 Welcome to, in the studio, brought on by, sponsored by Davis Media Access. We are here to talk about the Yolo Bus Y Shuttle, which we'll be serving and does serve the Golden One Center in downtown Sacramento, as well as places in Yolo County. I'd like to introduce our excellent guests, both of whom have been on my board at one time or the other. Again, I'm Terry Bassett, Executive Director of the Yolo County Transportation District. To my right is Don Saylor, he's Chair of our board. Plus, he's a member of the Yolo County Board of Supervisors. To his right is Mayor Christopher Cobaldon from the city of West Sacramento. And Christopher has been on our board for, my goodness, something like 17 years, if you go back and look at it. So with that, we're going to be asking our guests a few questions about the Y Shuttle and give the public a good idea as to what it's about. So with that, I think I've got a few questions here for you. One is, can you, Don, maybe ask or explain who Yolo Bus is and what the Y Shuttle is all about? Thanks, Terry. The Yolo Bus is a collaborative transit system that's that provides service to Woodland, Winners, Davis, West Sacramento and takes our riders into the city of Sacramento, as well as to the airport, the Sacramento International Airport and the downtown Vacaville and between those cities. So it's a collaboration between the four cities in Yolo County, the county itself, and UC Davis. It's a way for us to provide inexpensive, efficient transit services that take people out of their cars and onto a bus where they can actually visit with each other. And it become a part of a kind of a community of riders. Also for the public, should know that we run 39 buses during peak hour. And we do enough miles every weekday to make it from here to Beijing, China. That's one of our favorite quotes we like to like to give. And there's paratransit service in addition to the fixed route service. So for people who have mobility limitations, we have ways of helping people get from place to place. Now we've been planning this for something like 18 months to serve the Golden One Center. And Christopher, I've got a question for you. Why is the Golden One Center important? And why is transportation vital to getting people to Sacramento and especially downtown center? Well Terry, the Golden One Center is, I mean it's instantly become one of the central meeting places of the region. A lot of folks are coming together for events of all kinds. Paul McCartney, I was at the Maroon 5 concert. Folks are going to the King's Games. They'll be Disney nice. It's gonna be a place where lots and lots of people are coming to those events. But it's also sparking lots of other auxiliary activities and events nearby. So more event venues will be emerging around the center as closer as far as in West Sacramento. And so in addition to the events that we think about being at the Golden One Center, there's also lots of other activity, development, and stuff that's going to be happening around there. So it's really critical because folks in our county, many Yolo County residents are working at the arena at the events. Or they may be working at the bar or restaurant nearby. Or maybe at the new hotel that's being constructed next to the arena. And then of course, residents from all over Yolo County are already attending the events that are at the Golden One Center. Many of our local, our operators, Rayleigh's which is headquartered in West Sacramento has a venue inside the arena. And so it's a Yolo County facility in many, many ways. And we wanna make sure that it's easy to get there for our residents. The fact that it's located downtown in the heart of the central city of our region makes transit service a really natural phenomenon. Where the former arena located out on Interstate 5 was very challenging for people to get to. The only way you could go really was by car and park. So park, so much land was used for parking. So we have a much better opportunity now to access this asset. It's also a great opportunity for transit because I mean I think our hope with the Y service is that for some folks it will be that it'll be their gateway, their gateway drug into more transit riding. Folks who maybe haven't figured out our local bus routes or they're not so sure whether how it all works. This is a simple frequent service. You don't need to carry a schedule around. It goes to the one place that you wanna go and back. So if for folks who have never tried transit or may have had bad experience somewhere else. This is a good opportunity we hope to give folks around Yolo County the chance to try a system that is 21st century that's designed for their needs to make it convenient and cheap. And hopefully our hope is that they'll say hey you know what, this was a great experience. I think I'm gonna take Yolo bus tomorrow maybe to work. I'm gonna take it to a game at Rayleigh Field to watch the Rivercats play. So it's a good way for us to be able to expose more people to how easy, convenient and affordable transit really is. And even though West Sacramento separated from Sacramento by the Sacramento River and the Tower Bridge, you view both as one consolidated downtown area in terms of how West Sacramento and you in particular look at it. Yeah, we have to. The only ones who don't think about it sometimes is a consolidated place is government. But our citizens certainly do on both sides of the river. They live, work and play in both places. And they want options and opportunities to be able to get around. And many of the people who are moving in to residences either in downtown Sacramento or especially in our waterfront districts in West Sacramento want transportation choices. And it doesn't mean that they will ride the bus every time everywhere. But maybe they'll bike part of the time or they'll walk part of the time. But if it's late at night or if it's raining, they want the transit option to be there in addition to Uber and Lyft and other ridesharing things. And so what we're trying to do is create a portfolio of opportunities so that you don't have to have a car. Or if you do have a car, you don't have to use it if you don't want to and deal with all the hassles. And that's an essential part of what this whole service is about. So one of the challenges with access into the center of the core area of our region for the arena was how do we get people in and out without congesting the traffic in the downtown area, without occupying every single spot for parking in the whole area. So without making a mess of things. And so there's been an incredible amount of thoughtful planning that's gone on across jurisdictions. And I want to compliment our mutual colleague, Chris Ledesma, who's a city council member in West Sacramento. And also a member of our Yolo County Transportation District Board for working with staff on a number of jurisdictions to help craft this solution. So what is the why? Why is a pretty exciting shuttle and the service that we have currently, that we've had for some time involves a lot of commuter buses coming in and out of the center city in Sacramento. And bringing people back to Yolo County to the cities of Woodland, Davis and West Sacramento, where a lot of people live but they work in the center. So as it happens, the events that will take place at the arena are largely outside of the commute hours. So most people who want to commute in for work are going to be able to continue unabated on the days and continue their work commute unabated. On the days when a major event takes place, then we're setting in place an impact schedule for the routes for commuter buses. And we're adding a shuttle that takes people from stops. And I'll start by just describing the Woodland route. There, people can access the shuttle on Main Street, at the Orchard Supply place, Osh on Main Street. Or at the gateway, the place where you can go, where Costco is located in those other shopping areas in the eastern part of Woodland, those two stops beginning two hours before an event time starts up. People in Woodland or people who want to get to Woodland and take the shuttle in, can get on there and they go directly to the West Sacramento Transit Center. And then they pick up new additional riders there and then go right down to the core of Sacramento where the arena is located. Similarly in Davis, there are two stops in Davis. And this all begins two hours before an event starts. In Davis, it's right across the street from the marketplace near Sycamore and Covell is one of the stops. And the other one is at the park and ride near the Ikea fruit stand in right off Mace Boulevard and Second Street in Davis. And again, that bus will be every 15 minutes during the event times, going over to West Sacramento Transit Center and then on into the area. Once they get into the city and enjoy the event and they start coming back, they route just reverses and they come back. Now some people are going to have taken a train because one of the delights is that the capital corridor passenger trains continue to operate. So some folks might want to take the train from the Davis station and ride that into the downtown area, walk to the arena. But sometimes the events will last beyond 1030, which is the last train going back to the West. So those people can get a transfer on the bus and on the train. And then as they're coming back, they can take a YOLO bus, a Y shuttle back into the area. So the idea here is to allow people to use their Uber or their Lyft or walk or bike to the place where they get on the bus and have a seamless commute. Tonight is the Jimmy Buffett concert at the arena. And the parrot heads are already there over at Rayleigh Field, starting at 10 AM this morning. They'll be able to take the Y shuttle in and then back out. Now I should point out that sometimes the special events are such that they're not always starting at 7.30 or 8 o'clock. So we sometimes have to have the buses leave Woodland and Davis earlier. The other thing I'd like to point out is the fact that our fares are three and a quarter, one way, or $1.60 for seniors. Or you can buy a $7 daily pass or a $14 group pass. You can take three friends or before of you and it'll only cost you $14 to go around trip. This is very exciting. It is exciting. I think part of what's exciting to me about it is how simple it is. Because if you transfer at the West Sacramento transit center or for my residents who go to that transit center, it mimics the streetcar line and it's alignment. But it's just a simple straight shot. Especially if you're not used to riding transit, you don't have the YOLO bus app on your phone necessarily and you're not tracking all this stuff. You don't have to worry, okay, what's the schedule? You don't have to carry a schedule, okay, it comes at 7.26 and then the next one's at 9.47. Oh my God, I'd better run to the thing. You just know, it's gonna be there every 15 minutes. So it's very simple to use. It's not gonna take you some crazy place. It's gonna go right where you came from or directly to the arena. So it simplifies the transit experience in a really good way, while it's being a very affordable option and a reliable option. Which the other, there are other ways to get to and from the arena. A ride sharing is an option for some. But as you know, Terry, there are folks who it's especially when you get past West Sacramento, but even in West Sacramento, so many riders, so many arena attendees want to get out of the arena and get home. I had this experience the other night at the Merman 5 concert. So ride sharing is a great option, but it can be very expensive, because everybody wants it all at once. And that's when surge pricing comes into effect. Whereas with the Y, I took an Uber home from the Merman 5 concert. Bab Sendeen, our vice mayor, took the Y, and she was home way ahead of me. And that's an example, and she only paid nothing. And we paid 3X surge pricing. So it's a great example of how, from the closest part of Yolo County to the arena, to the farthest stretches, where an Uber ride, 3X, because we're running 100 bucks, if you're going up to Cache Creek or whatever. So it's a great alternative for residents to be able to use. And even if you don't use it, to know that it's there. And right now, until November 20th, you can look at the Davis Enterprise or the Woodland Daily Democrat, and you can get a free coupon. You can ride it for free until November 20th as a way to kind of let people know. And in terms of letting people know how to access this service, check out the website, YoloTransit.com slash Y, or just go pick up one of these nice little brochures that gives you the map and the schedule and everything's here. And if you have, I think one of the things that I like about what we're doing right now is we're nimble. So if somebody's got some suggestions about improvements, let us know. Because we can make the service be the best it can be. Even if you don't get the brochure, you can also just like, if you walk around your town, if you, Yolo Bus. I think Supervisor Taylor said something about Costco. So if you're around Costco, or around downtown West Sacramento, or if you're at the arena and you've got there, somebody dropped you off or you took an Uber, now it's search pricing. And you're like, just look for these signs, they're everywhere. And since you know that it's gonna be, you're not gonna pay much of anything, if anything, and it's gonna go right to where you need to go, you don't need to have all that other information too. So it's great to have the background and it's easily accessible through the brochures on the buses, through the internet and through your phone. But even if you don't have those, just look for the Y sign in your town or at the arena and it'll take you where you need to go. And a couple of clarifications. One, it's YoloBus.com is our website. And it's also important to know that the Y shuttle between the West Sacramento Transit Center and downtown is free. The fare that's being applied is only for the long distance trips from Davis and Woodland. In particular, one of the things we've discovered is the trip is much faster than we feared. So do you think that's going to help get people on to transit sooner than later? I think people ride transit if it's predictable. They know what time it's coming, it's reliable, and it's safe and clean. And all those things are gonna be, that's gonna be what the Y is about. So I'm really excited and looking forward to using this service. Yeah, I think one of the great things about the Y is we were able to negotiate an agreement with the city of Sacramento so that the Y, even when their streets are closed as part of the traffic management plan for the city of Sacramento Police Department, they're allowing us to run the Y down the main streets, that's gonna really ensure that we have very solid reliability. So you're not gonna be in a bus stuck in traffic. You're gonna be zooming right past an empty, through an empty street in order to get back to the transit center and onto your destination in any of the Yolo County community. So it's a, it's a, it provides both speed and reliability that is, it's important when at the end of the game or the concert, you wanna get home and the Y is gonna give you that, that reliability. So with that, I'd like to thank our, our guests, Mayor Christopher Caballum from West Sacramento and Chair Don Saylor from the Yolo County Transportation District and the Yolo County Board of Supervisors. And especially we'd like to thank the audience that is viewing this show on in the studio.