Month: January 2018

A vision for Santa Cruz

Much has been written on the subject of public transportation on the Union Pacific corridor. Here is another view.
What Santa Cruz has now is many, very large buses, running mostly empty, on circuitous routes, at infrequent intervals, throughout the County. We also have a railroad right-of-way lying idle through the middle of the most populous section of the County. That is what we have now. What we could have is a superb public transportation system featuring electric powered trolley cars running at frequent intervals on the rail line, with small electric powered shuttle buses running at frequent intervals on the principal cross streets that intersect the tracks, picking up riders and taking them to another cross street where they can catch another shuttle bus to their eventual destination: school, work, shopping, dining, or entertainment. The critical part of this vision is the rail line, itself. It is in place and usable immediately. It would take multiple millions of taxpayer dollars to replicate (as Los Angeles is discovering), but we have it already, like money in the bank. All we need is the rolling stock which can be procured through a leasing company (such as General Electric); working capital, which can be obtained through a small IPO; and drivers, who are probably plentiful right here in Santa Cruz. The only missing ingredient is the decision to move ahead and a capable person to bird-dog the whole program, including the formation of a public/private corporation capitalized to support the leasing contract and attorneys fees, and to provide working capital while ridership is building up. No additional taxpayer money should be needed. Also, no funds should be diverted from any other program.
Bear in mind that trolley cars are completely compatible with pedestrians and bicycles as demonstrated throughout the rest of the world,. Safety should be a primary concern where hikers are involved, and the trolley car is the safest public transit vehicle for mixed usage rights of way.
Howard F. Sosbee 1400 Weston Ridge Road Scotts Valley CA, 95066 831, 335, 8401 hfs@sosbee.com <mailto:hfs@sosbee.com>