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Sacramento Regional Transit took its next step in establishing a transit line through Natomas to Sacramento International Airport, but the project will begin with buses rather than light rail.
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The agency has received $700,000 in grants to conduct a feasibility study and conceptual design for a bus rapid transit line connecting downtown Sacramento to the airport, according to board documents. Bus rapid transit is a bus-based system that speeds service with features such as dedicated lanes, traffic signal priority and enhanced stations.
On Monday, the board approved a resolution authorizing CEO Henry Li to execute agreements needed to accept a $500,000 Caltrans Strategic Partnerships grant awarded in late May to fund the BRT study. The remaining $200,000 comes from a Smart Growth grant funded through Measure A, a voter-approved half-cent county sales tax for transportation improvements. Regional Transit partnered with the city of Sacramento, Sacramento County and the Sacramento Transportation Authority to secure the grants.
The study is expected to begin in the spring of 2027, with public outreach scheduled for the summer. It will include ridership projections, traffic modeling and a cost-benefit analysis before identifying the preferred route and concept by fall 2027.
Regional Transit hopes to launch bus service in 2030.
What is bus rapid transit, or BRT?
Regional Transit currently runs Route 142 — an express bus serving the airport — that makes 11 stops downtown, but does not make any stops through the city’s northwest tier and is not a BRT.
BRTs are designed to bridge the gap between traditional bus service and light rail. The Federal Transit Administration defines it as a form of rapid transit that combines the quality of rail service with the flexibility of buses, while Caltrans describes it as a way to convert conventional bus routes into a faster, more efficient transit system through a combination of roadway improvements, station upgrades and specialized vehicles.
Unlike a traditional local bus, BRT typically emphasizes fewer stops, faster boarding, dedicated bus lanes where feasible and traffic signals that give buses priority on the road. Depending on the corridor, systems also can include level boarding, prepaid fares, real-time arrival information and stations designed more like light rail platforms than bus stops.
California has several established BRT systems, and not every BRT line looks the same.
Los Angeles Metro, which created the first BRT more than 50 years ago, operates the G Line, a dedicated busway through the San Fernando Valley, and the J Line, which uses freeway transitways connecting El Monte, downtown Los Angeles and San Pedro. San Francisco’s Van Ness Bus Rapid Transit corridor uses center-running bus lanes and transit-priority signals, cutting bus travel times by as much as 36% and reduced injury collisions by half, according to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.
Sacramento Regional Transit is also pursuing BRT elsewhere in the capital region. The agency has identified Route 51 on the Stockton Boulevard-Broadway corridor as its flagship BRT project, with plans for dedicated bus lanes, stations with upgraded seating and lighting, raised platforms and more frequent service.
The study will identify appropriate features for the Green Line BRT to the airport, RT spokesperson Jessica Gonzalez said. The number of dedicated lane miles will be evaluated during the design phase, which is expected to begin in early 2028.
Why not light rail?
The long-term goal remains extending the Green Line light rail to Sacramento International Airport, according to board documents and the agency’s website. However, the estimated $2 billion cost includes major infrastructure projects, including a new American River bridge.
Sacramento Regional Transit has been considering BRT as a short-term improvement since 2023, Gonzalez said.
“Recognizing the significant capital investment required, SacRT is actively exploring the possibility of building the project in phases,” the agency said in a news release. One of the phases in consideration, they added, is bus rapid transit.
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“A BRT connection to the airport could be implemented with a modest increase in operating funds,” Gonzalez said. “In contrast, a light rail connection would require new revenue sources for both construction and operations, and its feasibility will be determined through future planning and funding efforts.”
BRT is much less expensive than light rail because the bus system can use existing roadway infrastructure, requires smaller and simpler stations and uses less-expensive vehicles — with a 60-foot bus costing about $1.5 million and a train with two cars costing about $10 million, according to Gonzalez. However, a light rail train can carry two to three times more passengers than a BRT.
The BRT line would generally follow the same route and planned stops as the proposed Green Line extension, running along Seventh Street and Truxel Road, according to the release. The agency said the route would allow transit service to begin sooner while building ridership for a future light rail extension.
“Evaluating or implementing BRT does not replace or preclude the future Green Line. Instead, it provides an opportunity to deliver improved transit sooner while preserving the long-term vision of extending light rail to Sacramento International Airport as funding becomes available,” the board measure reads.
RT board director and Sacramento City Councilmember Roger Dickinson said he hopes the BRT plan does not prove to be a barrier to eventually setting up a light rail line. Directors Linda Budge, a Rancho Cordova City Council member, and Caity Maple, a Sacramento City Council member, agreed.
“I’ve been convinced for a very long time that that was the right mode to the airport and for Natomas,” Dickinson said during the meeting. “(BRT) makes sense as a practical matter in the interim, but I hope and expect based on your intention, that it will not become a distraction from that ultimate objective.”
Board director Phil Serna, who represents the area on the Board of Supervisors, said he wanted further information on the expiration dates of land dedications that were made for the light rail line. He worries that if they time out, competing interests may make it more difficult to realize a light rail connection between downtown and the airport.
The light rail route was determined following a series of studies, analyses, the Transit Master Plan and an environmental impact report conducted between 1991 and 2010. Each planning effort identified light rail as the preferred long-term transit investment, the board documents state. BRT was not included in the earlier studies because they focused on identifying the long-term solution.
Airport has planned for rail service
The Green Line to the airport is included in RT’s long range plans, the Sacramento Area Council of Governments’ metropolitan transportation plan and Sacramento’s general plan.
County airport spokesperson Scott Johnston said passengers regularly ask about a light rail connection. The question became common enough that Sacramento International Airport addressed it in a social media post earlier this month, which generated more than 100 comments.
Although the airport cannot put money toward building the service directly, space has been reserved for a future light rail station if the project comes to fruition, according to the airport’s 2020 master plan.
“We planned ahead,” the airport said in its Instagram post, “because we know it’s something the region has wanted for a long time.”
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