Santa Cruz Metro service expansion back on track after delays, but future funding uncertain

About nine months after Santa Cruz Metro’s ambitious service increase aimed at doubling ridership was delayed due to an aging bus fleet, the transit agency says things are back on track. Metro also says it will likely need to go to county voters in 2026 for a possible sales tax measure to maintain the increased level of service.

For the better part of two years, Metro has been rolling out phases of a three-year pilot program dubbed Reimagine Metro that involves far-reaching service and route changes with the end goal of doubling ridership from 3.5 million to 7 million rides annually and providing more direct, frequent service.

The entire slate of changes was originally set to be fully implemented last December, including new 30-minute service along Route 3, which runs from Broadway and Seabright Avenue to 17th Avenue and Portola Drive, the combined route that serves UC Santa Cruz as well as on Highway 17 during non-peak periods. 

However, these plans were delayed until this fall, with the agency citing an aging and unreliable bus fleet and a slow rollout of its new fleet of hydrogen fuel-cell buses. 

As a result of the aging buses, the agency had to pause some of its route changes, including Route 3 and Highway 17 adjustments, and to temporarily suspend service on Route 16, which runs from downtown to UCSC via Laurel Street and Bay Street, as well as Route 90X, which runs between Santa Cruz and Watsonville. 

Between the end of last year and September, Metro put together a survey to ask the public for input on how to improve the service. That resulted in changes to the Highway 17 route, running more direct trips to San Jose rather than stopping in Scotts Valley. Some buses still stop in Scotts Valley, but fewer than previously. The agency made similar adjustments to its San Lorenzo Valley service, making Route 35 trips on Highway 9 go directly to Santa Cruz rather than stopping in Scotts Valley, and implementing a new Route 34, which serves Scotts Valley Drive directly.

As of mid-September, all the routes are back online, save for 90X, due to the ongoing Highway 1 expansion project. Metro’s director of planning and development, John Urgo, said the agency decided to hold off on restoring this route until the highway project is finished and buses can take full advantage of the new bus-on-shoulder lanes. In the meantime, riders can take Routes 1 and 2, which both provide service to Watsonville and back by way of Soquel Avenue and Water Street and Capitola Road, respectively. Both join Highway 1 in the Aptos area. However, Urgo added that a plan to make fares free during the three-year pilot project is still under discussion, and is not expected to be implemented in the short term.

The transit agency is in the process of receiving 53 hydrogen fuel-cell buses as part of its vision for a fully zero-emissions bus fleet by 2037. It was the single largest purchase of hydrogen fuel-cell buses in the country when the transit agency voted to approve the deal in September 2023. These buses are delivered incrementally, though, and have to be tested before they are ready to hit the pavement.

Urgo said Metro has received nearly the entire order of 44 40-foot buses, which are in various stages of testing, with another nine 60-foot buses that the agency has not yet received. Only about eight of the new buses are on the road, he said, but that means the older, less reliable buses have a smaller workload now, though those vehicles still do have maintenance issues.

Urgo said the agency was nervous about the launch of hydrogen fuel-cell buses due to the novelty of the technology, but so far “it’s been working great — surprisingly, I might say.” He said a downside is that Metro has to take buses off the road and swap them with other vehicles more frequently than it would like in order to maintain an ideal level of charge.

“Which means we need more buses. That’s potentially an issue,” he said. He added that Metro can mostly work around this problem by making sure that the new buses are working on shorter schedules.

Metro is still working out some of its internal kinks. Urgo said that, because the agency is still using some of its old bus fleet while rolling out the new hydrogen fuel cell buses, it has little space to store all the vehicles. Metro is planning to install a permanent fueling station at its Santa Cruz yard on River Street in the coming months, which will take up even more space: “There were going to be space constraints no matter which direction we went, electric or hydrogen,” he said.

To remedy that space crunch, Metro’s board of directors in August approved the purchase of a lot in Watsonville to essentially act as an overflow space for bus storage. For a more permanent solution, the agency has drafted a $98 million facilities master plan that envisions significant development and upgrades, including a South County facility and upgrades to the Santa Cruz maintenance facilities. However, this vision is far from coming to fruition, since it would rely on federal funding.

“We were much more optimistic when we were developing the plan in 2023 and 2024, and with the change in administration, we’re not optimistic at all about getting any federal funding,” Urgo said. He added that exploring ways to increase maintenance capacity is likely the agency’s next big priority, knowing it cannot build a whole new facility.

With new buses hitting the road and increased service along most routes, Metro will soon begin to look into the future. Because Reimagine Metro was funded through one-time state funding, Urgo said it’s likely the agency will go to voters with a sales tax increase next year — something Metro would have had to do regardless of its service expansion, as it was already expecting a budget deficit. However, he added that details are minimal, and Metro does not have a measure officially on the ballot at this time.

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