Quick Take
Santa Cruz Metro’s sweeping system changes are heading toward completion, with final pieces coming in September and December. The agency has now reached a goal to increase its total number of drivers from 150 to 235.
The majority of the major changes Santa Cruz Metro has been making to its service have been implemented already, with the final steps will be completed by December — and the agency now has the staff to do it.
John Urgo, Metro’s director of planning and development, said the agency has hit its hiring goal of 235 new drivers. Once all of them are trained, the full implementation of Metro’s overhaul will be complete.
The changes are part of a three-year pilot project the agency has named Reimagine Metro. It is adding more direct, frequent service, better transfers and no additional fares with a goal of doubling ridership.
The overhaul came in phases. Phase 1 — which went into effect in late December 2023 — mostly involved route adjustments, including a new route connecting the UC Santa Cruz campus to Live Oak, and buses every 10 to 20 minutes at Cabrillo College on both northbound and southbound routes.
More Phase 1 changes rolled out in March and June. Most notably, those included more frequent service on Route 1, which runs between Santa Cruz to Watsonville along Soquel Drive. Highway 17 will start getting service every 30 minutes in peak periods, which are between 6 and 9 a.m. as well as 3 to 7 p.m. That route had previously seen service only every hour. Route 90X, which runs between Santa Cruz and Watsonville, saw service increase to every 30 minutes on weekdays and every hour on weekends. Before, it saw service only every hour at best.
Initially, Urgo said, the agency aimed to complete all of its Reimagine Metro changes by September, but had to split those remaining adjustments between September and December in order to give Metro ample time to train its host of new employees.
September’s changes will be most notable for UC Santa Cruz and Highway 17 commuters. Route 16, which runs from downtown Santa Cruz to UCSC via Laurel Street and Bay Street, will be reintroduced and provide 30-minute service. Highway 17 will see 30-minute service during peak periods — 6 to 9 a.m. and 3 to 7 p.m.
The December changes will introduce more service increases once drivers are trained. Route 3, which currently splits into service every 60 minutes from Broadway Avenue and Seabright Avenue to 17th Avenue and Portola Drive, will get 30-minute service along the bifurcated sections of the route, and 15-minute on the combined route that serves UCSC. Highway 17 will then see service every 30 minutes all day, rather than just during peak periods.
Urgo added that Metro has also made an effort to connect the Highway 17 buses stopping at San Jose’s Diridon Station to Caltrain’s schedule, both to encourage locals to use public transit and establish new connections to the greater San Francisco Bay Area.
“We went in with a fine-tooth comb and matched every arrival to a Caltrain or an Amtrak train,” he said. “We realized people are actually trying to make connections there, and really tuned up the schedule to make sure every bus meets a train. It’s not just about the frequency.”
Latest news
Check out our Carmageddon road delay list here. This week, pay particular attention to:
- Tree work and slope repair will shut down alternating lanes at various sections of Highway 9 between 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. from Monday through Friday. Those sections are between Fall Creek Bridge and Arboleda Way, Arboleda Way and Scenic Drive, Brown Gables Road and Irwin Way, Prospect Avenue and Lorenzo Avenue, and Mitchell Drive and McGaffigan Mill Road.
- Repaving of a 4-mile stretch of Highway 1 between the Buena Vista Drive bridge in Watsonville and the Rio Del Mar Boulevard bridge in Aptos began July 28. It will cause intermittent overnight single-lane closures of northbound Highway 1 on Sundays from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. and Mondays through Thursdays from 7:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. Overnight single-lane southbound closures will be from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. on Sundays and 8:30 p.m. to 6 a.m. on Mondays through Thursdays.
- Through the end of 2024, various sections of Soquel Drive between State Park Drive and Paul Sweet Road could be reduced to one lane of traffic as the Soquel Drive Buffered Bike Lane and Congestion Mitigation Project moves forward — which includes new bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, adaptive traffic signals, and updated sidewalks and curbs. The sections of road will be intermittently closed as work continues at multiple sites. Specifically, look out for intermittent single-lane closures between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
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