Currently the only true inter-county service we have is the Highway 17 Express. (Route 77 does make a brief foray into Monterey County). However we have noticed other needs over the years. Operators continue to receive questions regarding transportation to the Gilroy Cal-Train station from Watsonville. And the idea for service to the new Cal State University at Monterey Bay campus has been discussed as well. We propose to meet both these needs and expand the Highway 17 service.
Run peak hour service from the Watsonville Transit Center to the Gilroy Caltrain station via Highway 129. Although it might be necessary to run full service, at this time we would advocate an incremental approach.
We agree that we should provide some service to this growing campus. At this time we propose peak hour service only. We also advocate making some stops along the way and researching possible service to Monterey. Obviously this would require some agreement with MST.
This service has not been improved since its inception other than the few night trips requested by San Jose State University. The high demand and popularity of this service calls for significant expansion. Our proposal is as follows:
We currently run the Santa Cruz Beach Shuttle and believe that as part of the MTIS we should run a Capitola Beach Shuttle as well. Because the number of weekends in each summer differs, our calculation is based on running the shuttles 25 days.
(We assume they would run on the 3 holidays as well.)
There are a number of special events that take place throughout the year in this county: i.e. First Night, Santa Cruz City and Mark Monte Foundation Fireworks, and the Fat Fry. They are difficult to quantify or list so no hours are attached.
All of these events bring tourists, business and of course traffic. We believe these must be considered, at least in general terms, in any long range planning.