SacRT expands on-demand microtransit service to six new communities

Listen: Jessica Gonzalez, Director of Marketing, Communications and Public Information, Sacramento Regional Transit

–The Sacramento Regional Transit District (SacRT) has expanded its popular on-demand microtransit service to six new communities and has a new app for all SmaRT Ride users.The expansion of this service makes SacRT the largest microtransit provider in the country with 42 shuttles.

Similar to other ride-hailing services, SmaRT Ride relies on a smartphone app to schedule customized trips.The app, called SacRT SmaRT Ride, is powered byVia, the world’s leading provider and developer of on-demand mobility solutions. Via’s advanced algorithms enable multiple riders to seamlessly share the vehicle in an efficient manner.

The service relies on small, neighborhood-friendly shuttle buses to easily maneuver on residential streets, and they conveniently accommodate people with disabilities.

The new service areas include:

• Arden
• Carmichael
• Downtown-Midtown-East Sacramento
• Folsom
• Gerber-Calvine
• North Sacramento

The new service zones offer corner-to-corner service where passengers are picked up and dropped off at the nearest corner or “virtual bus stop,” which is usually within a block or two of their pickup or drop-off location, ensuring pickups and drop-offs are as efficient as possible.

Riders in the previously launched services zones in Citrus Heights-Antelope-Orangevale, Franklin-South Sacramento, and Rancho Cordova will continue to use curb-to-curb service where passengers are picked up and dropped off at the address they indicated when scheduling the ride.

All SmaRT Ride users will need to download the new SacRT SmaRT Ride app.The new app is available to download for free on theApp StoreorGoogle Play.Simply search for “SacRT SmaRT Ride.”

Following a SmaRT Ride request, the app provides passengers a text with an estimated pick-up time, allows passengers to track their bus in real-time, and get an alert when their ride is about to arrive.

SmaRT Ride customers will also be able to request rides by calling 916-556-0100or by going online to ondemand.sacrt.com.

The cost to ride is only $2.50 per trip, $1.25 for those eligible for discount fare (seniors and persons with disabilities) or free for youth with the RydeFreeRT sticker or pass.Riders can also use their SacRT monthly pass.Groups of five of more are free; all riders must travel in a group of five or more from the same pick-up location to the same destination.

As part of the SmaRT Ride expansion, SacRT also rolled out six electric SmaRT Ride shuttles in the Downtown-Midtown-East Sacramento service area.In the next six months, three additional electric SmaRT Ride shuttles will be operating in the Franklin-South Sacramento zone. Those three shuttles are being provided by Electrify America.

More information on the service, including maps of the service areas and hours of operation, is available at SacRT.com/smartride.