Santa Cruz Metro floats plan to take over UCSC campus loop bus service

UC Santa Cruz and the Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District have been in discussions for the past several months for Metro to potentially take over the university’s campus loop bus service. 

Michael Tree, Metro’s outgoing CEO, confirmed to Lookout that the talks have been between the transit district and UCSC officials.

“I would characterize our discussion as early and progressing, but with a ways to go,” he told Lookout on Monday. “My hope is that Metro might be able to provide a higher level of service that is fast, frequent and reliable for the students both on and off campus.” 

The discussions come as Metro rolls out big service changes to increase ridership across the county and as UCSC comes under increasing pressure to improve its bus service. Some students and union workers say the buses are too old, unreliable and dangerous. UCSC bus driver Dan Stevenson passed away in late December, weeks after he was behind the wheel of a loop bus that crashed on campus on Dec. 12.

Currently, both Metro buses that go to the UCSC campus and UCSC’s own loop buses make the same stops on the campus, with Metro buses running about every 10 minutes on that route. The loop buses travel from the school’s main entrance on a loop along Coolidge, Hagar, McLaughlin and Heller drives before returning to the base of campus via High Street.

However, only the Metro buses leave the loop and go to downtown Santa Cruz. UCSC’s loop buses are run by the university’s Transportation and Parking Services, known as TAPS. 

Tree said there are two major factors that led to the start of the discussions about Metro potentially taking over the loop service. 

First, Metro is planning to double the frequency of buses that serve UCSC’s campus – from every 10 minutes to every five – as part of its countywide service expansion known as Reimagine Metro. That means Metro alone will be providing essentially the same level of bus service on the loop route as the two transit agencies – Metro and TAPS – offered combined prior to the pandemic. 

Second, Tree said, Metro has access to state and federal funds that enable it to acquire more modern buses and a larger workforce. UCSC doesn’t have access to the same funds.

“That’s the point where we begin to question, ‘Hey, is there an opportunity here for Metro just to provide that loop service through the enhanced service that it’s already going to implement?'” he said. 

UCSC spokesperson Scott Hernandez-Jason said the university has “no current plans” for Metro to take over the loop bus service, but wrote via email that campus officials have been in discussions for several months with Metro “about possible service improvements on campus routes, and look forward to continuing those discussions with them.” 

Lookout asked Tree about Hernandez-Jason’s statement that the university has no current plans for Metro to take over or replace UCSC’s loop bus service. “I would say that they’ve made no decision,” Tree said. “But I would say that the discussions to have that happen are ongoing.”

Tree said early conversations have also started with the local union representative for TAPS bus drivers. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) represents the drivers. 

“That’s where the reception has been pretty open-door as far as trying to continue those conversations. We’ve talked about a more modern fleet serving the campus, we talked a little bit about working conditions, and improvements with that,” said Tree. 

A different union, SMART 23, represents Metro drivers. However, Tree said there are multiple ways the transit agency could move forward with folding TAPS drivers into its service. Metro could employ the TAPS drivers, who would then receive wages and benefits through Metro. 

“Or it could take a different avenue,” he said. “And I’m not sure what all the potential avenues even are.”

Tree emphasized that these discussions are preliminary as they’ve just started talking with the local union representatives. He said Metro plans to reach out to AFSCME leadership at the regional and state level in the next couple of weeks to see how they feel about continuing discussions about Metro potentially replacing the UCSC loop buses and what employment would look like. 

He said Metro proposed that UCSC pay Metro about $8.7 million annually for the improved frequency both on the campus and from the campus to Capitola, Live Oak and Santa Cruz areas. 

“And that’s a fluid number,” he said. 

He said the campus service agreement for Metro’s current services is about $4.8 million. If Metro were to replace the loop bus service, which Tree said costs the university about $3.7 million, it would then add that cost to its total service agreement amount. 

Tree said the university hasn’t made a counterproposal yet. 

He said having Metro take over the loop service makes sense because as the region’s public transit agency, Metro has access to state and federal funds that the university doesn’t for its campus shuttle system. 

“When you’re the public transit provider that is recognized by the state and the federal government, you get access to funding sources that you don’t typically get access to,” said Tree. “And that’s important.” 

As a hypothetical example, he said the state and federal government could pay about 80% of the cost of a zero-emission bus that costs $1 million. In that scenario, he said students would then have to pay only $200,000 for a bus instead of $1 million for a bus in their student fees. 

“It’s a great way to pass on an advantage to the students so that they’re not shouldering or bearing the burden of the full cost of the bus,” he said. 

While discussions over the future of UCSC’s loop service are ongoing, Tree said Metro’s governing board is preparing to vote in March on the agency’s next phase of plans, including doubling the frequency of its bus service on the campus. If the board approves the changes, the increased service could start in late summer or fall and be fully up and running by September, said John Urgo, Metro’s planning and development director. 

Urgo said Metro is working with university officials to essentially create a bus station for Metro buses about three-quarters of the way along the route where they can end their route on the campus, rest and then turn around and go back down. Rather than doing a full loop and hitting each stop once, the buses would turn around at the bus station and travel the same route back, hitting more stops along the way before leaving campus. That would eliminate a portion of the loop, but Tree said that section mainly passes by open fields and has low ridership.

“Doing that doubles the frequency of service around the campus, so we’re going to have 13 buses an hour circulating the campus in both directions,” he said. “There will be a bus every five minutes in both directions around the campus – and that is more or less equal to the pre-COVID level of service that TAPS and Metro provided.” 

Urgo said to increase its transit service, Metro has been on a bus driver hiring spree that has brought the agency back to pre-COVID staffing levels. Metro had about 155 drivers pre-COVID. That number dropped to a low between 80 to 90 during the pandemic.The agency currently employs 165 drivers and is aiming to increase that to about 235 drivers to fully staff its expansion plans. 

Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.