Study offers transit solution: Get people out of cars

By RAMONA TURNER
Santa Cruz Sentinel staff writer

July 25, 2003

Santa Cruz, CA - Encouraging walking, bicycling and bus ridership are some of the ways Santa Cruz can help lessen traffic congestion by 2020.

That’s the conclusion of the city and the UC Santa Cruz-funded Master Transportation Study, delivered Wednesday during the city’s transportation commission meeting. The study, three years in the making, will be formally unveiled during a public hearing at the commission’s next meeting, Sept. 10.

The study concludes that if nothing is done to stem the growth of congestion, time spent in traffic jams could jump 92 percent, from 157 hours in 2000 to 302 hour in 2020.

At the presentation of the study, a representative of the Fukuji Planning & Designs consulting firm outlined several steps the city can take to make it desirable for people to choose not to drive, including:

Building sidewalks, bike lanes and bike corridors.

Enlisting community involvement to establish traffic calming mechanisms in entire neighborhoods rather than by on a street by street basis. That’s something that causes traffic to spill onto neighboring streets.

Forming partnerships with the rest of the region and the private sector to offer incentives to get workers out of their cars, as well as help pay for alternative transportation options.
One of the options the study emphasized was pursuing bus rapid transit, or BRT. BRTs shuttle people from one point of interest to another along their own separate road, bypassing traffic and getting the priority with traffic signals.

The study didn’t sit well with about a half-dozen people in the audience, including Councilman Ed Porter, who voiced his support for a transportation form not yet tried — personal rapid transit.

"I’m not in opposition to buses," he said. "We have one of the best bus systems in the country. But we need more modalities. BRT is not good enough."

PRT is an automated transportation system where passengers ride nonstop in three-person, computer-controlled vehicles on elevated tracks to their destinations.

According to Citizens for Personal Rapid Transit (at www.cprt.org), PRT provides shorter travel time and 24-hour access, and is accessible to the disabled and environmentally friendly. It also can be made self-sufficient by running freight when people aren’t riding.

Other speakers told the commission the report didn’t seem to offer anything new, urging action instead on securing PRT locally now.

But Commissioner Scott Wedge compared PRT to an amusement park ride with no real data for the commission to consider for whether it could be used in Santa Cruz.

The study said the city should consider new technologies as it attempted to lure people out of their cars, saying PRT could be a real contender in about 15 years.

Commissioner Ian McFadden suggested Santa Cruz has plenty of time to wait for PRT to be proven.

"Santa Cruz County is the second smallest county in the state," he said. "We should not be on the leading edge of this technology. We don’t have a lot of money. With new technology like this, you always see trips along the way and cost overruns. Larger areas like Los Angeles should be on the leading edge. They have the money."

Other commissioners feared the $500,000 report would wind up on a shelf, collecting dust, never to be seen again.

Chairman Tim Jenkins assured his colleagues that wouldn’t happen, suggesting there be a requirement the commission review the report periodically to gauge the city’s compliance.

For information on how to review the study, call 420-5160.

Contact Ramona Turner at rturner@santa-cruz.com.