RT Will Consult With Business Community

Light rail and bus service in Sacramento will be getting spiffed up in time for the new downtown arena and possibly more riders. Last night, the Sacramento Regional Transit Board of Directors approved the creation of an ad-hoc committee that will consult with business leader on how to improve service.

"At this point in time it's really important that we start thinking about quality and how to expand ridership to different areas of the city," said Board Member Jay Schenirer. "And we have a great opportunity with the sports and entertainment complex to do it."

Board Member Phil Serna says the first order of business will be how to make the improvements with existing resources.

"When you begin to redeploy, whether its personnel or other elements of the system, to focus on an intent, whether it be public safety or cleanliness, we have to understand at what cost and how do we prioritize that," said Serna.

Proposed improvements such as beefing up security and stepping up trash pickups come in the wake of criticism from downtown business leaders. They say RT needs to be more appealing to riders who want to use mass transit to get to the new arena.