Elk Grove seniors are about to get a serious transit upgrade. The City Council has signed off on a yearlong pilot that lets residents 62 and older ride a set of Sacramento Regional Transit buses for free, a move city officials say is aimed at boosting ridership and helping neighbors who cannot easily drive, bike or walk to appointments and errands.
The program, called Seniors Ride Free, applies to seven local routes and ten commuter lines that start or end in Elk Grove, 17 fixed route buses in all. It does not apply to light rail, GO Paratransit or SacRT Flex. The city will reimburse SacRT for each senior trip up to a cap of $100,000, using funds from Measure E, the one cent sales tax approved by voters in 2022, according to The Sacramento Bee.
Residents 62 and older can ride by showing a government issued ID when they board during the pilot. SacRT’s Elk Grove fares page lists seniors as 62 and older and shows a standard single fare of $2.25 and a discounted fare of $1.10, which means the city’s payments will cover that senior fare on the eligible routes, according to SacRT.
How the pilot will run
The one year program will require eligible Elk Grove residents to pick up a physical senior transit pass before hopping on for free. Passes will be available at Sacramento Public Library branches, senior centers, Elk Grove City Hall and SacRT’s customer service and sales center. City officials say the effort follows the RydeFreeRT student program, launched in 2019, which the city reports helped student ridership climb from roughly 100,000 rides to about 203,000 rides in 2023. Mayor Bobbie Singh Allen told council members she hopes the pilot both boosts ridership and improves access, while councilmember Rod Brewer flagged that some seniors cannot reach bus stops at all and suggested exploring an expansion that would include SacRT Flex, according to The Sacramento Bee.
Why SacRT Flex matters
Advocates and some councilmembers pointed to SacRT Flex, a limited shared use mobility service that prioritizes seniors, people with disabilities and low income riders, as a crucial option for residents who live far from fixed route stops. SacRT Flex requires riders to pre register and charges a flat $2.50 fare for eligible users, and it replaced the costlier SmaRT Ride on demand service, according to reporting on the transition by CapRadio.
City officials say the Seniors Ride Free pilot is designed as a locally funded test to see whether eliminating fares for older residents increases transit use and helps reduce isolation. Elk Grove plans to track ridership and costs throughout the year, then revisit the program once the pilot wraps up.
