SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - Loud or sleeping people will soon be asked to leave buses and light rail trains in Sacramento under new rules approved by transportation officials Monday night, though efforts to ban smelly riders did not pass.
The proposals come as Sacramento enjoys a downtown building boom that will eventually add a high-end basketball arena and a soccer stadium, amenities that officials hope will draw patrons to the area by light rail, bus or train.
"If we can make it more attractive or make it more enjoyable to use the light rail or bus, then people are more apt to use it," said Alane Masui, spokeswoman for the Sacramento Regional Transit District.
Like many American cities, Sacramento fans out toward its suburbs in a sprawling metropolitan grid built more for automobiles than transit in most areas, and has struggled to win middle-class riders to its bus and light rail system.
Complaints abound. Last year, nearly 7,000 customers contacted the transit system's customer advocacy department, which mostly takes complaints, and transit officials also reported 318 crimes, according to Masui and transit system data.
The system, which serves the City and County of Sacramento, has about 98,000 boardings on weekdays.
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Hmmm.... it sucks about the smelly people. To me, they are worse than the loud ones. You can always headphone up more than you can plug your nose.
ReplyDeleteSo basically this means it will now be illegal to fall asleep on the train? How on earth will they police that? "Excuse me, sir - you fell asleep and we have to ask you to leave the train for which you've paid a full fare".
ReplyDeleteOr do they get a warning and admonishment to make sure they stay awake?
I don't think it's making it illegal to sleep on a train. The line from the article is "and will be banned from sleeping on a train that has reached the end of the line". I think it is pertaining to people who stay on the train after it has gone out of service at the end of the line (ie. homeless people looking for shelter to sleep for the night).
ReplyDeleteIn view of the skunk incident,I have changed my position on the smelley people ban...
ReplyDelete