From VanPools to Trails: Nevada County Talks Transportation

TRUCKEE — On Tuesday, Nevada County hosted a joint meeting with county supervisors and city council members from Truckee, Nevada City, and Grass Valley. Representatives listened to two panels: one exploring transportation solutions to enhance accessibility and reduce dependence on personal vehicles and another focusing on active transportation, emphasizing biking and trail systems.

The first panel was introduced by Robin Van Valkenburg, Nevada County Transit Services Division Manager. Public transportation options remain limited in Nevada County, especially for longer trips. The panel reviewed four programs currently underway to expand such services.

Brian Hitchcock from Enterprise Commute Sales highlighted their VanPool service, which is designed for employee commutes. “One of the challenges that I think we have in Western Nevada County is that we don’t have ride-sharing app functionality the way that some other communities do. It’s not entirely lucrative for the drivers for Uber and Lyft. Also, there are a lot of areas where there are blackouts, so the drivers can’t go due to the rules of the companies,” says Hitchcock.

Alfred Knotts, Transportation Program Manager for the Town of Truckee, presented the TART Connect program, a microtransit service featuring small buses with demand-based routing. After its launch as a pilot in 2022, the program’s ridership has surged significantly. “We increased our annual ridership essentially from about 30,000 passengers per year to over 120,000 passengers in that fiscal year, and now we’ve seen that ridership increase to over 200,000 passengers. So, in about a year and a half, we’ve seen our ridership increase by about 500 percent,” explained Knotts. Costs per ride dropped from $85 to $12-$13 per passenger as a result.

Truckee provides shuttle services for special events, too. Danielle McHugh, Transportation Program Analyst, detailed offerings for Truckee Thursdays and Fourth of July celebrations, started in 2016. “If we’re conservatively estimating an average of three people per car, event shuttles help reduce the number of cars on the road and in the parking lots by about 240 to 260 per event,” says McHugh. Newer options like TART Connect may now be impacting shuttle usage.

Cory Peterson from the Placer County Transportation Planning Agency addressed the potential expansion of the Capitol Corridor Amtrak route to Truckee and Reno. “This is not a new idea... This has really been talked about for the last couple of decades or as early back as 1995,” said Peterson. Re-installing a second track over Donner Summit, removed by Southern Pacific in 1993 for cost savings, would likely be necessary. Such an expansion would link Nevada County to Sacramento and the Bay Area by rail.

Following a short break, attention turned to bicycle and trail initiatives for local travel improvements. Dan Wilkins, Truckee’s Town Engineer and Public Works Director, moderated the second panel.

Truckee launched an e-bike share program in 2021, offering a city-based transport alternative. Alfred Knotts noted the service also encourages a healthy, active lifestyle. Available May through October, the e-bikes logged 60,000 miles in their second year.

The Truckee Trails Foundation leads the Pines to Mines project, aiming to link Nevada City and Truckee with a 72-mile surface trail system. Executive Director Allison Pedley stated a 3-mile section will be finished by summer.

The Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship’s Connected Communities project seeks to tie Truckee to northern Sierra and Plumas County areas. Program Manager Kurt Gensheimer explained federal delays have slowed progress. Still, trail work can double as forest fuel management, which remains a priority federally. On current implementation, “We’ve constructed about seven miles so far on the Boca project, and for Verdi Ridge, we’ve cut in about five miles last fall and hope to cut in another ten this year,” says Gensheimer.

The meeting wrapped up with trail management and etiquette enforcement. Truckee Police Lieutenant Lisa Madden addressed issues like speeding and helmet use. “We try to educate people, but sometimes there’s times when we have to write them a citation. But most [important] is collaboration, and we collaborate with our town partners,” says Madden. Paved multi-use trails in Truckee have a 15-mile-per-hour speed limit, with 25 bicycle citations issued in 2024.