Cabrillo College had about 3,300 full-time students and more than 6,200 part-time students enrolled in fall 2024. There is no campus housing, so everyone commutes.

“There aren’t enough bus stops, so I have to walk half a mile and it’s a challenge when there’s more extreme weather,” said Lily Bettis-Evans, a 20-year-old psychology major from Soquel.  “Buses are often late, making me late to class.”

How students get to Cabrillo

A straw poll of 40 Cabrillo College students found that 55% of respondents drive alone to and from campus. That share compares with about 70% of Santa Cruz County residents who drive alone to work, according to a 2022 Santa Cruz County Workforce Development Board report. 

In a straw poll of 40 Cabrillo College students, most respondents said they commute by car. (Santa Cruz Local)

In Santa Cruz Local’s poll:

• 21% of survey respondents said they took the bus to Cabrillo.
• 17% said they carpooled.
• 6% said they rode a bicycle.

Many cyclists said they lacked safe bike routes. Those who rode the bus said service was infrequent, had inconvenient bus stop locations or was frequently delayed.

Maria Isabel Gonzalez, a 21-year-old journalism major, said her bus commute to campus takes her 30-40 minutes, or longer when the bus is delayed. She would like to see more shelters at bus stations, where she sometimes waits in the rain. 

Other students said they don’t ride the bus because no bus routes come to their neighborhoods.

A March 27 event at Cabrillo College in Aptos gathered students to discuss transportation problems and solutions. (Allison Garcia — Santa Cruz Local)

Students propose solutions

In small groups, students proposed solutions to common transportation issues and voted on their favorites. Although most students reported driving to campus, many solutions focused on alternative transportation.

The most popular solutions were:

• Develop “walkable cities” in Santa Cruz County. Walkable cities are places where most necessities, like work, school, and shopping, are within walking distance of residential areas. 
• More bus routes, better lighting at bus stops and more bus stop shelters for rain protection.
• Do Highway 1 construction at night to avoid delays during the day.

Additional solutions included:

• More bike lanes, especially protected bike lanes, on popular routes to campus. 
• More bus routes, including a route connecting Cabrillo’s Aptos and Watsonville campuses and an “express” bus from downtown Santa Cruz to Cabrillo’s Aptos campus. A 91X express bus from Santa Cruz to Cabrillo College was suspended in December 2022 due to a shortage of bus drivers, according to Santa Cruz Metro.
• A formal carpool program and bike rental on campus.

Convert a shoulder or lane on Highway 1 to a bus only “express lane” during rush hour. Construction of a bus-on-shoulder project on Highway 1 from 41st Avenue to Soquel Drive is supposed to finish this year, according to the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission.

Santa Cruz Metro bus routes pass Cabrillo College every 15 minutes on weekdays, but some riders want more routes. (Santa Cruz Metro)

From left, Matt Miller and Gabriel Medina offer advice to students during a March 27 event at Cabrillo College. (Allison Garcia — Santa Cruz Local)

How to get involved

At the event, Ecology Action Director of Mobility Transformation Matt Miller encouraged students to speak up at public meetings. Santa Cruz Metro sets bus routes, Santa Cruz County Supervisors deal with bike lanes in Aptos, and Cabrillo College administrators could handle a potential carpool program.

“Start small, look for meetings, know it’s going to be confusing at the start,” Miller said. He recommended that students watch YouTube videos of public meetings to get a feel for what to expect before attending. 

Santa Cruz-based nonprofit Ecology Action works to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in part by engaging Santa Cruz residents and working with local governments and other groups.

Las Lomas-based advocate Gabriel Medina was recently elected to the Pajaro Valley Unified School Board. He told students, “Talk to people.” Medina said elected officials are different in meetings than they are in conversation, and he recommended trying to connect with them one-on-one. 

“Organize,” Medina added. He recommended that students talk to each other to better understand what their community needs. Medina said that while coming to a meeting solo is one thing, coming to a meeting with 10 or 20 people forces elected officials to pay attention.

Cabrillo College students ask local advocates Matt Miller and Gabriel Medina about transportation and public meetings. (Allison Garcia — Santa Cruz Local)

Access to public meetings

When a student asked how to make public meetings more accessible, Medina shared changes he’d like to see elected officials make: 

• Universal online broadcasts of in-person meetings.
• More information translated to Spanish and Mixteco.
• More fliers sent to residents about public meetings. 
• Better communication between elected officials and community leaders to disseminate information by word-of-mouth. 

Attending public meetings is often difficult for people with busy schedules, so Miller advised getting involved with a community group where members could speak for you and relay information back from the meeting. 

Correction: Maria Isabel Gonzalez’s name was spelled incorrectly in an earlier version of this story.

Questions or comments? Email [email protected]. Santa Cruz Local is supported by members, major donors, sponsors and grants for the general support of our newsroom. Our news judgments are made independently and not on the basis of donor support. Learn more about Santa Cruz Local and how we are funded.