In May 2017 I made a quick trip to Santa Cruz, California to do presentations both to the public and to the Regional Transportation Commission. Some of my presentation is my usual shtick, but I also talked a lot about chokepoints in the Bay Area, and was also asked to comment on a local proposal (proponents, opponents) to remove the rails from a rail corridor in order to create a wider and more attractive active modes path (though a functional path alongside the rail is possible in any case.)
It’s here. There’s quite a Q&A as well.
Great presentation, especially about solving for Aptos. Years ago some of the rail studies looked at a simplified service from Santa Cruz to Capitola and Aptos, but really you’d want rail to go THROUGH Aptos to be of most use (also given there’s so little actually there).
I put the main Santa Cruz Metro routes on my Trails of Santa Cruz map, now in its 4th edition, but because I usually head to the woods, I’ve only used the buses a couple times when checking beach access points. Over the decades I have noticed an erosion in number of routes and frequency (commensurate with funding challenges, but in any case…), the list of Metro routes has shrunk by 1/3. University and Watsonville service is respectable, but a distressing number of routes are now hourly at best, and when that doesn’t draw people, they get cut to every120 minutes or a couple times a day. Then poof. It does seem like a lot of the routes are designed to go by Mrs. Jones’ house; a lot of corridors are deceptively narrow due to sloughs, gulches, canyons, etc. Trails help a bit (for instance the new link from end of Broadway across Arana Gulch). It’s true also that a lot of the original density was defined by the railroads and streetcars, from downtown to beachfront (Seabright, for instance). Hope you get to do some work there, and until then I think you inspired folks to think better.
It is worth watching your video on Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission. The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) is responsible for delivering a full range of safe, convenient, reliable, and efficient transportation choices for the community. With a focus on long-term sustainability, the RTC plans, funds, and implements transportation projects and services.