Transportation

Highways 1 and 17 are the main roads in and out of Santa Cruz. Geographically constrained between the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Monterey Bay, the narrow transportation corridor served by Highway 1 suffers severe congestion.

Alternative transportation is actively promoted by the City Council, and several transit improvements are underway.

The Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District provides bus service throughout Santa Cruz County. Metro also operates bus service between Santa Cruz (city) and San Jose, thanks to a partnership with the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority and Amtrak California; connections are possible in San Jose. (Complete transit itineraries between Santa Cruz and San Francisco Bay Area cities and major airports are available from iridethebus.org; see External Links, below.)

Greyhound Lines bus service is another option for visiting Surf City. No. 7 Sonora Class C Shay Big Trees RailroadThe Santa Cruz, Big Trees and Pacific Railway operates diesel-electric tourist trains between the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and Roaring Camp in Felton, through Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park.

Their year-round trains, which take excursion groups through the Redwoods to the mountain top, are two, 3-cylinder Shay Steam Locomotives, which are gear-driven.
The county of Santa Cruz is in the process of buying the Santa Cruz branch rail right-of-way belonging to Union Pacific Railroad from Davenport to Watsonville.

Several uses for the right-of-way are proposed, including a tourist train connecting Aptos with Capitola, California.

Santa Cruz has an extensive network of bike lanes and bike paths. Most major roads have bike lanes, and wide, luxurious bike lanes were recently installed on Beach Street, near the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Additionally, there are levee bike paths along the San Lorenzo River.

A Rail Trail -- a bicycle and pedestrian path beside the train right-of-way -- is under development.

The county has one public use general aviation airport and several for private use, as shown in the list of Santa Cruz airports.

The nearest airports for commercial travel include San Jose International Airport, Monterey Peninsula Airport, San Francisco International Airport, and Oakland International Airport.