If you’ve ever been frustrated by Unitrans, tonight at 6 in the Davis Community Chambers is the time to speak up.
Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) will be holding an “Unmet Transit Needs” hearing tomorrow for four counties in the Sacramento area including Yuba, Yolo, Sacramento and Sutter.
Tonight’s meeting, an annual requirement from the California Transportation Act, will provide an opportunity for members of the public to speak out about issues concerning them in public transportation.
“This is an open book chance for people to come in and say that they have needs that need to be met,” said Geoff Straw, general manager for Unitrans.
Straw said SACOG takes the comments from these meetings into careful consideration following two filters. The first will look at the financial feasibility of the suggestion with existing funds and the second looks at the efficiency and effectiveness of the suggestion.
“This is an important test [within the community] because there are a lot of transit needs that are unmet,” Straw said.
Straw also said that some of the best ideas have come from such annual meetings with the public, such as Uni-Ride, a bus stop to bus stop program that allows people to have a shuttle transport them from one bus stop to any other.
Fatima Sajjadi, a junior psychology major and regular bus rider of the D, P and Q lines to campus, said that there can be some areas of improvement for Unitrans.
“I don’t really have any problems with the actual buses, but sometimes they can be 15 minutes late and then I’m late for my classes,” she said.
Sajjadi also said that on some days buses on the D line can be overcrowded, especially when it rains.
Straw encourages students who have suggestions or issues to come to the meeting and voice their opinions. Issues that have been brought up in the past to him usually concern more weekend services. One of the biggest problems, he said, was getting more drivers to meet those needs.
“We have done a good job over recent summers with getting more drivers. This past summer, we got 58 new ones. Now we have room for possibility,” he said.
If one is unable to attend the meeting, Straw encourages people to send comments and concerns to unitrans@ucdavis.edu or to SACOG at transit_needs@sacog.org.
Davis Community Chambers is attached to City Hall, located on Fifth and B streets. For more information about the meeting, go to unitrans.ucdavis.edu.
ANGELA RUGGIERO can be reached at campus@theaggie.org
