Every weekday at 10 minutes past the hour, an all-electric bus leaves the Galleria Transfer Point. Eight minutes later it stops at Sutter Roseville Medical Center, and seven minutes after that it reaches Kaiser Roseville Medical Center. By 42 minutes past the hour it is at the Watt/I-80 light rail station. This is Rapid Link, which Roseville Transit launched on Thursday, Oct. 1, and for now it costs nothing to ride.
The City's announcement calls it an express route for regional travel along the Highway 65 and Interstate 80 corridors. The timetable suggests something more local. Buses run the same hourly pattern from early morning to early evening. They don't bunch up at rush hour. For someone already living in Roseville, that makes Rapid Link a weekday link between the city's two hospitals, its largest shopping center and the regional rail line, and it works best for trips between breakfast and dinner.
Five stops, three of them inside Roseville
The route is short, and every stop is a place people already drive to:
- Lincoln Park & Ride, at Industrial Avenue and Highway 65
- Galleria Transfer Point, at the park-and-ride lot on Galleria Circle and West Drive
- Sutter Roseville Medical Center, where the City's stop map puts the bus on Medical Plaza Drive
- Kaiser Roseville Medical Center, with the stop marked at the hospital on the City's map
- Watt Avenue and I-80 Light Rail Station, the end of the line and a Blue Line connection
Westfield Galleria at Roseville, Sutter and Kaiser are the three destinations the City itself names along the corridor. The Galleria stop is also the route's hub. Southbound buses wait there for 15 minutes before heading on toward the hospitals, and northbound buses wait 7 minutes before continuing to Lincoln.
The timetable reads like an errand schedule
Roseville Transit already runs Commuter service, and the City describes it as weekday express routes to downtown Sacramento during peak hours. Rapid Link is listed separately as weekday express service to light rail. The City hasn't said it replaces any Commuter route. What sets it apart is the schedule. Rapid Link runs every hour, all day long, and the midday buses run on the same times as the morning ones.
That steady pattern makes trips easy to plan. Here are the Roseville segments, taken from the City's published schedule:
| Trip | Leaves | Arrives | Ride time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Galleria to Sutter | :10 | :18 | 8 min |
| Galleria to Kaiser | :10 | :25 | 15 min |
| Galleria to Watt/I-80 | :10 | :42 | 32 min |
| Watt/I-80 to Kaiser | :48 | :02 | 14 min |
| Kaiser to Sutter | :02 | :09 | 7 min |
| Kaiser to Galleria | :02 | :14 | 12 min |
| Lincoln to Galleria | :42 | :55 | 13 min |
The City marks the hospital times, and the Galleria arrival times, as approximate.
Here's how that works for a hospital visit. Catch the 11:10 a.m. bus at the Galleria and you're at Kaiser around 11:25. The next northbound bus passes Kaiser at about 12:02 p.m. and reaches the Galleria at 12:14. If the visit runs long, the following bus comes through around 1:02. Sutter follows the same rhythm. Southbound buses arrive around 18 minutes past the hour, and northbound buses pick up around 9 past. With one bus an hour, a missed pickup is a long wait, so these clock times matter more than the route map.
The Galleria trip has a seasonal upside too. The Roseville Parkway widening between Gibson Drive and Creekside Ridge Drive will continue through early 2027 in its first phase. The City says it will pause construction during the holiday shopping season. Even with that pause, the Galleria lot fills up in December. A bus that drops riders at the Galleria Transfer Point gets them there without circling for a parking space.
Where the day ends early
The daytime schedule is generous. The evening schedule isn't. Rapid Link runs Monday through Friday only, and the City lists no weekend service.
The last full southbound trip leaves Lincoln at 5:42 p.m., leaves the Galleria at 6:10 and reaches Watt/I-80 at 6:42. The 6:42 p.m. departure from Lincoln stops at the Galleria at 6:55 and goes no farther. Northbound, the last full trip leaves Watt/I-80 at 5:48 p.m. and reaches Lincoln at 6:36. The 6:48 p.m. bus ends at the Galleria at 7:14. The Sacramento Bee summed up the service window as about 6:40 a.m. to 7:15 p.m.
So someone riding light rail home from a late meeting downtown has to be back at Watt/I-80 by 6:48 p.m. to catch the last bus into Roseville. That last bus still passes Kaiser at about 7:02 and Sutter at about 7:09 before it ends at the Galleria. For appointments and shopping, the timing works. For a night out in Sacramento, it doesn't. Roseville Transit runs a different service for one kind of night out, covered at the end of this post.
Free for now, price still unannounced
The City says riders can use Rapid Link free "for a limited time" before fares start. As of the Sacramento Bee's Sept. 27 story, officials hadn't said what the fare will be. Neither the City nor the Bee has given an end date for the free period.
Roseville's fare page lists the Connect Card for Local and Commuter service. It doesn't yet say whether Connect Card will work on Rapid Link once fares begin. For now, the tool to download is TripShot. The City uses it for trip planning, live bus tracking and alerts. On a route where the next bus is an hour away, being able to see the bus coming is worth having.
The free weeks are the easiest time to test the Galleria-to-Kaiser loop or a light rail transfer. That way, the decision about whether it's worth paying for comes later, once the price is known.
The first two weeks at Watt/I-80
The south end of the route has some temporary disruptions that overlap with Rapid Link's first month. SacRT is rebuilding the platform at Fruitridge Station, and that work affects the Blue Line from Monday, Oct. 5 through Saturday, Oct. 17:
- Oct. 5 to Oct. 7. Trains run through the work zone, but Fruitridge Station is closed. A bus bridge runs between City College and 47th Avenue for riders going to or from Fruitridge.
- Oct. 8 to Oct. 17. Trains run normally between Watt/I-80 and City College. A bus bridge covers City College to Florin, and trains run from Florin to Cosumnes River College.
- Oct. 18. Regular Blue Line service resumes.
So a Rapid Link rider headed for Midtown or downtown Sacramento shouldn't be affected during these two weeks. The transfer adds time only for trips south of City College.
SacRT is also doing construction at the Watt/I-80 station itself. Its notice says the upper-level southbound bus stop is closed, and it sends SacRT riders to a temporary stop on Watt Avenue near Longview Drive, in front of Sacramento Inn & Suites. That notice doesn't say where Rapid Link stops, so check TripShot before your first transfer there.
At the station, SacRT lists bus routes 1, 15, 26, 84 and 93, along with the Blue Line toward Cosumnes River College.
The Lincoln lot becomes a transfer point
The north end changed on Oct. 1 as well. Placer County Transit Route 20 now ends at the Lincoln Park & Ride on its existing schedule and no longer serves Twelve Bridges. Route 70 now stops at the lot, with new stop times. Starting Monday, Oct. 12, Yuba-Sutter Transit adds a Lincoln/Roseville Route with three weekday round trips and two on Saturdays, connecting at the same lot.
For a Roseville rider, this means the Galleria Transfer Point is now one transfer from destinations well north of Placer County. The Sacramento Bee reports that Rapid Link is operated with the Placer County Transportation Planning Agency, Placer County Transit, Yuba-Sutter Transit, SacRT and the City of Lincoln, and that it is part of the Placer-Sacramento Gateway Plan for the Highway 65 and I-80 corridors.
Evenings belong to the Game Day Express
Rapid Link stops before most evening events begin, but Roseville Transit has another bus for Kings home games. The Game Day Express runs nonstop to Sacramento for the 2026-27 season.
Boarding. The Civic Center Transfer Point next to 311 Vernon Street in Downtown Roseville. Riders get off at Sacramento Valley Station, 401 I Street, about a five-minute walk from Golden 1 Center.
Timing. The bus leaves 1 hour 15 minutes before tipoff, so a 7:30 p.m. game means a 6:15 p.m. departure. Plan to arrive 10 to 15 minutes early. The return bus leaves 30 minutes after the game ends, or once all reserved riders are on board.
Fares. $4.50 one-way or $9 round trip for the general public. Roseville residents with the required discount ID pay $3.25 one-way or $6.50 round trip. Children 2 and under ride free on an adult's lap.
Tickets. Sold online, by phone or in person. If seats are left, exact cash is accepted when you board.
Put the two services together and Roseville now has a weekday daytime line for the Galleria, both hospitals and light rail, plus a game-night bus downtown from Vernon Street. Rapid Link fares will be announced later. Until then, every hourly trip on the line is free.
Where a home sits relative to the Galleria Transfer Point or a Rapid Link stop now affects how easy everyday weekday trips are without a car, and that's a factor that doesn't show up on a listing sheet. If you're thinking about how that fits your next move in Roseville, the neighborhood specialists at Daniel Valdez can walk you through it. Talk to a local real estate expert.
