We are recommending a larger Personal Rapid Transit system than has been proposed for Santa Cruz in the past.
Along a homogeneous corridor, the usefulness of a PRT system increases exponentially with size, in the sense that each additional mile of guideway means that each station has more destinations available. Our proposed system will reap large benefits by quickly extending to the West Side of Santa Cruz and to Capitola. The corridors to Watsonville are obviously much less densely populated, but service to Watsonville will also reap huge rewards with respect to improving commutes and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The Santa Cruz County rail corridor descussion that has often pitted pro-transit activists against pro-trail (anti-rail) activists. We feel that a PRT system can appease both sides by providing public transit above the rail corridor and/or along a parallel corridor, without interfering with traffic.
Our confidence in a large PRT system received a recent boost in June 2017, when the UAE city of Ajman signed an agreement to build a 75-mile (total track length) system.