Friends of Santa Cruz Metro are launching a campaign for a half-cent sales tax to avoid cuts and expand bus services. (Stephen Baxter — Santa Cruz Local file)
SANTA CRUZ >> Three years after a massive push to expand bus service, supporters of Santa Cruz Metro are pursuing a half-cent countywide sales tax to avoid service cuts and 100 layoffs. If approved by voters in November, the tax would push local sales tax rates to as high as 10.25%.
The new money would help preserve free fares for youth and expand free service to seniors and people with disabilities, said James Sandoval, a former Metro bus driver of 10 years and part of the group leading the initiative. Sandoval is now the vice president of the transportation department of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers, which represents Metro bus drivers.
The tax hike could also help alleviate congested streets by taking cars off the road, he said. “If you ride the bus or not, it’s going to affect everybody in this community if we can improve our transportation system,” he said.
Potential cuts
Ridership for many California transit systems never recovered from a deep decline at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. But the Santa Cruz Metro in 2023 launched Reimagine Metro, a program to expand bus service, and restored ridership to about on par with pre-pandemic levels.
Before the initiative, many stops were served hourly, Sandoval said, and service was often delayed by an hour or more. It was “horrible service,” he said. The expanded services have buses scheduled about every 15 minutes on highly used routes on weekdays, and more buses running on evenings and weekends than before.
In 2023 Metro began offering free fares for riders in kindergarten through 12th grade. Since then, youth ridership has more than quadrupled.
Reimagine Metro was funded through a $28.4 million one-time state grant, allocated by the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission. Now, the money is running out. To keep the expanded services, residents will need to foot the bill.
Even before Reimagine Metro, the district’s costs had risen more quickly than its income, said Metro director and Santa Cruz County Supervisor Manu Koenig at a November Metro meeting. By using the state money to expand service, Metro leaders hoped to demonstrate “just how valuable this service is for the community” before asking voters for a tax increase, he said.
With the new influx of money from the proposed sales tax, Metro would expand its free fares program to seniors and people with disabilities.
Low-income riders and commuters could also see lower or free fares, or more frequent service, Koenig said. “What the goal really is, is to make the bus free for as many people as possible,” he said Thursday.
But if the tax measure fails, up to 40% of the Metro’s bus service would be cut starting summer 2027, spokesperson Danielle Frost wrote in an email Thursday. One hundred bus drivers would be laid off and buses would run less frequently, she wrote.
Ballot measure
Last year, the Metro Board of Directors considered putting a sale tax measure on the ballot. Polling late last year found that more than half of voters would likely support the measure, but that it likely wouldn’t clear the 66.6% approval needed for a government-initiated tax measure.
Now, members of the newly formed group Friends of Santa Cruz Metro are gathering signatures to place the tax on the November ballot as a citizen-led initiative, which requires more than 50% of the vote. Volunteers have collected nearly 2,000 of 10,500 required signatures, Sandoval said. The signatures are due in early May.
Some Metro directors, including Santa Cruz Vice Mayor Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson, Koenig and Capitola City Councilmember Melinda Orbach are part of the group boosting the tax measure. But they’re working as private citizens on their personal time, and are not using public resources for the campaign, Kalantari-Johnson said.
Friends of Santa Cruz Metro are officially kicking off their campaign at 12 p.m. Friday, March 27 at River Row apartments, 444 Front St., Santa Cruz.
Sales tax rates
If voters approve the new sales tax, rates would increase:
- To 10.25% from 9.75% in Santa Cruz, Scotts Valley and Watsonville.
- To 10% from 9.5% in areas of Santa Cruz County outside of cities.
- To 9.75% from 9.25% in Capitola.
Metro currently receives a countywide half-cent sales tax. It also receives 16% of the half-cent Measure D sales tax. About 40% of Metro’s budget for 2026 came from local sales taxes. Fares and contracts provide 12.5% of funding, and federal and state money pays most of the rest.
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Jesse Kathan is a staff reporter for Santa Cruz Local. They hold a master's degree in science communications from UC Santa Cruz.
