Sep 23, 2026 · 16 min · 9 segments
In this episode of Next Stop: SacRT, host Gregg Fishman talks with James Drake, SacRT’s Senior Manager of Service planning about the challenges of designing and managing bus service across a growing…
Gregg FishmanHost
So I've been at SACRT almost four years, and I am still learning a ton, and I was not previously involved in transit.
The big picture planning, like how do we transition to a zero-carbon bus fleet? Where do we need new light rail stations? And then equally important, how do we maximize the system we have now? How do we get the most bang for the buck? I'm sure that that's an oversimplified way of looking at it.
How would you describe those two main disciplines? Am I even looking at this accurately? Is that a decent way
Most transit planning departments are kind of split, formally or not, into a long-range unit and a short-range unit, for lack of a better term.
And the long range unit, it may be called capital planning, capital development, but they're usually dealing with light rail extensions, bus rapid transit, station design, garages, but big facilities, grant funded stuff, major investments.
And then what I work in, What I think kind of sounds like an oxymoron, short-range planning, probably more widely or accurately called like service planning or service development.
And we kind of have the fun side of the job to me because we're usually not dealing as much with grants.
We're working more with the frontline people, probably more with customer service, more with marketing comms, that kind of thing.
So I've been at SACRT almost four years, and I am still learning a ton, and I was not previously involved in transit.
The big picture planning, like how do we transition to a zero-carbon bus fleet? Where do we need new light rail stations? And then equally important, how do we maximize the system we have now? How do we get the most bang for the buck? I'm sure that that's an oversimplified way of looking at it.
How would you describe those two main disciplines? Am I even looking at this accurately? Is that a decent way
Most transit planning departments are kind of split, formally or not, into a long-range unit and a short-range unit, for lack of a better term.
And the long range unit, it may be called capital planning, capital development, but they're usually dealing with light rail extensions, bus rapid transit, station design, garages, but big facilities, grant funded stuff, major investments.
And then what I work in, What I think kind of sounds like an oxymoron, short-range planning, probably more widely or accurately called like service planning or service development.
And we kind of have the fun side of the job to me because we're usually not dealing as much with grants.
We're working more with the frontline people, probably more with customer service, more with marketing comms, that kind of thing.
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