Higher gas prices have more people hopping on the Highway 17 bu...

It's $4.00 not $4.50 to go over the hill, a pretty fair deal. At $1.50 a ride for the local bus, It's time to look into the zone system. Monterey Salinas Transit has it to the south of us. That could pay for more badly needed service for our community.

"said she would rather park her car and pay $4.50 each way for a bus ticket over the hill than fill the tank."
-Its actually $4 each way.
and in the pics...sentinal takes a pic of the oldest ugliest 17 bus in the fleet. and the one that says riders wait to ride to san jose...thats a local bus, the 17 buses are niceer inside....sentinal did no justice for the bus system...please give us a better image, more facts, and promote us the mass transit better. thanks! by the way sentinal...want a real report? check out this video and ask our wonderful city council (who are truly in charge of metro) why they cant be all over this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch...

I have been riding the 17 bus for nine years. All of you "new riders" are really annoying. Keep your GD feed off the seats, and don't play your music so loud that I don't need to borrow your ear buds.

Also, it would help if the driver made people put their lugggage in the carrier under the bus.

I meant "feet," not "feed," but you should keep that off the seats too!

More poor people on the bus, less people on the road so I can get to work quicker.

Wow, Sentinel. While I am glad that you all have noticed the Highway 17 bus problem, crappy reporting strikes again. As several other people have pointed out, it's $4.00 one way. And it's $2.00 one way for senior (62 and over)/disabled,$8.00 for a day pass (that is good on both VTA and Metro regular buses as well),$90 for a monthly pass (that works as a day pass on regular Metro buses and VTA as well), or $79 for a month if you are a San Jose State student and you buy your pass at the Student Union.
I have been riding the 17 bus since the semester started in January and I have noticed a huge increase in passengers. All of the morning buses, and most of the afternoon ones, seem to be standing room only, and that is even getting tight. I've never seen anybody left behind, but I have seen bus drivers call for back-up buses when it is really packed. So, if they can call for back-up buses, why can't they just add one more route full time? I think that just one more bus in the morning between the 7:55 and the 8:05 would make a huge difference.
The big problem that this article didn't mention is that if people start feeling to uncomfortable on the bus they are going to stop riding, and that's the last thing our poor planet needs right now.

I ride the Highway 17 to SJSU twice a week... semester ends soon and imagine this will free up a lot of seats. Oh, and for "Highway Niner" for the remaining days I take the bus I plan to play my ipod extra loud and put my food/feet on the seats just to annoy you a little more. It's stuck up a**holes like you that take up a whole seat with their belongings and pretend they're asleep to avoid sharing!

CWH wrote:

I ride the Highway 17 to SJSU twice a week... semester ends soon and imagine this will free up a lot of seats. Oh, and for "Highway Niner" for the remaining days I take the bus I plan to play my ipod extra loud and put my food/feet on the seats just to annoy you a little more. It's stuck up a**holes like you that take up a whole seat with their belongings and pretend they're asleep to avoid sharing!

Actually, you are wrong, child. I always make the other seat available.

Mass transit works only if you live very close to the lines, do not have groceries, and like smelly people in close proximity. For me, it could only work if I have nothing better to do than ride the bus.

"3.5 percent increase, White said."
wow! what he did not say is that the local bus scheduling is ineffective and inefficient. the lousy local scheduling and routing causes lower than expected ridership locally. the buses consistently do not arrive on time and many run circuitous routes that add to the problem.
let us clean up the system, so that we the public can rely on the bus for local transportation.

take another puff wrote:

"3.5 percent increase, White said."
wow! what he did not say is that the local bus scheduling is ineffective and inefficient. the lousy local scheduling and routing causes lower than expected ridership locally. the buses consistently do not arrive on time and many run circuitous routes that add to the problem.
let us clean up the system, so that we the public can rely on the bus for local transportation.

I agree fully! however once again our wonderful city council/board of directors who do not design our roads with buses in mind or to an advantage...bus lanes, bus stops with platforms (makes boarding/unboarding faster) signal light priority etc...would tighty much up. its not the drivers fault they are sitting in same traffic and is tough to get back into the flow. also things like not long enough red curbs or none at all preventing buses to completly get over safely is a joke...and as far as loud music, smelly people, etc...tell the driver, alot of times he/she cant hear or smell whats going on cause they have their own windows/fans and cant hear with their own noises happening in the front, their usually pretty darn good at disfusing the issue and even allowed to refuse service to people.

I agree. I used to take the bus, but for someone on a schedule, the bus system is totally unreliable.

Some people just don't have the luxury of killing 3 hours a day.

Plus, when the bus system had a transfer system, it was a good deal financially. Not any more.

take another puff wrote:

"3.5 percent increase, White said."
wow! what he did not say is that the local bus scheduling is ineffective and inefficient. the lousy local scheduling and routing causes lower than expected ridership locally. the buses consistently do not arrive on time and many run circuitous routes that add to the problem.
let us clean up the system, so that we the public can rely on the bus for local transportation.

Ok, I just got back from an unplanned drive over the hill to the train station. Why? I took my stepson to catch the bus leaving Scotts Valley at 11:50 am, which is intended to connect with the Capital Corridor Amtrak train leaving San Jose at 12:50. The bus arrived in Scotts Valley over 10 minutes behind schedule, and when I questioned the driver about the chances of being able to connect with the Amtrak train, he replied that he didn't think he'd make it. He also gave off an "and I don't care" attitude about the whole thing.

My husband and I ended up driving over the hill so that our son would not have to fret about the possibility of arriving in San Jose only to have to wait an extra hour and a half for the next connection to Sacramento, which would have been by bus, not train.

I thought the whole reason that Amtrak has its logos on the 17 buses is because they share the contract for that part of the connection. On the weekends, the buses go no further than the train station, so you would think that it would be clear to the drivers and schedulers that their goal is to make the connection with other Amtrak conveyances. What was I thinking?

Thats_great wrote:

More poor people on the bus, less people on the road so I can get to work quicker.

Live near where you work, and we'd all be happier!

zzonick wrote:

<quoted text>
Live near where you work, and we'd all be happier!

IS that physically possible?

wildman wrote:

<quoted text>
IS that physically possible?

It's possible if you're rich and can afford to rent near where you work. For most of us, it isn't possible.

I will continue to drive my car. People riding bikes scoffing at my right to earn a higher income than them can proceed further and bike to work in Santa Cruz. Not all of us want to be poor environmentalists working tourist jobs for the summer rush for those coming down from San Jose.

You bike to work or take public transportation? That's great, your time just isn't as valuable as mine because you probably make under $20 an hr.

unfortunately, you've experienced first hand what i identified as a regular problem with santa cruz metro buses, and that is that they are ineffective and inefficient system wide.

Highway Niner wrote:

Ok, I just got back from an unplanned drive over the hill to the train station. Why? I took my stepson to catch the bus leaving Scotts Valley at 11:50 am, which is intended to connect with the Capital Corridor Amtrak train leaving San Jose at 12:50. The bus arrived in Scotts Valley over 10 minutes behind schedule, and when I questioned the driver about the chances of being able to connect with the Amtrak train, he replied that he didn't think he'd make it. He also gave off an "and I don't care" attitude about the whole thing.
My husband and I ended up driving over the hill so that our son would not have to fret about the possibility of arriving in San Jose only to have to wait an extra hour and a half for the next connection to Sacramento, which would have been by bus, not train.
I thought the whole reason that Amtrak has its logos on the 17 buses is because they share the contract for that part of the connection. On the weekends, the buses go no further than the train station, so you would think that it would be clear to the drivers and schedulers that their goal is to make the connection with other Amtrak conveyances. What was I thinking?

Poor people on the bus wrote:

<quoted text>
It's possible if you're rich and can afford to rent near where you work. For most of us, it isn't possible.
I will continue to drive my car. People riding bikes scoffing at my right to earn a higher income than them can proceed further and bike to work in Santa Cruz. Not all of us want to be poor environmentalists working tourist jobs for the summer rush for those coming down from San Jose.
You bike to work or take public transportation? That's great, your time just isn't as valuable as mine because you probably make under $20 an hr.

I guess your over $20.00 an hour income only allows you to contemplate renting near where you work. Aren't you fancy!

HIGHWAY NINER , With surface transportation you can't give any guarantee about making fine time commitments. I'm sure you mistake that drivers DON'T CARE attitude with his honest CAN'T GUARANTEE !!!
However I'm sure you've never missed an appointment due to traffic CAUSE YOU GOT WINGS...

Poor people on the bus wrote:

<quoted text>
It's possible if you're rich and can afford to rent near where you work. For most of us, it isn't possible.
I will continue to drive my car. People riding bikes scoffing at my right to earn a higher income than them can proceed further and bike to work in Santa Cruz. Not all of us want to be poor environmentalists working tourist jobs for the summer rush for those coming down from San Jose.
You bike to work or take public transportation? That's great, your time just isn't as valuable as mine because you probably make under $20 an hr.

I can't quite figure out why you even bother to post your meaningless comments, when you could care less about public transportation and its role in the Santa Cruz economy.