E-Tran has been the designated public transit system in Elk Grove since the mid-2000s, providing community members and its visitors with transportation options to navigate the city.
While Elk Grove residents and those who frequent the city, have been grateful for the presence of E-Tran, some have noted how infrequent the public transportation option has been.
It has always run on an hourly basis during the week, adjusted hours on Saturdays and no service on Sundays and some public holidays.
Alsester Coleman is an Sacramento woman who works in Elk Grove during the week.
“I’d like to work on the weekends but it’s hard because of the bus system,” Coleman said. “I live in Sacramento. So when I come out here it takes all day to get home. I take care of a lady out here and I can’t take care of her on the weekends because (E-Tran) they only run until 5 p.m. on Saturday and they don’t run on Sunday.”
Coleman sat at a bus stop bench near Bond Road as she waited for her bus. She wasn’t exactly sure which one she should take because she forgot her phone at home.
She had no way of determining the bus schedule and whether or not she’d missed her bus.
“I get stranded at times because it comes once an hour and it’s just really, if you miss it you’re screwed. If you miss that last one (of the day) you’re really screwed,” Coleman said. “So basically I’m sitting here so I can watch to see if a bus is going to come from that way, is one going to turn this corner or is one going to come from this way?”
Her best option was to find a bus stop that provides her a view of different angles to spot the E-Tran buses and which direction they’re headed.
“If you don’t have a phone and you’re catching the bus, all you have is your eyes. So that’s what I’m using,” Coleman said as she watched a bus roll by. “I’m just watching. So I just saw one turn the corner just now. So I feel like this one’s going to come next.”
Coleman suggested there should be “more buses, more often including making the weekend service longer.”
“It is disappointing,” she said. “I would really look forward to the time when they work on the weekends, you know, like Sacramento does.”
Under new contract
Sacramento Regional Transit spokesperson Jessica Gonzalez said SacRT began operating in Elk Grove under a service contract with E-Tran in July 2019.
According to a 2019 SacRT news release announcing the addition of E-Tran, the transportation agency added curb-to-curb on-demand shuttle service primarily between Waterman Road and Grant Line Road, with additional coverage in the Vineyard area, north of Calvine Road, as far north as Florin Road, from Elk Grove-Florin Road to Bradshaw Road, and as far north as Gerber Road, between Bradshaw Road and Excelsior Road.
Two years later in July 2021, E-Tran services were adopted, officially becoming part of the SacRT network.
“As part of the agreement, service levels will be maintained or improved,” Gonzalez said. “We are looking into potential service changes for Elk Grove in January 2025, but nothing to announce at this time. In the service changes process, we do seek public feedback and share potential changes with riders and community members before changes take effect.”
Gonzalez said commuters haven’t directly made complaints to SacRT about Elk Grove bus service levels. However, she said that SacRT is looking at adjusting some Elk Grove commuter routes to better serve a new state office location in downtown Sacramento.
Those plans, she said, are not yet in place.
Currently, bus riders can take an Elk Grove commuter bus route to a stop in downtown Sacramento then board a Green Line light rail train to the Seventh and Richards-Township 9 Station, which is directly across the street from the new state building, Gonzalez said.
“We are also looking into conducting a rider survey to get more information on service needs prior to route changes as part of an upcoming Comprehensive Operation Analysis,” she said.
‘Never been a problem’
Kalea Woodard, 19, is an Elk Grove resident who takes afternoon classes at Cosumnes River College where she studies chemistry. She commutes via E-Tran.
“It’s super convenient. It takes me to school back home. It’s simple. I’ve never had a problem or anything like that,” Woodard said. “I only started riding the bus to school last semester. So (since) spring. (The bus schedule) conveniently lines up with my classes and stuff. So, I get on the next bus, my class starts right after that and I come home.”
Woodard describes herself as a punctual person. She doesn’t worry about missing the bus or having to wait an hour for the next one.
“I’ve never missed the bus going to school, so it’s never been a problem,” she said. “It’s just when I’m coming home and I don’t mind it. I just chill here till it comes. I’ve never had a problem with that.”
As a part of SacRT’s $10 million RydeFree program, E-Tran youth riders (TK-12 students) are able to ride for free throughout the school year by obtaining a valid RydeFreeRT card, available at public libraries.
Resident suggestions
Maria Sadiqi, 22, has lived in Elk Grove for two years after coming to California from Afghanistan and has been working to save money and obtain her documentation to go to school.
Sadiqi has been adapting to the bus services for the last month to get to and from work.
“I think it’s really good. I really enjoy it. I didn’t ride the buses at first but now I do,” Sadiqi said. “I didn’t know from each bus where I could go so then I got to know.”
Sadiqi said she was not used to the bus stops or stations. Now that she does, she believes that there should be a bus stop everywhere.
She mainly uses the E-Tran services to commute to and from her job in Sacramento. Her work commute, one-way alone, requires three bus transfers and can take up to two hours.
“It’s really far for me,” Sadiqi said. “So my work time starts at 9:30. So I wake up at 6:30 to get ready. Then I have to leave around 7:30 or something like that to get the bus. …I have to go somewhere and take that bus, and after that go over there to take that bus to which I have to walk for like 5 to 10 minutes for that too.”
Even when she’s at the bus stop early or on time, there’s still a chance she can wind up late for work if a bus is delayed.
Sadiqi suggested that Elk Grove get more buses on the road, like Sacramento, in case of delays and to prevent people from being late.
“I just want to be on the buses on time so I can reach my work place on time,” Sadiqi said. “I think after every 10 minutes there should be a bus because after 30 minutes it’s too late for anyone to go anywhere.”
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