Loud or sleeping people or people wearing provoking clothes will soon be asked to take a hike not bus or light rail train in Sacramento, California, under new rules approved by transportation officials, however efforts to ban smelly riders were tuned down.
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.
Under the ordinance, passengers will no longer be allowed to get on a bus or train unless they are covered above and below the waist and wearing shoes.
