Daily UC Santa Cruz ridership has surged 30% since fall 2022
Santa Cruz, CA (Nov. 21, 2023): The Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District (METRO) has secured a fleet of 12 extra-long, articulated buses to meet surging transit demand at the UC Santa Cruz (UCSC) campus. There are currently four, 60-foot articulated buses serving the campus with six more expected to be put into service by the end of 2023 and two in reserve.
UCSC riders constitute almost 70% of METRO’s total ridership systemwide. At the start of the 2023 fall term, METRO carried an average of 13,409 UCSC riders per day. This compares to 10,349 average daily UCSC riders in September 2022, a leap of almost 30%.
To address the rising demand on campus, METRO struck an agreement with the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) to purchase ten 60-foot articulated buses to augment the two METRO-owned articulated buses already serving the campus. Two of the ten MTS buses were put into service during the second week of the school year with another three more expected to arrive and begin serving the campus within the next two weeks. METRO expects to receive a total of ten articulated buses from MTS by the end of 2023 and will keep the two existing articulated buses in reserve, for a total articulated bus fleet of 12.
“UCSC students, faculty, and staff are our largest population of riders and we appreciate their commitment to environmentally friendly transportation,” said METRO Board Chair, Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson “
An articulated bus can accommodate 60-65 seated passengers with room for an additional 15-25 standing passengers while a traditional 40-foot bus can carry 36 seated passengers with an additional 10-15 standees, depending on the make and model of the bus.
METRO’s articulated buses will be wrapped with iconic images of Monterey Bay wildlife, such as sea lions, kelp forests, and sea jellies, as part of METRO’s One Ride at a Time campaign (ORAT). ORAT is a key element of METRO’s efforts to be an environmentally focused community partner in Santa Cruz County. ORAT gives riders the opportunity to protect the Monterey Bay’s extraordinary natural resources just by simply riding the bus. Thanks to ORAT, every ride on a METRO bus contributes to our partners in protecting the environment, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Foundation and the Bay of Life Fund.
For more information on METRO visit scmetro.org or to learn more about METRO’s One Ride at a Time program visit scmetro.org/onerideatatime.
