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 The Santa Cruz bus system attempts to meet rising demand despite funding cuts
Gas prices are high. Everyone is jumping on the bus. Yet public transportation funds are being reduced on both the state and federal levels.This is bad news for the Santa Cruz Metro Transit Department (SCMTD) which is in the middle of a project to convert buses from diesel to compressed natural gas (CNG), has increased bike capacity, and will be making changes to a variety of local fixed-route and commuter routes effective September 18. Bus ridership, shuttle services, alternative transportation, and carpooling are all on the rise in the Santa Cruz area and across the nation due to rising gas prices. Public transit systems across the USA are seeing an increase in ridership. The SCMTD saw a 10.6 percent increase in ridership over the past year; weekend ridership increasing nearly 20 percent. The average price of gas in the Santa Cruz area has risen more than $1.50 a gallon in the past year. This rise has been especially costly for commuters across Highway 17. A commute from Santa Cruz to San Jose now costs about $25 daily. To meet the increasing demand for public transportation, the SCMTD will be adding three weekday and six weekend trips to the Highway 17 route. Despite the additional trips, the cost of the Highway 17 service will actually go down slightly due to more efficient scheduling and a decrease in trips stopping in Scotts Valley. The modifications to the Highway 17 service are expected to save approximately $15,000 annually. “We’ve really got to work on being efficient and cost effective,” said Ian McFadden, transit planner for the SCMTD. “The governor has been regularly raiding our funding. Prop 42 was a ballot measure years ago that basically protected transit funding, but there were a few loopholes and they certainly took advantage of them. They raided it pretty significantly last year and then the California transit association filed a lawsuit which is still under deliberation.” In the meantime, changing the route 17 schedule is not the only tool the SCMTD is using to step up to the plate with rising passenger demands. This past year the SCMTD expanded capacity on the bike rack from two to three. There was a 13.8 percent increase in bikes in the past year on the Highway 17 route alone. Route 16, the most popular ride to campus, served nearly a million riders last year, and about 28,000 bikes. Route 71, a route that serves primarily workers, carried 38,000 bikes, an increase of 19.8 percent in the past year. “We’re running into a problem on the Highway 17 route with bikes, because for every bike we allow onboard, less seating is available for riders,” says McFadden. “But on the other hand, we can’t completely eliminate this option because there are a lot of workers who plan to ride the bus and then need to bike five or more miles to their final destination.” Environmental concern is another factor backing change in the Santa Cruz area’s transit systems. Later this year the SCMTD will take a delivery of 13 new energy-efficient buses, making 58 percent of the 112 bus fleet CNG. By 2012, 100 percent of the fleet must be CNG according to the California Air Resources Board. Due to cuts in state capital funding over the last few years, the Metro does not have the funds to replace the remaining diesel buses in the fleet at this time. McFadden worries, “If these funds cannot be found somehow, the portion of the fleet that is not CNG will have to be parked.” Due to the lack of support for public funding, the Santa Cruz area has seen a flourishing of local private businesses starting up to serve the needs of its cash-pressed and environmentally concerned citizens. James Brite of Surf City Shuttle, a service that involves airport transit, says his business has tripled since January. “I think that people are actually doing the calculations now,” he says. Before the rise in gas prices, the $15 cost of overnight parking at the airport was the main determinant for using the shuttle service. “Now that they are calculating gas into the equation, and for a three day trip you’ve got $45 in parking plus an easy $25 going there and back,” says Brite, “and the convenience of being picked up and dropped off at your front door is winning out.” Also entering into people’s calculations may be the fact that the Surf City Shuttle uses only certified ultra-low emission vehicles and donates 2 percent of its profits to local environmental groups to benefit the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Commutesolutions.org can hook up Santa Cruz County commuters, finding carpooling or vanpooling partners instantaneously. They provide free online ride matching as well as ways to calculate your daily commute and potential savings online. They also provide hints and tools to downsize the economic and environmental footprint of your daily commutes. Some Santa Cruz citizens are choosing to opt out of motorized vehicle transportation altogether. The Santa Cruz Hub for Sustainable Transportation provides community support for those choosing to use human powered transportation. They work as a nonprofit umbrella organization for transportation-oriented projects and community organizations in the county. The Bike Church helps with mechanics and bike building. PedX delivers anything within the county pollution-free. Both environmental and economic concerns are guiding Santa Cruz residents away from their own private cars and into the services of mass transit and community organizing. The SCMTD hopes that their changes will incorporate the needs of their riders within the boundaries of a limited budget and ever-increasing gasoline prices.
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