The GO Santa Cruz program is scaling up to serve commuters throughout Santa Cruz County, the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission announced today. In this interview, Amy Naranjo, Transportation Planner for the Santa Cruz Regional Transportation Commission, explains how the program works and what commuters can do to earn points.
GO Santa Cruz County rewards local commuters with incentives to rethink their ride and choose a more earth-friendly commute. Alternative transportation miles are earned when you opt to walk, bike, carpool or ride the bus to work — skateboards and Onewheels are welcome too! The program is free to participate in.
“Earth Day brings a heightened awareness to the need to choose less-impactful modes of travel,” said Shannon Munz, Communications Specialist, Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission. “Encouraging more climate-friendly
Through GO Santa Cruz County, both employees and employers are invited to participate in a series of free educational workshops on green transportation. The informative sessions will be offered online and in-person (once safe to do so) and will focus on various topics including urban cycling, eBikes, bike commuting basics and more.
GO Santa Cruz County features an online commute management tool available to all employees who live or work in Santa Cruz County. Community members can register by visiting https://my.cruz511.
In addition, program participants can earn rewards. Points are earned by logging alternative transportation options and can be redeemed for electronic gift cards. GO Santa Cruz County users can also enter for chances to win in quarterly drawings.
GO Santa Cruz County is an expansion of the GO Santa Cruz pilot program, which was launched in 2019 by the City of Santa Cruz as an incentive for downtown Santa Cruz employees to choose alternative transportation methods. The downtown program currently has more than 1,100 participants who have logged more than 23,000 alternative trips, and in doing so reduced CO2 emissions by 26.9 metric tons. GO Santa Cruz will continue to serve downtown Santa Cruz employees.
Go Santa Cruz County is a key part of the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission’s ongoing effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and play an active role in addressing climate change. The program is partially funded by voter-approved Measure D, which provides a balanced vision to improve, operate and maintain Santa Cruz County’s transportation network. For more information visit https://cruz511.org/
