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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KTXL) — There’s scooters, bikes, cars, SUVs and even public transportation buses. These are all rideshare and transportation options that residents and visitors of Sacramento can use to get around the city if they do not have their own car. 

In recent years, the city has approved multiple rideshare companies to offer their services in the region, and the public transportation system, Sacramento Regional Transit, has been expanding its own rideshare service, including its own ride-on-demand service SmaRT Ride. 

Below are the various ways to get around the capital city using smartphone apps and even with an old-fashioned phone call. 

Vehicles on demand

Both of the most well-known rideshare services operate in the city and the surrounding region, including to and from the airport, although services can be limited depending on the time of day and how many drivers are active. 

Years ago, Lyft announced that its service was available in the entire state of California, and Uber’s website shows that its Sacramento office services everything east and north of the city, all the way to the state borders. 

The company Zipcar has been operating rideshare vehicles for several years and consists of cars and SUVs parked around the city that can be rented for several hours or days at a time.

The vehicles are parked in designated areas and must be returned to these, although they can be rented and taken out of the city during the rental period. 

E-bikes and e-scooters

You’ll see Lime bikes and scooters on the streets, and these can be operated using the Uber app or the actual Lime app. 

When e-bikes first appeared in Sacramento, they were a part of Social Bicycles, which later became Jump, which was then acquired by Uber and eventually sold to Lime. 

The companies Spin and Bird also operate in the city. All of the companies have their own service areas, but these tend to be concentrated in the central part of the city, along with East Sacramento and parts of North and South Sacramento. 

Heads up, since leaving the boundaries or locking up the scooters and bikes in unapproved areas —mainly bike racks— can result in additional charges. 

Sacramento Regional Transit

The capital city region’s system of buses and light rail trains has been operating for decades and extends into surrounding cities. You can see maps of the bus and light rail routes here. 

Using transportation grants, SacRT launched and has recently been expanding its on-demand service SmaRT Ride, a service that works similar to Uber and Lyft and costs the same as the bus and light rail options. 

SmaRT Ride, as of fall 2022, is available in nine areas in the Sacramento metropolitan region, and users can use it to summon a public transit vehicle that will pick them up and drop them off so long as the pickup and dropoff points are within the same region. 

The system calculates the different ride requests and may pick up additional passengers before the first ones are dropped off at their destination. Groups of five or more can use the service for free. 

The service operates during the week and in most regions picks up and drops off passengers about one or two blocks from the designated points in order to speed up service for all passengers. 

Using SmaRT Ride requires two apps, the first being the app to request rides and the second app, ZipPass, being the one to pay for the fares, although these can also be paid with a Connect Card or with cash. The service can also be requested via phone call. 

If you don’t have your own car and you don’t want to use any of these rideshare or public transit services, you can always move around using your own two feet.