In a surprising move, Greenway and Friends of the Rail & Trail (FORT) decided to bury the hatchet and work together on reasonable community transportation solutions. The first of such solutions will be a fleet of Zoox vehicles. Zoox is not a car; it is a new form of fully autonomous transportation that will relieve traffic congestion and pollution. It can deliver passengers on and off the corridor, all day long without needing a recharge. The cost to Santa Cruz County for a fleet of 50 Zoox vehicles is less than 1/100th the cost of a light rail service. The annual maintenance is 1/1000th. And the even better news, this fleet will be deployed in 2024 rather than 2050 for a light rail system.

For those who need to go faster and further, Joby Aviation has agreed to establish “Joby Ports” in 10 locations for travel over Hwy 17. This is great news since 90% of our local traffic congestion is from commuters traveling to and from Santa Cruz county to the Silicon Valley and San Francisco. A trip from Santa Cruz to San Francisco will take about 20 minutes, versus 2-3 hours by car, and cost about the same amount as it would for gas at today’s prices. Service will commence in 2024.

In order to get to an agreement, there were concessions on both sides. In the end, both Greenway and FORT agreed to assist each other in local commutes.

Happy April fools 2022!