SACRAMENTO, Calif. — As the price of gas continues to surge into record-breaking territory, officials say bus services in Sacramento have seen an uptick in ridership.
Officials with Sacramento Regional Transit (SacRT) say they have already seen an uptick in ridership based on preliminary data for the months of February and March.
"We're starting to see that ridership tick up," said Jessica Gonzalez, a spokesperson for SacRT. "We're not sure if it's solely because of gas prices. It could be people starting to return back to the office, so we're keeping a close eye on that."
According to Gonzalez, preliminary data shows a 10% increase in ridership this year, continuing into the month of March.
"Just in our initial reports from February, we're seeing a 10% increase from January," Gonzalez said. "We're actually seeing a 10% increase in the first week of March from the month of February."
As SacRT ridership increases, so does the average price of gas. As of Tuesday, commuters in Sacramento are paying an average of $5.28 for a gallon of regular gas, according to AAA.
State-wide, the average price for a regular gallon of gas was listed at $5.34 Tuesday, compared to the average price of a regular gallon of gas in California a year ago which was $3.74, the AAA reports.
According to SacRT, the average price of a trip on one of their buses is $2.50.
"Dealing with a surge in gas prices, we do want people to consider transit as an option," Gonzalez said. "It's only $2.50 per trip. We also have discount fare, we have free fare for students, so a lot of great options there to save some money."
►Local Gas Prices: Click here to view ABC10's interactive map of gas prices around Sacramento.
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