“I’m working through the week and then flying home on the weekend for 36 hours,” he said. “But my whole family will be moving down here in the middle of June, and then we’ll truly be moved down here.”
Aldridge said that he and his family like living in Missoula, but found that he enjoyed the vibe in Santa Cruz quite a bit, and it even reminded him a bit of Missoula’s “laid back” style. He said that he was also impressed with Metro’s ability to make progress on its big projects even without a CEO for a few months. Previous Metro CEO Michael Tree abruptly left the organization for Bakersfield in February.
Aldridge did have one connection with Santa Cruz, however. Tree was actually the Mountain Line general manager from 2010 through 2014 — right before Aldridge came on board. While there, Tree worked to redesign the transit system and introduce 15-minute all-day service as well as bike stations and amenities at transit stops. Aldridge picked up the projects when he started at the agency, resulting in a 30% increase in the frequency of bus service.
“It’s just happenstance that here I am again,” Aldridge said. “Maybe he creates a lot of excitement and gets everything going and I come in behind and help execute it!”
Even with his current chaotic schedule, Aldridge, 50, said that he has been meeting with Metro staff multiple times per week to get up to speed on Reimagine Metro — the transit agency’s major changes to its service with the goal of adding more direct, frequent buses, and more convenient transfers to increase ridership from 3.5 million to 7 million annually by 2027 — and prepare for the initiative’s second phase.
So far, the agency has seen a 23% jump in ridership in just the first quarter of 2024 after the first round of route adjustments and increases in the frequency of trips, most notably on main arteries in the city of Santa Cruz and around the UC Santa Cruz and Cabrillo College campuses.
Phase 2, going into effect in September, will largely expand on those changes — specifically, 15-minute service on Route 1, which runs on Soquel Drive between Santa Cruz and Watsonville, and 30-minute service on weekdays and service every hour on weekends for Route 90X, which runs on Highway 1 between Santa Cruz and Watsonville. There will also be 30-minute service on Highway 17 during peak periods, which are the hours from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The changes have been big and sweeping, but Aldridge said he feels good about the agency’s direction. He said his biggest concern lies with the aging bus fleet and its ability to keep up with the increased service. While Metro is fully staffed with drivers — and expects to have 230 by the fall when Phase 2 is implemented — logistics around getting its shipments of new hydrogen fuel cell-powered buses are complicated. Aldridge said two of the country’s bus manufacturers have shuttered since Metro finalized its purchase of new buses last fall, and another no longer sells in the United States. That has left most of the work to just two companies that manufacture hydrogen fuel cell-powered buses – which could cause delays in bus deliveries.
“Usually, for most systems, you have enough buses but not enough drivers. We’re on the flip side of that,” he said, adding that September is likely the earliest that Metro would begin receiving allotments of the 54 hydrogen buses. “But I’m confident that we’ll be there and ready to go when it’s time.”
On top of the big service changes, Aldridge is also adjusting to how Santa Cruz Metro operates within the county. He said that it’s both similar and different to Mountain Line transit in Missoula. Like Santa Cruz, Missoula is a college town. But Santa Cruz Metro covers an area about three times the size of Mountain Line’s area and sees a higher proportion of student riders than Missoula.
Under Tree, Metro began discussions with UC Santa Cruz about the agency potentially taking over the university’s campus loop bus service after a fatal crash of a UCSC bus in December. Tree told Lookout in January that the discussions were “early and progressing, but with a ways to go.” Aldridge similarly said student ridership is vital to the agency’s operations.
“Student ridership was about 50% of our ridership [in Missoula], and here I believe it’s about 70%,” he said. “So, for us, if we lose university ridership, that affects a lot of things in our ability to put more service out for the community.
“It’s essential that we have the universities on board and being supportive, that they understand the value of the funding they’re currently putting in will be a greater benefit for their students, faculty, and the community.”
That means maintaining ridership, too, and Aldridge said he thinks Metro can explore solutions to the “first mile, last mile” problem, which is the disconnect between a drop-off point and a rider’s actual destination or vice versa. He said that it’s possible the agency could better utilize programs like bike or ride share to provide more ways to get people to and from bus stops quickly and conveniently, but it would need to study many options to decide what is best and the most cost-effective.
Although Metro has received upward of $100 million in grant funding from the state and federal governments for the new buses, route changes and transit station redevelopments, Aldridge anticipates going out for more state and federal funding for facility upgrades and future vehicle and staffing needs. He also envisions putting a funding measure on a future ballot to raise more money for rising costs of running public transit.
OPINION FROM COMMUNITY VOICES
“There’s going to be a time when we’re going to need to ask the voters for additional funding,” he said, adding that he hopes Phase 2 of Reimagine Metro can show the community how good the transit system could be, and encourage them to support a ballot measure.
In Montana, Aldridge said property taxes fund everything, but here the agency would most likely pursue a sales tax.
“I’m a big advocate of sales taxes because property taxes are on the backs of homeowners, whereas with a sales tax, everyone buys stuff,” he said. “People call it regressive, but I think it’s a very equal and fair method of utilizing public funds.”
While at Mountain Line, Aldridge helped achieve a 30% service increase, which he attributed to the agency’s ability to show rather than tell through its pilot projects and demonstrations. He added that the agency also made riding the bus fare-free, which boosted ridership 70% in two years. With Metro itself hoping to go fare-free for at least a year starting with the September Phase 2 changes, Aldridge is feeling good about the future of Santa Cruz’s transit.
“I think, for the most part, everything is moving forward just as it should be,” he said.
