From: fuzzface@cats.ucsc.edu (Aaron Priven)
Newsgroups: ba.transportation
Subject: Re: Santa Cruz-San Jose CalTrain?
Date: 21 Jul 92 16:20:16 GMT
Distribution: ba
Organization: University of California, Santa Cruz (College Eight)
NNTP-Posting-Host: am.ucsc.edu


Adrian Brandt writes:
>but I have a hard time letting information/statements I *know* to be
>incorrect/misleading go uncontested.  
 
May I suggest the generous use of "<BUZZ>".  It is irritating, 
jarring, and extremely juvenile without actually being insulting. 
:) :) :) 
 
Kevin Karplus writes:
> Finally, what is the best way to get from Santa Cruz to San Francisco by
> public transit?  ("best" meaning fastest, most comfortable, and cheapest,
> in about that order of priority).

Adrian Brandt writes:
>I'd say:
>
>1) Taxi all the way - fastest, most comfortable, most expensive
 
You must be kidding.  It would be cheaper to rent a car, wouldn't it?
 
>2) Buses all the way - slowest, least comfortable, cheapest
 
Actually, although my Gigantic Timetable to Everything isn't handy at 
the moment, I believe the Greyhounds that go directly SCz->SF is faster 
than the CalTrain/bus route -- shorter route (it goes via Saratoga and 
Cupertino, not downtown San Jose) and less stops. 
 
I really did make a Gigantic Timetable to Everything.  In fact, it was 
for Kevin's desktop publishing class...  Was obsolete the week after I 
compiled it.  C'est le transport.
 
>|> I know that there is currently active planning for a train between
>|> Santa Cruz and Watsonville, but without a Silicon Valley connection
>|> I think they'll find that there isn't enough ridership to justify the
>|> expense.
>
>How interesting.  I would have never thought there was demand for this,
>but then I don't know much about travel/commute patterns down there.
>Could you tell us more about this.  Who or what agencies are doing the
>planning and what stage are they at?  Are there any publicly available
>documents/studies regarding this?
 
I don't know much about the internals, but I believe it is being done 
just by the Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District.  There are 
studies available at UCSC libraries and Santa Cruz city libraries, but 
these are older studies and they're doing new research now.  
 
Frankly, I think Santa Cruz has its head in the sand wrt the 
unfortunate inevitability of becoming a suburb of San Jose, and I 
think it should stop worrying about local transit (as much) and start 
worrying about commuters.  CalTrain over the hill is an extremely 
excellent idea and I wish they'd *do* it.
 
I also wish they'd proceed with their fixed guideway project for UCSC 
(a gondola system), but they don't always do what I tell them to do.  
(To my shock and surprise, they do sometimes -- they rerouted some of 
the 1-University buses because I had suggested it at a public 
meeting.  One of the Metro employees stopped me on the street to tell 
me so.  A proud moment...)
 
Thanks for the excellent info on Santa Cruz railroadism.
 
>The leg going to Larkspur hasn't seen a train in 10 years, 
 
My class in Marin County takes me on Sir Francis Drake Bl., near the 
Larkspur Ferry Terminal, where the railroad spur is.  It is OLD, let 
me tell you.  I'm frankly surprised that they haven't taken the old 
bridge down yet.  I'm not a bit surprised that the last train was 10 
years ago.  Well, maybe I'm surprised that it isn't older.
 
>Santa Clara Supervisor Rod Diridon wants very much to see whether the
>Santa Cruz line over/thru the hills can be rebuilt.  Santa Cruz
>politicians (as someone else already pointed out) stopped him.  Some-
>thing like this will be next to impossible without at least Santa Cruz
>City and County's cooperation/permission. 
 
One has to understand the mentality of many Santa Cruzians... they 
are at Santa Cruz specifically to get *away* from the nastiness of the 
big city.  They are mostly unhappy when the city intrudes on them.  
I wish Santa Cruz politicians (for one supervisor Gary Patton, who 
<ack> I voted for) would wake up and realize that the time until 
commuters over the hill will make a large enough percentage of the 
voters to eliminate them is small.  I would really hate to see a 
populist movement to widen Hwy 17 succeed -- and it will happen -- 
because people didn't take precautions *now* to put in transit.  I 
think Santa Cruz is doomed to be a suburb, but there's no reason it 
couldn't be the best suburb in California.  Instead, politicians hide 
their eyes and let car-commuters come over.  Sigh.
 
It is interesting to note that the current Highway 17 semi-frequent 
bus service (every hour, as I recall, through the day) stops in pro-
growth Scotts Valley, and on commute hours is extended to a lot in an 
unincorporated areas of the county, and does NOT stop in Santa Cruz 
city.  I do not know whether this is because of conflicts with 
Peerless Stages (who has the franchise or whatever it's called for 
that stretch of highway from the California PUC), or from Santa Cruz 
city politicians.  Scotts Valley and Capitola together I believe have 
more people than Santa Cruz city and could perhaps outvote them.  
Maybe.
 
I like Santa Cruz, but I'm looking forward to graduating and moving to 
somewhere like Piedmont Ave. in Oakland or downtown San Francisco.
 
 =Aaron=
 
-- 
Aaron Priven, aaronrp@ucscb.ucsc.edu or fuzzface@cats.ucsc.edu
        "Men make history, but they do not do so under 
         conditions of their own choosing." -- Karl Marx