We may lose the main bus between Santa Cruz and San Jose. Send e-mail or come to a meeting to support merging the Amtrak bus with the Highway 17 Express.

Do you ride the bus between Santa Cruz and San Jose? Your main option will be canceled -- "probably" as early as October, according to a Caltrans official. Caltrans pays for the Amtrak bus, which is in serious decline.

You can do something!

Several agencies are cooperating to extend the Highway 17 Express bus to Downtown Santa Cruz (Metro Center) and add weekend service. Today, the Highway 17 Express just runs between San Jose and Scotts Valley, and there is no weekend service.

There is a public meeting on Friday, February 27th at 9 AM at Santa Cruz City Hall. Metro, the transit agency for our county, can approve or reject the plan.

If you cannot come, send e-mail to Metro's board, in care of dcarr@scmtd.com . Say that you "support merging the Amtrak bus with the Highway 17 Express". Send a copy (cc:) to the Metro Riders Union, at info@metroridersunion.org . We will deliver a strong message of support at the meeting.

Once again, we will lose the main daily service between Santa Cruz and San Jose if the plan doesn't pass.