Day 5: Sounds of the Light Rail

"Watt-I80 bound train.
The next stop will be 8th and Capitol."

Sacramento's public transportation system is known as RT (Regional Transit) and includes numerous bus routes and 3 light rail lines (gold, blue, green).  There's a bus stop just outside our home office window, across from Roosevelt Park, and another across the street from our townhouse complex driveway.  But we never take the bus.

"Train is departing.  Please stand clear.
The next stop will be 9th and K, St. Rose."

The CPCA office is 1 mile from our house, and I never have to drive the car to work.  I do occasionally take the scooter if I have lots of stuff to bring or the CSA box to pick up in the afternoon.  Otherwise, I walk, bike, or take the light rail, depending on weather and/or my schedule for the day. 

"Watt-I80 bound train.
The next stop will be 11th and K, Cathedral."

The light rail has a very distinctive sound, a dull whooshing as the train moves along its tracks.  And the warning bell as it approaches a station or intersection is equally distinctive and recognizable.

"Train is departing.  Please stand clear.
The next stop will be 12th and I."

The nearest light rail station is 2.5 blocks from home, just around the corner from our gym, and I have only 4 stops until I reach the 12th & I station, which is 1 block from the office.

"Watt-I80 bound train.
The next stop will be Alkali Flat/La Valentina."

Oddly enough, there is no RT service to the Sacramento airport.  For that, you have to use the Yolobus, which is based out of neighboring West Sacramento, just across the Sacramento River in Yolo County.

"Train is departing.  Please stand clear."

The female automated voice of the light rail is calm, low, and soothing.  I wonder if the voiceover talent ever rides the train and gets tired of hearing her own voice over and over?