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Sacramento Commuter Survey Results - December 2020

Thank you, Sacramento Commuters!

Please read on for a word from the Transit Manager about our survey results. 

 

From:    Keith Martin, Transit Manager

Date:     December 11, 2020

RE:          Sacramento Survey Results & New Safety Brochure

I want to thank those who took the time to complete our recent Sacramento Service Alert email list survey as well as share some of the results. We received 114 responses from the 510 email addresses on our list with 86% of those respondents being regular (three or more days a week) pre-COVID riders of our Sacramento service. Now eight months later, 55% of the survey respondents are riding rarely or never while another 23% are riding less than three days a week with just 17% commuting to their workplace full-time. For those who are currently employed, 59% are working from home. Of those still commuting, 73% do so by bus while 27% either drive their own vehicle or ride with someone else.

With the ability to mark more than one answer, the most common responses to the question of when you expect to ride our Sacramento service either again or more frequently were when the shelter-in-place orders are lifted and when allowed to return to the workplace (33% combined). Other common answers were related to a vaccine, widespread testing, or herd immunity (13% combined); maybe sometime next year (15%) or they just did not know (19%).

We also received dozens of comments and suggestions with many expressing appreciation for the service whether they are currently riding or not and their desire that we operate the highest service level possible. In that regard, despite an 85 – 90% reduction in average weekday ridership since March, just 30% of our Sacramento Commuter schedules were temporarily reduced in May. We are now averaging about 4 to 5 passengers on-board each 57-seat bus so there is plenty of room to spread out.  There are no immediate plans to further reduce service and the missing schedules will be added back to the system as ridership grows to allow for social distancing to the extent possible.

To address some of the general health and safety comments, the attached brochure was developed by our service contractor, Storer Transit Systems, to highlight our continuing commitment to reduce the on-bus risk for passengers and employees alike. While specifically designed for our Sacramento service, most of the brochure is applicable to our local and rural services as well. Among the issues addressed are passenger spacing, daily bus sanitization, enhanced air filtration and facial coverings. Despite early CDC guidance, every study of which we are aware has since found that the risk of contracting COVID-19 is no greater on public transportation than it is elsewhere, but we are committed to doing what we can to further minimize that risk.

Regarding masks, while state guidelines do require facial coverings for anyone waiting for, riding or driving a bus; like the rest of the Yuba-Sutter area we are taking an educational approach with our passengers with posters, newsletters and driver reminders so our drivers can focus on safely operating the bus. In addition, to remove one reason for non-compliance, dispensers will soon be on every bus to provide a mask to those who board without one.

As always, thank you for your patronage whether past, present, or future and please feel free to contact me at (530) 634-6880 or at keith@yubasuttertransit.com if you have any comments, questions, or suggestions regarding any aspect of our service.

Sacramento Commuter Safety Brochure Dec 2020