Service for public transit riders of Santa Cruz County is expected to improve with the upcoming Fall schedule.
Alex Clifford, Santa Cruz Metro CEO, discusses the challenges in bringing back improved schedules…
“We will be reinstating even more service that will begin to look like Pre-COVID levels. That would include the span of service, from the first bus to the last bus [of the day] Clifford said.
Alex noted some exceptions, “The school term service, the Cabrillo, and the UCSC bus service, because they’re not having any in-class services”, negating the need to reimplement School Term (ST) service.
The upcoming Fall Headways schedule begins September 3rd and can be viewed online at SCMTD.Com or by calling customer service at 831.425.8600. The Fall schedule has not been posted as of time of writing.
While transit center lobbies remain closed, both the Santa Cruz and Watsonville locations have outdoor access to Ticket Vending Machines, with an employee providing customer service at the Santa Cruz Pacific Station via an outdoor window.
As for Highway 17 express bus service, capacity has been limited to 8 passengers per bus due to additional health restrictions in place by Santa Clara County.
While additional projects for Santa Cruz Metro such as mobile ticketing became subject to pandemic-related delay, passengers can expect a pilot version by next month or October at the latest.
