.

That's great feedback.

And yeah, the frequency piece is right now going to be very aspirational, and it's also tied to the financial piece that we've talked about, but such an important element that we will make sure to include that.

And then on the comment you have about the equity um discussion, I think again, it's good to put that in the plan itself.

I also want to point out that we have other documents that put that in greater detail.

We have our Title VI analysis, our service planning documents, our long-range and short range uh planning documents that has more detailed information on the equity piece of our route planning that we will make sure to cite in the document of for the strategic plan document also.

Um that and it's great.

We just ought to be make sure we reference those, I think.

So anyone who asks that question gets guided to exactly where the detail is.

But and the last the last thing I I wanted to mention was, and this really builds on the comment made by Director Cerna.

You know, there was a time when fair box recovery, as an example was an important uh element, and there were state mandates with respect to fair box recovery, but but we provide uh a lot of service funded by non-fair box sources, and whether it's measure A or it's direct contributions by by jurisdictions or or other things.

And um, I uh I do think that part of the strategic plan um needs to be what is what is our expectation or our goal with respect to how we're going to to fund service.

Are we are we no longer going to think of riders as a principal source of revenue or the operation?

Um, you know, that what it's down at like eight and a half percent or so, uh, as if I recall the last report.

Um or or do we have a strategic uh goal of increasing uh direct rider support for service?

By asking the question, I'm not necessarily suggesting the answer, but I do think that's a question that the public is always interested in is how much are the people who are using the service paying for it?

And maybe maybe you carve out some things, you know, like ride-free.

I mean, for for youth or or other things, but but I think it's something we need to address in the strategic plan.

So thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

And on that note, just quickly, I think one of the beauty of having the benchmarking tool that we use is that we also know what our comparable agencies are doing and their fair recovery, which is part of the measures that we are uh tracking right now.

So we know that we are right there comparable with other peers and uh the same problems we have are common to the other agencies, and we're resolving them in the same way everyone else is resolving them.

But um, we would like to have that um yeah input in there.

I mean, just lastly, I I am I am very concerned about the potential for running into the fiscal cliff for us.

Others obviously are experienced in it now, especially in the Bay Area, but I I think that's something we we need to be very um cognizant of.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Um any other director questions before we go to public comment.

All right, we will go ahead and switch over to public comment on item 5.1.

Okay, there's no in-person public comment and online we have Rick Hodgkins.

Okay, are you there?

We're here.

Okay.

Um, so anyway, here is uh my take on this item.

Um first I want to say that um, you know, Lisa Heinz pointed out that um routes were discontinued like item like routes 12 and 91 because of low ridership.

Again, I did not know that.

I thought it was because of a state mandate.

Um how can I hope that we and we aspire or care to bring those um routes, revisit those routes.

Um, if not in the short term, perhaps in the long term.

Um I believe to um keep our to be true to our mission and vision and values.

I believe we need to bring um some housing organizations to the table, particularly the California Apartment Association.

And finally, last and not least, uh, that when I was taking community college classes, even if I did not need the bus pass or the sticker, uh, because I have a I had a Connect card provided by ALTA, I still had to pay for the bus sticker or the bus pass to put on my Los Rios uh card, even if I didn't need it.

And all the Los Rios students have to pay um the for that, whether they use it or not.

I believe we should uh maybe ask schools to financially um give a little, you know, there's extra money in the state budget for for um schools this year.

So maybe do what with the schools, what we've been doing with the Los Rios community college district, instead of having ride free.

Um, if we're gonna allow those students to continue to ride free in the schools and the school districts, um parents pay tuition so that their kids can pay for their kids to go to school.

Let's just include that in the tuition.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any other public comments online?

Next, we have Nate Dobernack with McClachey High School.

Thank you again.

Uh with McClatchy High School here.

I do appreciate Member Dickinson's comments regarding the pillars that he's looking for.

Again, safe, cheap, convenient, reliable, all the things that we look for in public transit.

That's why we feel that the ride-free RT program is essentially training and creating a group of youth that then rely on transit, become savvy to using it, and hopefully we'll become those feature fare box payers and maintain and support the system.

That's why we continue to endorse the ride-free program, not only for the RT's benefit, but the huge benefits it has in increasing daily attendance, which has a direct correlation to student outcomes and grades.

So we look forward to continuing the conversation to uplift the ride-free program.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next public comment.

That's all the public comment.

All right.

Now we'll go to Director Comments.

Director Rodriguez.

Shelley, I want to commend the organization and Henry for your leadership.

When a government entity um implements a strategic plan, I think it is one of the best investments that can be made for taxpayers and for um the ridership.

Um I think it is uh one of the great ways of communicating that the organization is continuously improving and making an effort to be the best we can for the region.

So great job to you all.

Thank you, Director Rodriguez.

Any other um comments from directors looking at the left, looking at the right, seeing none.

All right, so this will come back at our next meeting.

Do you feel like you have enough time to address all of all of the particular questions and comments that came up?

ETO as it relates to like the budget.

Those are great comments.

Thank you again.

And we will reach back out if we need clarity.

Okay, excellent.

All right, thank you.

With that, we will move on now to the general manager's report.

So good evening, uh, Madam Chair, board and uh the public.

Um I really want to thank uh lots of great feedback today.

Uh this is extraordinary.

Uh I want to first thank you, Director Rodriguez, for your uh active, you know, uh writing with us and giving us feedback, you know, all the time.

And lots of great, you know, uh suggestions, corrective action recommendations.

Appreciate that.

Secondly, I really want to thank you, the great partnership between uh Macreshi High School and SAC AT and Wendy and your team has been working with us very actively in the last several months about um right free SACIT and also about our uh you know scheduled uh blue line, you know, station closure nearby the high school.

Um you know, we our engineering team has worked very hard with the outside vendors to say when would be the best time to uh close our stations and to modernize that because um my Laura and her you know uh engineering director uh we discuss this all the time.

The engineer director, you know, every time he mentioned to me, well, Henry, you know, in all the system when they try to do this type of system wide upgrade, they closed the whole line for half a year, whatever.

But in the past year and a half, we focus on two days on the weekend to do one by one to minimize the potential disruption.

Um for the blue line, we got a little bit, you know, uh challenge because the blue line we are doing the three-car trend.

The gold line we did two-car trend.

So we the station will be, you know, uh not that wide, but right now that's why that's part of the reason why uh the we we had to close, you know, uh four days or two weeks down the road.

And uh coup things we are gonna do first.

We're going to enhance our communication.

Second, we're gonna make sure we have more robust bus bridges.

And uh, we're going to hire more operators.

It's some of our audience, you know, recommend us.

But that speaks to another issue, which is our direct, you know.

Um Dickinson said we needed to focus on our physical cliff issue down the road.

That is probably the most important issue.

And uh as director, you know, Roger Dingson said, Bay Area already are facing the physical cliff issue right now.

They got a 595 million dollars long this year from the governor's office to address the physical clear issue.

So I just want to put this topic here.

In the next couple of years, we're going to talk about this issue again and again and again.

So everybody will have to think about this.

You know, uh, you know, frequency, you know, uh coverage, all those issues.

So that's second.

I want to uh thank you our partners in the high school and many other communities.

Uh you know, Margin, you know, just left.

She is a wonderful partner.

Sometimes she was very emotionally criticized us, which you know, those criticism or kind of like your constructive.

And today I really want to thank her for very special you know, inspirational and emotional comment about our uh paratroop drivers.

Uh, even though she's not here, I just want to spare that out.

I want to clarify, a lot of clarifying, I want to think the constant feedback about our ambassador program.

If you recall last year, there was a huge criticism about our ambassador or passengers on the train allowed to actively check in fail.

So early later last year and early this year, we uh NISA and her team start to have more strict fair enforcement.

Now we we heard you know from different sources, you know, how we can find the optimal balance between checking fare and uh you know uh consider some special circumstances and better customer services.

Uh a month ago, I was very clear, you know, working with NISA and gave the ambassador you know, team, the leadership team.

Uh our number one, still number one goal still make still you know, uh serve our customers, provide customer service.

Secondly, we still need to check fare.

But when you check fair, if the reason is because of the new customer, they want to you know uh check on our system, and if they are not familiar with the process, give them some exception the first time, but not or maybe second time, not the third time.

So secondly, sometimes our you know, winning machines, whatever may not work, and uh then you know they may not be able to purchase uh the field, and we're gonna give them a little bit you know flexibility too on that.

So we're looking for the optimal balance.

Uh the fifth you know comment about earlier our two point our 2.4 about our uh capital uh uh budget adjustment.

Um later 2024, we received a huge amount of the grant from the FTA from the USDOT FTA, about 77 million dollars for our bus program.

We will the third largest grant at that time.

And 2023 5, we got a lot of grant from the bus and bus facility uh program.

These programs, this uh these two programs are extremely you know competitive.

Every year, you know, less than 1% of the applicants get lost funding.

And 2024, we got 77 million dollars, the third largest grant.

And uh the second year we get the 36 million dollars, also is very large because low money average grant is about like uh less than 10 million dollars.

Unfortunately, in 2026, once we get that 77 million dollars, uh we get very clear uh message uh from the USDOT.

Uh because that's 77 million dollars or for the hydrogen buses, electric buses, and the 25, and then the new administration is very clearly direct us.

You you either change to non-EV or you will lose the money.

At that time, uh lots of partners in this region ask us to continue to work with uh USDOT to maintain this money, but still maintain hydrogen.

So then uh we still try to work with our partners in the federal government.

And in the meantime, a lot of transit agencies immediately lost lost funding.

Immediate loss, lost funding.

And uh because of our uh partnership with great partnership with FTA, they said you know, you guys don't have much time.

You either tried request us to change from hydrogen to non-EV buses, or you lose this money.

And uh you know, based on our local funding, we are very you know, compared to others, uh, we are the lowest local, you know, we receive the lowest local sales tax revenue.

So we have to keep that money.

So eventually we ask you know, uh FTA partner to change to the uh you know, Lan EV.

Uh they said, you know, you guys are too late, some myth news.

But I say we try to work with our local partners because our state gave us 50 million dollars matching fund for that 77 million dollars.

So eventually we told our local partners, telling them that we are going to keep the state money for continue to pursue the hydrogen and the EV.

But the federal money will have no other choice.

We cannot risk to lose that money.

That means more than 80 new CNG buses.

So that's why we did this, but we're going to continue to work with our state funding partners to continue our hydrogen initiative.

So that is the plan.

I talked to some board members, uh, talked to you know, our chair, vice chair on these issues.

Uh that is why you know uh thanks to FTA eventually month ago, they said, okay, we're great to let you guys change the you know uh the vehicles from hydrogen to EV.

So that's something that's why you know uh I just want to see uh a little bit of background information.

Uh I need to make sure, you know, share this you know information with everybody about our uh citizen initiative and for the uh transparency perspective.

So on July 24th, the citizen initiative team reported some very disappointing news.

Uh the county election supervisor determined that our transit measure, you know, Sacramento safe streets and affordable transit measure of 2026 did not have enough valid signatures to qualify for the November 2026 ballot.

Uh the campaign delivered over 32,000 signatures to the city crack on June 30th.

And uh then when you know we submit not away, it's the initiative team, uh submit the county county, you know, eventually said, you know, you know, you guys do not have enough uh enough uh valid uh signatures.

And uh I just want to really thank you lots of community leaders who spend enormous time, effort, and you know, money on this issue, and this maybe the most important initiative uh for us and uh important issue for the city of Sacramento too.

Um, our board chair, director KT Maple, Director Roger, you know, Dickinson, and many others spend enormous time.

And I want to thank you, and also community, other community partners, and uh we are bringing brainstorming what you know the future path will look like.

That's all I would like to say.

Uh we do get a little bit good news, uh a positive load on June on July 6th.

Governor Newsom signed uh assembly uh uh bill uh 1625 into law for psychotic.

This law increases compensation for our board members from 100 per meeting to 200, uh, which has not been raised for over 25 years.

Uh since that time, our operation has significantly grown and become more complex by adding more annexed transit services into our system, uh including the cities of Folsom, L Grove, Central Size, and other uh services.

However, AB 1625 reduced the total number of meetings per month a board member can be compensated from four in the past to three right now.

Or starting from January 1st, 2027.

The next one.

And I had to work overnight to do something.

And they're very interested in SACATIS historical transformation.

They gave me like 40 minutes to speak.

And they also very interested in my personal leadership journey, career.

And this underscores how central and critical public transportation is to a thriving community economies and connected communities worldwide.

Well, you know, Germany and others, and we are all connected together internationally.

Also, the invitation itself speaks to how much interest the Siemens Mobility, which is a huge global company right now, and how much they you know the interest they have in Sacramento's growth, our regional mobility future and the role Sakati plays in shaping that trajectory in internationally.

They spent about 200 million dollars last couple years to build a huge factory in East Coast.

That rainy alert our some leaders here, especially Barry Brummer, who is an extraordinary leader.

And he he so he organized a delegation to Germany last December to try to convince the headquarters needers in Siemens to make sure Siemens North American headquarters will continue to stay here, which was very successful.

The group was eager to gain more insight into how a best in class public transit agency like SAC AT operates, what leadership looks like in our sector, how wonderful our board of directors needs the region, the needs need business here, how business and community partnership help us deliver essential service, and what it takes to move a complex organization forward and about our innovative projects that improve the customer experience.

Okay, uh, I'm done.

We have not one, but two new library stations getting ready to open this later summer.

This is after 15 years, we did not open any new station now.

We got two new stations open, and which will bring our library station count from 53 to 55.

I mean, uh this is just part of our entire one billion dollars library modernization and expansion project.

Two new stations.

And the first is those rail station, which is expected to open in later August, uh, which will serve residents living in Moraes village as well as the surrounding businesses and communities.

And the next highly anticipated service street and the real yachts live rail station built by our private partner, not by us.

Is it expected to open this full in parallel to the reopening of the Green Line?

The new station will serve the future real yards at MLS stadium, which has 20,000 seats.

And look at this SACO, World Sacco, you know, can brings how much excitement to this whole nation.

This will also serve the AJ apartments, which is located directly across from the new station.

This collaborative projects demonstrate how transit investment makes regional growth possible.

Director Bodge, we're gonna make sure, you know, the um the station within uh Rancho Codova will happen.

We got half of the money.

We're looking for the next half of the money.

We'll make that happen again.

Uh this concludes my my update back to you, uh, Madam Chair.

Thank you for that uh report.

Uh any director questions here for or the general manager.

Thing to the right, seeing none, left being none.

Uh public comment on 6.1.

Yeah, Robert Copeland.

I hope the kids write free program last until way into the future.

Also, uh, I think RT should go for every grant it can modernize the light rail stations, the bus system as a whole, and as far as the SAC most safer streets, you need uh way over the accounts you need because you can get a lot of invalid signatures.

I've done ballot majors in the past.

What was from Sacramento?

A lot of people don't even know if they're in the city or county.

Or even if they're in a right county.

Because I had a signature on one statewide petition, they thought they was in uh Sacramento, they were in West Sacramento.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next public comment.

Okay, we have a card from Helen, but I think she left, so we're gonna go online to Rick Hodgkins.

Okay.

Okay.

Um so while I'm I'm very happy that um I'm very while I'm very happy about the progress we made.

I must uh dispel, I must talk about some harsh realities.

I have a gut feeling that the reason why we did not gather enough signatures for this year's November ballot is because a lot of people just are not interested in something that they don't use.

A lot of people in California love their cars so much so that um people will use them as weapons to run over people like me trying to cross the street.

But I will tell you this.

Um if we're gonna advertise on our buses, I agree with the previous speaker.

Um it should be our T should advertise itself on the buses having um campaign to fund RT.

So that's um that's all I'm gonna say there.

Thank you and good night.

Thank you.

Any more public comments online?

There's no more public comment.

All right.

Comments on the general manager's report.

I have some comment and feedback that's not on his record.

Okay, um, so uh I want to share that I did notice July 1st, there was an um increase in ridership from when the state workers went back to work, and so it was uh good to see some of these trains full in the mornings and in the app in the afternoons.

And then I want to share that.

Um uh several weeks ago, the uh gold line to historic bulsome was stopping at sunrise.

And at first it happened several days, and I thought, oh, maybe there's like a stapping issue.

And then I asked the conductor, you know, is this gonna continue or or at what point you know is is it gonna go full fully to uh historic fulsom.

And he told me that when the when the heat well, when the temperatures get too hot, the crossings uh malfunction in fulsom.

And so that just left me with some questions about what is there a feature plan to correct that if that is actually the case.

But also, I went to the RT website.

I didn't find anything information on it.

Um, but last week it was better.

It went all the way straight to Historic Folsom.

So maybe um some communication about it.

And then I also want to share that um at one of the uh um one of the when we ended up in Sunrise, there was a little confusion about buses going back to Sacramento going westbound.

And uh there was an elderly couple that um I crossed the street waiting for my ride, and there was an elderly couple who didn't quite understand what was happening.

And so um they said, well, we'll figure out when we get back.

So they walked ahead, and then the the there was a bus that was coming, and I stopped them and I said, Oh, there's a couple that doesn't quite understand the uh the what the plan is to head back to Sacramento.

I want to compliment Sean Caesar.

He was a bus driver, and I did get his name before um he took off.

But he did go ahead, he stopped his best, he looked for the elderly couple, he explained to them whatever questions they had.

And so uh I just want to um commend him because um Sean Caesar didn't have to do that, but it really showed his excellent customer service.

And for this couple who was our elderly, and there was confusion about it.

And then last, I have a wish list.

And I know that it's probably related to liability and probably scheduling, but sometimes you you get to the light rail and the door had maybe just re just closed, and and then the bus takes off.

But the driver might see that you're at the door, and instead of now waiting for the next train, they just they close the door and they take off.

And so if I had a wish list, it would be let people on the bus while they're there so that they can you know get to their destination quicker.

We would definitely address that issue.

That is not you know acceptable.

Sorry about that.

And that uh there was a one week in full sum.

There were two.

Yeah.

I expected interruptions.

Yeah.

Well, what they're raising.

So that wake the bus bridge or what's not you know, robust enough.

And then the second week we'll address that.

Thank you.

Yeah, I looked for communication to see what was happening.

I didn't find anything, but um yeah, it was fine the week after.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any other director comments on the general manager's report?

Um I just wanted to add one thing um about uh Rosario's comments here um about the coordination between the lights and the um signals.

There's been an there have been ongoing problems with that for a long time.

And when you talked about going to every 15-minute uh service, there was also a plan to coordinate better with the city of Folsom and an upgraded system to make sure that those things were coordinated.

I'm still waiting to see that happened.

I've talked to our staff um recently in our transportation division, and they have replied for some funding, but more work definitely needs to be done in that area because people are also experiencing getting behind uh stuck behind the the gates um when there's some malfunction there.

Um I you know, I'm constantly trying to get information back to residents who are sending me complaints about those or posting them all over Facebook.

So maybe um if you wouldn't mind looking into that and getting some more information back to us, that would be great about better coordination on these systems working together.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you, Director Surno.

Thank you, Chair.

Uh I just uh I'll take most of the response to um my reminderslastion uh offline, Henry, but just want to let you know and your staff know I remained very uh interested in the bus shelter that I brought to your attention probably two and a half months ago.

Um this would be on the south side of Del Paso Road, just uh about I'd say 300 feet east of the El Centro intersection where on my long walks in my neighborhood, I've noticed uh the hotel workers uh that tend to gather that that rely on the number 13.

So um I see that uh still remains uh a simple sign.

And if they're lucky during uh any given time of the day, they might get some shade, but usually not.

So uh that's something I think is still desperately needed in that part of our system.

Not definitely is in the in the schedule to to implement.

Do you have the latest update about when we're gonna?

Okay.

Definitely we'll make that happen.

He's just yeah, I I know you have to negotiate with the adjacent property owners and you know, there's all kinds of ADA boxes that need to be checked and and that type of thing.

But uh just an uh just a friendly reminder that I continue to see our patrons that are waiting somewhat uncomfortably, especially in the summer months in that part of our system.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Director Cerna.

Seeing no other director comments, we'll move on to the next items.

Uh for the next item reports, ideas and questions from directors and communication items 7.1, 7.2, and 7.3.

All three items will be read, and then public comment will be taken up as one unit and individuals wishing to comment will be able to speak for up to two minutes.

We'll start with uh item 7.1.

Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority meeting summary.

Anything to add other than what's already in the record?

Yes, director.

Yeah, um, thanks, Chair.

I just I wanted to uh add a couple of things very quickly.

In the meet the meeting itself, uh the board took an action to uh I I hate to use the word expedite because it's been about 15 or 17 years since we started in this effort to get a third mainline track uh to to uh to Roseville.

Um but to uh actually um uh uh uh advance the environmental review for it.

So uh that that it really is is crucial to uh the ability of the Capitol Corridor to increase the number of trips to Roseville and up into Placer County, which is going to be increasingly important for us from a general mobility standpoint in the in the region.

The second thing I I wanted to just make um uh all my colleagues and the public aware of is uh the Capitol Corridor is in the the midst of developing a uh a new vision plan.

Uh and I'm I am serving on the on the subcommittee working on on that, but um it actually is uh looking at what kind of uh both capital and operational improvements could be can be made uh for the Capitol Corridor that that would uh build the ridership, which is getting close closer, I'd say to to pre uh uh pre uh uh uh pandemic uh days, um, but hasn't quite required uh recovered entirely.

But if you could imagine something like uh a um uh uh express train uh or express service from Sacramento to say say Amoryville uh with just a couple stops instead of the approximately seven or eight stops uh currently made.

And it the it functions well.

Um I um have uh ridden the service as recently as this as this weekend and was on time and comfortable and all kinds of good things, but it can be a lot faster and if we could if we could get express service from here to the Bay Area, uh and that I I think would be a real uh booster for for ridership.

So those are those are the kinds of things that are getting looked at.

If you uh use the Capitol Corridor at all and you have ideas about what you would like to see happen, uh uh without a price tag necessarily, uh let me let me know and I'll be happy to convey those as part of our our uh the effort to update the vision plan.

Thanks.

Thank you, Director Dickinson.

Uh Director Maple, do you want to add anything?

Or okay, excellent.

Item 7.2 minutes in there, so they'll have an opportunity to ask questions if needed.

7.3, the San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority, a special meeting summary.

Nothing, nothing more to add.

Nothing to add.

The media's part of the discussion happened during closed session, so I can't discuss it.

Okay, excellent.

Any director questions on 7.172 or 7.3.

Seeing none.

Any public comments on 7.172 or 7.3.

We just have Rick Hodgkins online.

Okay.

I feel as though he said I I muted my I muted, I unmuted myself and then I was muted again.

So um, real quick on the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority.

I cannot guarantee that this won't have a price tag.

But I go up to, I can't, well, I don't know what to say about it, but up on I take the bus to and from South Lake Tahoe from Mtrack.

Uh I used to enjoy going up to Tahoe because mom lives up there, but I don't really go up there to see her.

If anything, I go up there to get away from here and and have fun up there.

And it used to be enjoyable going to and from Tahoe because we have we hate, we used to have multiple buses a day, and now we're just down to one bus.

So that bus leaves Amtrak at 10 o'clock in the morning.

And if you miss that bus, you have to wait till the next day.

Um, you know, if people come in during the afternoon or evening and they want to transfer to a bus to Tahoe, they should be able to have that done on the same day.

And second, I am very honored, privileged, and proud to be the newest member of the Mobility Advisory Council.

My first meeting was somewhat stressful because we rushed through too many items.

I didn't have enough time to process it, just like I didn't, I didn't have enough time to process the um complaint brought about a SACRT Go passenger by his or her caregiver.

I'm I'm curious to know um what the originator, what that complaint originated about.

And um that is all.

Thank you.

Basically thank you.

Any more online?

There's no more public comment.

Any follow-up director comments on 71, 72, or 7.3.

Seeing none.

All right.

The next Sacramento Regional Transit Board meeting is scheduled for August the 24th, 2026 at 4 p.m.

With that, we will adjourn.

Thank you.