Public transit: Why Metro tax is needed

By Matt Farrell

In a Guest Commentary (Sentinel Opinion, March 9) Joanna Edmonds described how workers and business owners say transportation can be one of the biggest barriers to working downtown. Parking can be expensive and limited. Traffic congestion creates stress and unpredictable travel times. She goes on to describe important improvements in cycling infrastructure. These are great, but insufficient alone. High quality public transit is also essential for a community to thrive.

Friends of the Rail & Trail supports improving our public transit infrastructure and we support the efforts of Friends of Metro to put a funding measure on the November ballot to support our local bus service.

Metro’s recent Youth Cruz Free program is attracting younger patrons (grades K-12), which means Metro is building ridership both now and for the future. This policy is working! Youth ridership has increased 400% since the program started. These riders have gained increased access to after-school programs, summer programs and job opportunities, things that make a real difference in their lives. And more youth on buses means less traffic on our streets, as more families get in the habit of having kids take the bus instead of relying on their parents driving them.

In addition, Metro has increased bus frequency on weekdays and added additional weekend service to improve its overall service. These changes helped build ridership; and brought bus ridership to pre-COVID levels.

But right now, Santa Cruz Metro is at a critical moment. The Metro service expansions have proven their worth, and Metro needs consistent funding to keep them going. Otherwise, they will need to cut service by around 40%; eliminate the Youth Cruz Free program; and lay off about 100 employees whose essential work supports everything that Metro does.

To meet this challenge, the Friends of Santa Cruz Metro is supporting a Santa Cruz County half percent sales tax measure for the November 2026 ballot. Bus drivers, riders and others are working to collect voter signatures by May 11 to qualify it for the ballot.

We hope you will join us by signing the petition and volunteering to get this worthy measure on the ballot. To find out more about the measure and to help protect Metro, go online to Friends of Santa Cruz Metro’s website: www.friendsofscmetro.org.

Matt Farrell serves on the board of Santa Cruz County Friends of the Rail and Trail; and commuted on the Highway 17 Express from 2007-2013.

Read the original article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel