SACOG Local Transportation Initiatives

SACOG (Sacramento Area Council of Governments), which has a planning area that correlates closely to our market area, is an association of 22 cities and six Sacramento Area counties that works on transportation, land use and regional issues.

As one of its functions, SACOG assists in planning for transit, bicycle networks and clean air.

There are currently 47 similar organizations across California that are members of CALCOG.

As you’ll read below, some of SACOG’s transportation-related initiatives provide opportunities for local nonprofit and for-profit businesses.

SACOG Planning Area

What exactly does the SACOG Planning Area consist of?

Below is a Google My Map of the SACOG counties and cities that we put together. The counties and cities are listed at the end of this post. You can also view the map in a separate tab.

Area Population Growth

An ever growing population is one of the reasons that associations like SACOG are so active in transportation. Population growth strains the existing transportation infrastructure. Continually adjusting to a growing population is necessary from a planning perspective.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of Sacramento County grew in population by 234% from July, 1970 to July of 2015. Placer County’s population grew by 478% during the same time period.

Civic Lab & Transportation

SACOG kicked off Civic Lab in June of 2017.

This 5-minute video from SACOG’s YouTube channel explains a number of creative transportation initiatives by Civic Lab that involve both existing and new technologies, including microtransit and autonomous vehicle systems.

The video specifically mentions transportation as it relates to agritourism in El Dorado County, where Fortis is located.

For its second year, Civic Lab will shift focus on envisioning and testing new ways to revitalize commercial corridors, given the challenges that many of them face.

Electric Bike Share

A Sacramento regional bike share launched in May of 2018.

The bike share launch was the result of a public-private partnership between Social Bicycles, SACOG, and the cities of Davis, Sacramento, and West Sacramento.

Social Bicycles, Inc., an Uber-owned company, is the maker of the JUMP electric bike. The Sacramento region is the biggest JUMP market yet. The full system will consist of 900 bikes.

There is a Wiki Map of existing JUMP hubs and user-suggested hubs to which anyone can suggest new hubs.

Update: On July 28, 2018, the Sacramento Bee reported that JUMP can’t keep up with the demand for bike share. Here’s a video from the same article:

Autonomous Vehicles

The Autonomous Transportation Open Standards Lab (ATOS) is a is a Sacramento-based public-private consortium of government agencies and connected and autonomous vehicle technology companies working in partnership to co-develop interoperable protocols and standards.”

As part of SACOG’s Civic Lab, there are plans for a driverless shuttle that would take commuters from the 65th Street Light Rail Station to campus to Sacramento State by 2019.

Vivek Ranadivé, owner and chairman of the Sacramento Kings, foresees a Sacramento that leads the nation in autonomous vehicles.

Competitive Grant Programs

There are opportunities for local (and non-local) businesses to participate in projects funded through SACOG grants.

For example, in June of 2018, over $1,000,000 was earmarked for funding of multiple Transportation Demand Management (TDM) projects.

As a subcontractor to an eligible applicant, a for-profit business can participate in the testing of new ideas and/or market expansion as it pertains to “small non-infrastructure programs, events, or projects to reduce single occupancy vehicle trips and miles by encouraging biking, walking, riding transit, carpooling, vanpooling, teleworking, and/or other means as options for reducing car trips.”

Innovations grants favor projects that involve “testing a new strategy or tactic for changing travel behavior.”

SACOG Counties

• El Dorado
• Placer
• Sacramento
• Sutter
• Yolo
• Yuba

SACOG Cities

The following are the 22 SACOG cities along with their respective counties.