Highway 17 Express

The Highway 17 Express is a thruway bus service provided by a consortium of entities which provides regional service between San José and Santa Cruz County in the South Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. The service is so called because it travels on California State Route 17.

ervice

The bus service is a consolidation of corridor based commuter service between Santa Cruz and more limited service beyond to Soquel along the State Route 17 communities of the Santa Cruz Mountains including Scotts Valley, Redwood Estates, Summit, and Pasatiempo with job centers in the Silicon Valley. This is combined with feeder and delivery service for several Amtrak California lines which serve Diridon Station a regional intermodal hub from where passengers may transfer to VTA buses or light rail in addition to ACE, Capitol Corridor and Caltrain and also many regional Amtrak routes. During the week the service extends beyond the hub with direct service to Downtown San José; on weekends the Highway 17 bus service is limited to Diridon station [cite news
url = http://www.scmtd.com/routes/rt17.html
title = Highway 17 Express
publisher = Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District
author = SCMTD
date = 2008-06-12
accessdate = 2008-06-24] .

One way fare is $4.00, with half price fare available for seniors and disabled riders. [ cite news
url = http://www.scmtd.com/fares.html
title = Santa Cruz Metro Transit Fares
publisher = Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District
accessdate = 2008-06-24] . A day pass that's also good for all VTA bus and light rail as well as Santa Cruz Metro buses is available for $8.00. This day pass can be purchased for $3.50 for passengers who show a two zone Caltrain monthly pass. The VTA EcoPass Express is good for travel on the Highway 17 Express service.

Most buses are equipped with bike racks capable of holding three bicycles. Currently, up to two bicycles are allowed in the handicap area inside the bus if space is available.

Consortium

The service is financed, operated, and benefits Amtrak, VTA, and Santa Cruz Metro, using buses from the latter two agencies. Santa Cruz Metro operates the service.

History

A temporary commuter express bus service started after landslides from the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake closed Highway 17. [cite news
url = http://www.sccrtc.org/pdf/FinalDraft-ExecutiveSummary-062207.pdf
title = Executive Summary of Transit Market Analysis for Highway 1 Corridor
publisher = Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission
author = Chris Metzger
date = 2007-06-22
accessdate = 2008-06-24 ] [cite news
url = http://sensibletransportation.org/places/17x_history.html
title = Highway 17 Express History
publisher = The Campaign for Sensible Transportation
author = Les White
accessdate = 2008-06-24 ] The popularity of the service prompted Santa Cruz Metro to continue the service after Highway 17 reopened.

When the consolidated service with the Amtrak Connector Service started with in 2004, Caltrans anticipated a ridership of 7,000 riders per month at the end of 2004. [cite news
url = http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/paffairs/news/pressrel/04pr06.htm
title = California Department of Transportation Press Release
publisher = California Department of Transportation
author = Charles Seifert , CDOT External Affairs
date = 2004-05-07
accessdate = 2008-06-24 ] . In March 2008, Santa Cruz Metro reported 24,000 riders. [cite news
url = http://www.scmtd.com/board/mac/macpacket.pdf
title = Metro Advisory Committee March 2008 Riderhip Report
publisher = Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District
author = SCMTD staff
date = 2008-06-18
accessdate = 2008-06-24 ]

Notes

External links

* [http://www.capitolcorridor.org/schedules/transit_connections/highway_17_express.php Capitol Corridor]
* [http://www.vta.org/schedules/SC_970.html VTA]
* [http://www.scmtd.com/routes/rt17.html Santa Cruz Metro] and [http://www.scmtd.com/fares.html Fares]
* [http://www.trainweb.com/news/2004/2004e07a.html Trainweb]