CA: Lodi transit service expected to see 25% growth in coming years

The City of Lodi expects GrapeLine ridership to increase by 60,000 passenger trips in five years, a 25% increase over today's numbers.

Tahoe City-based LSC Transportation Consulting presented a draft Short Range Transit Plan to the Lodi City Council during a special Tuesday meeting, which contains an overview of existing GrapeLine services, transportation needs in the community and future operating plans over a five-year period, among other data.

The city's SRTP was adopted in 2019, and since that time, staff said there have been significant developments to transportation trends in Lodi, including ridership pattern changes to transit ridership patterns and new local developments.

The consulting firm said ridership will increase as the city begins implementing new routes and services over the next few years.

One of those new routes is a proposed east-to-west corridor, which will provide connections to residents not needing to visit Downtown Lodi.

The route will travel along Kettleman Lane from South Lower Sacramento Road to Cherokee Lane, as well as to Reynolds Ranch and along Harney Lane, and increase ridership by 13,800 trips, the firm said.

GrapeLine will also extend Saturday service by one hour to 7:30 p.m., increasing ridership by 720 trips annually.

In addition, bus frequency along Route 2, which travels along Central Avenue and Kettleman Lane, will increase during weekdays with service at stops every 30 minutes during peak travel times.

This will result in an increase of 15,300 passengers annually.

When Valley Rail constructs the ACE station near Flag City, GrapeLine will provide service from Downtown Lodi three times a day, increasing ridership by 5,300 trips annually.

While service increases were a top request during a survey the firm conducted last year, these improvements will also increase costs by about $554,100 annually, the firm said.

The city also plans on replacing some of its fleet by purchasing two 29-foot compressed natural gas-powered buses in fiscal year 2025-26. A 35-foot electric trolley will also be purchased, but not until fiscal year 2028-29. All three vehicles are expected to cost $2.5 million.

Bus stop improvements scheduled include 13 new locations and routine maintenance of existing ones, which will entail signage replacement, adding benches and shelters, all at a cost of $640,000.

Other improvements include communications upgrades, transit station facility repairs and parking structure security upgrades, among others, at a cost of $6.7 million.

The firm surveyed 454 residents in May and August, and found that 33% use GrapeLine to get to school, while 22% use it for shopping and 17% use it for work.

In addition, only 19% of riders have access to a vehicle if public transit wasn't available.

Another 50% said they would walk somewhere if transportation wasn't available and 14% said they would not make a trip at all.

Councilwoman Lisa Craig-Hensley thought 2030 was an ambitious target to have the ACE station up and running in Flag City, but what counted was that a plan was in place.

She also said a cross-city route that transported residents to the station was going to be a boon for the city.

"That west-east connector is going to be critical to expand into that area, particularly for jobs down the road, and planning for that now is a good thing," she said. "The housing development that might occur there, I don't know who will be the user group out there, but I think for purposes of getting jobs to expanded areas, that would be a good investment."

© 2025 the Lodi News-Sentinel (Lodi, Calif.).
Visit www.lodinews.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.