March 2014
| Business World Magazine | 151
“We assist the cities and the county in
looking at and planning for maintenance,
repair and upgrades,” Bassett says. “And we
help advocate for funding to get those proj-
ects paid for. It’s quite a cooperative effort
and we have to make sure the projects align
with general plans for the region, SACOG’s
Metropolitan Transportation Plan, its “blue-
print,” and with local plans. We have some
very intelligent people at work, there’s good
chemistry and it’s nice to sit in a room where
the atmosphere is one of cooperation and
we’re all pulling in the same direction.”
Over the last six years, YCTD has been
working with the cities of West Sacramen-
to and Sacramento, the Sacramento Re-
gional Transit District, SACOG, Caltrans
and the FTA in planning for the establish-
ment of a streetcar system that will initially
serve downtown parts of West Sacramento
and Sacramento, as well as mid-town Sacra-
mento. The streetcar will be an added value
to the Triple-A baseball stadium in West
Sacramento (Raley Field, home of the Sac-
ramento River Cats) and a proposed sports
and entertainment complex that would host
the Sacramento Kings and other events in
downtown Sacramento.
Also on the near horizon is the establish-
ment of a region-wide “Smart” electronic
fare card system that will begin testing this
summer, with a roll-out scheduled to eight
transit operators by the fall.
