The Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District (METRO) will receive an additional $13.5 million of emergency funding through the federal Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations (CRRSA) Act.
Approved by Congress in December of last year along with the $1.4 trillion spending bill, the CRRSA Act is a $900 billion bill that included $45 billion for transit, passenger rail and private transportation providers. Of that bill, $14 billion will go to transit agencies nationwide, including METRO.
“This emergency funding can’t come soon enough as transit agencies nationwide are facing a deficient (sic) due to declines in ridership from the Covid-19 pandemic,” said METRO spokeswoman Danielle Glagola.
Established in 1968, METRO provides fixed-route and Highway 17 commuter service throughout Santa Cruz County, with limited service connecting to Monterey Salinas Transit at our Watsonville Transit Center and Santa Clara County, transporting more than 5 million passenger trips a year. Today it operates a fleet of 102 buses on 26 fixed-routes.
