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Wednesday, Oct 27 Ed Porter will give a presentation on potential Personal Rapid Transit projects in Santa Cruz. Please join Ed at Porter College, room C002, UCSC, at 7:00pm on Oct 27.

I was a member of the Master Transportation Study (MTS) Task Force even before I was elected to the City Council. I remained an active participant until the group completed its work.

The MTS has shown us that we need a variety of transportation modalities to satisfy the needs of our community. Some people require the use of the personal automobile. Others can use transit, a bicycle, or walk. We must provide good choices for everyone.

At the University and neighborhoods below it, a major traffic problem persists: gridlock! Current levels of traffic are unacceptable on many streets and now, the University seeks to expand by 6000 more students. That could result in an increase in campus auto trips of 8000 or more after staff and service vehicles are included. Residential streets that are already loaded beyond capacity cannot be expected to somehow absorb this load. Nor can adjacent neighborhood streets be expected to do it either!

I have proposed to Acting Chancellor Dr. Martin Chemers that the City and the University immediately hold a Transportation Charette to consider possible people mover solutions from the Harvery West Park area up to the University. Dr. Chemers accepted that proposal. The first public charette is expected to take place this fall. We will consider all of the options proposed in recent years and hopefully adopt a preferred alternative and take steps toward construction. The University cannot grow without some solution of this kind!

The consolidated Transit District base of operations needs to proceed in order to maintain and grow our exemplary transit system.

The acquisition of the railroad right-of-way is a top transportation priority for both the City of Santa Cruz and also for the County. It's a major disappointment that the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) has failed to use eleven million dollars in California Prop 116 funding which was intended for our acquisition of that right-of-way. We must persuade a majority of the RTC that Prop 116 money should be used for rail acquisition right away!

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See also:

• Attend the Fall ATRA Conference on PRT! Fri & Sat, Nov 17 & 18th
  In Santa Cruz! Check Out Conference Information

• Santa Cruz City Master Transportation Study http://www.ci.santa-cruz.ca.us/pw/MST2003/index.htm

• Santa Cruz Walk and Roll.com http://www.scwalkandroll.com/

• SkyWeb Express: http://www.skywebexpress.com/

• Pilot Project with Personal Rapid Transit (PRT), Office of Regional Planning and Urban Transportation, Stockholm County Council, Sweden (December, 1998): http://www.swedetrack.com/spartaxe.htm

• The Surface Transportation Policy Project web page on California issues: http://www.transact.org/ca/