SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Rain or shine, Jasmine Runfal relies on the Sacramento Regional Transit system.
Before Sunday, 70% of bus routes in Sacramento were not running seven days a week. But SacRT's newly launched redesign changes that.
"I used it to get to work, and I don't have a car, so having the light rail accessible seven days a week is really helpful," Runfal said.
SacRT redesigned its bus network, the first time they've made major changes in 30 years, and to celebrate they're also offering free rides across the SacRT network Sunday through Wednesday.
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The massive bus route overhaul includes 27 regular routes and 15 peak hour routes, all of which, except for one, will now have seven days a week service. More routes have extended hours until 10 p.m. and more buses will be coming every 15 minutes to ease up congestion at busier stops.
"What we're hoping for is people can really build their lives around this bus network," said SacRT spokesperson Jessica Gonzalez. "Our previous bus network, they weren't able to do that because we didn't have late-night service on all of our routes and we didn't have weekend service on all of our routes. And now today, they can do that."
Gonzalez said SacRT spent the past year hearing from riders, potential riders, business owners and other stakeholders to create the new system.
"We had so many buses that were driving around empty, that's a lot of money and a lot of congestion to drive a bus with nobody on it," Gonzalez said.
To celebrate this milestone and encourage the community to at least try riding the bus or light rail, all rides are free through Wednesday. And starting in October, all students from elementary to high school can ride for free, too.
"That's big because I know a lot of parents struggle with getting their kids to school on time," Runfal said. "And now we have the light rail and the bus and parents don't have to stress about that part anymore."
Routes in the south part of Sacramento are going to be seeing the most changes. Riders are encouraged to check their stops on the SacRT website before the morning commute.
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