SACRAMENTO—As Sacramento Regional Transit prepares to open a new light rail segment to thousands of waiting passengers, a rapidly growing number of people are flocking to ride the existing service.

For the first time in history, RT buses and light rail trains carried more than three million passengers in a single month. The September ridership numbers increased six percent over the September 2004 numbers. Bus ridership was fairly flat, but light rail ridership jumped from 47,000 average daily riders in September 2004 to 58,000 average riders last month. That was another record milestone never before reached by the RT light rail system.

RT officials believe gas prices are influencing the ridership numbers, which represent a 23 percent increase in September’s light rail ridership. Officials had anticipated a slight drop in ridership after RT increased the base fare from $1.50 to $1.75 in September and reduced service on a few bus routes. The combination of these two factors would normally cause ridership to decline, at least for a few months, and RT had predicted September’s bus ridership at 62,100 passengers per day. But the actual average was 70,300, 13 percent higher than the estimate.

RT is forecasting further ridership increases after it starts service to Folsom this weekend. RT estimates that the new extension to downtown Folsom will add another 4,000 passengers to light rail by the end of its first year of service. That 7.4 mile extension includes four new stations at Hazel Avenue, Iron Point, Glenn Drive and downtown Folsom. RT inaugurates service there Saturday afternoon, and commuters will start boarding Monday morning.