Santa Cruz METRO Privacy & Use Policy

This Privacy & Use Policy (“Policy”) is effective as of March 15, 2023.

The Policy may be amended from time to time and notices of amendments will appear at the bottom of this Policy. It is your responsibility to review this Policy and to check for notices of amendments.

 

The following website domains scmtd.com. scmetro.org, scmetro.net, santacruzmetro.org, santacruzmetro.net are owned and operated by the Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District (METRO) for our hosted website.

 

METRO partners with outside vendors for trip planning, trip booking, fare payment, pass sales, and parking permit payment and other external functions.

 

Because METRO receives certain types of information from visitors to the websites and through the following associated web portals, this Privacy and Use Policy discloses what information is gathered and how that information is used.

 

By using METRO’s website or affiliate websites, or smartphone apps, you consent to the collection and use of this information by METRO, as provided for by this policy.

1. Privacy Policy and Terms of Service for METRO Vendor Partners:

2. Personal Information Collected From the Website

METRO hosts its own instance of a METRO Customer Support Center from open-source vendor OS Tickets

Web Address: https://service.scmtd.com/

 

"Personally identifiable information" or "personal information" is information about an individual that identifies or describes that specific individual, including, the individuals’ name, address, phone number, email address, purchase history, service used, and any comments, feedback or inquiries that you send to us.


METRO will only gather personally identifiable information through lawful means, and it limits the collection of personal information to what is relevant and necessary to accomplish a lawful purpose of METRO. METRO collects personal information from you only if you volunteer to use our METRO Customer Support Center, and the collection of the information is necessary to deliver to you the specific service, such as to respond to your customer service report or provide subscriptions that you have chosen. If you complete METRO’s employment application, METRO may also request other type of personal information required to process your application, such as social security number. If you purchase bus passes, METRO will also collect your credit card number and other information that might aid in collecting payment from you. METRO does not store credit card information on its webserver.

3. Use of Your Personal Information Collected from the Website

If you choose to submit personal information to METRO, METRO will only use your personal information to provide you with the services you have requested or to provide you with the information regarding METRO’s services. METRO does not sell or rent personally identifiable information to any third party.

 

METRO will not disclose personally identifiable information to any third party not affiliated with METRO, except for disclosures to service providers who may assist METRO in such areas as data collection, extraction and storage, other business activities, and disclosures that are required by law, as discussed in Section 5 below. METRO’s service providers do not share information gathered from METRO clients with other parties for promotional purposes, and limits their use of client information to advance their ability to deliver requested services to METRO. Your contact information may be used by METRO to deliver products or services you purchase from METRO or that METRO provides without cost to you. Financial information may be used by METRO and shared with its affiliates or other companies for the purpose of collecting payment for bus passes you purchase from METRO.


When you submit an image, video, or other form of media, the personal information collected may include your name and e-mail address. This information may be accessible or visible in the online posting of the image, video, or other form of media. METRO may use this information to contact you, if needed, regarding the image, video, or other form of media.

4. Collection and Use of Personal Information for the Apps

From time to time, METRO may work with third party vendors or consultants that provide services that relate to or work with the services provided by METRO, including, but not limited to, the Apps. These third parties may collect your personal information when you choose to use their services, such as your first and last name, e-mail address, phone number, travel pattern data, credit card number, and the locations that you travel to and from. These third parties' collection and use of your personal information is governed by their respective privacy policies. You provide this information on a voluntary basis, and METRO may use this information to implement the features, provide the services or information requested, and make improvements to the Apps and METRO's services.

 

The personal information gathered from you when you use the METRO Splash Pass includes the following:

  • Information about mobile tickets purchased, such as the mobile ticket ID, type of mobile ticket, date and time of purchase of the mobile ticket, and the validity period of the mobile ticket.
  • Payment details, information about the financial transactions related to the credit or debit cards used for purchases, the email address the purchase receipt was sent to, and information about credit or debit cards saved in your account.
  • Information about mobile ticket activations, such as the type of mobile ticket and the date and time of activation, end of the validity time, or expiration of the mobile ticket.
  • Device information: We may also collect information about your device each time you use the App. For example, we may collect information on the type of mobile device that you are using and its unique device identifier (for example, the IMEI number, the device’s mobile phone number, or the MAC address of the device’s wireless network interface), the type of mobile browser that you are using, the mobile operating system that you are using, mobile network information, and the time zone setting.

METRO contracts with a vendor to oversee the operations of the METRO Splash Pass, which is currently Masabi. This vendor collects and uses the personal information described above on our behalf. Further information about the vendor's use of your information is described in the vendor's privacy policy, accessible here: https://www.masabi.com/privacy-statement/ and https://www.masabi.com/privacy-notice/

If in the future we use a different vendor for overseeing the METRO Splash Pass, or other vendors for payment processing, we may share the personal information identified above with that vendor to the extent reasonably necessary.

The personal information gathered from you when you use the parking payment App includes the following:

  • Your first and last name
  • Your email address
  • Your phone number
  • Your license plate number
  • Your payment information

METRO contracts with a vendor to oversee the operations of the Passport Parking App, which is currently Passport. This vendor collects and uses the personal information described above on our behalf. Further information about the vendor's use of your information is described in the vendor's privacy policy, accessible here: https://www.passportinc.com/privacy-policy/

If in the future we use a different vendor for overseeing the Passport Parking App, or other vendors for payment processing, we may share the personal information identified above with that vendor to the extent reasonably necessary.

 

METRO contracts with a vendor to oversee the operations of its ParaCruz trip booking app, which is currently Ecolane. This vendor collects and uses the personal information described above on our behalf. Further information about the vendor's use of your information is described in the vendor's privacy policy, accessible here: https://www.ecolane.com/privacy-policy-mobile-app

 

If in the future we use a different vendor for a trip booking app, we may share the personal information identified above with that vendor to the extent reasonably necessary.

5. Disclosure of Personal Information as Required by Law

In the State of California, laws exist to ensure that government is open and that the public has a right to access appropriate records and information possessed by state and local government. METRO is a local government entity. At the same time, there are exceptions to the public’s right to access public records. These exceptions serve various needs, including maintaining the privacy of individuals. Both state and federal laws provide exceptions. All information collected at this website becomes a public record that may be subject to inspection and copying by the public, unless a legal exception, exclusion or exemption in law exists. In the event of a conflict between this Privacy and Use Policy and any federal or state statute or regulation, the latter will prevail. Nothing in this Privacy and Use Policy is intended to infringe on any privacy right based on statute or regulation. Nothing in this Privacy and Use Policy is intended to create a new right of privacy or to give any user any cause of action against the METRO.

In addition, METRO will disclose personal information when required by law, or if we have a good-faith belief that such action is necessary to (a) comply with a current judicial proceeding, a court order or legal process served on METRO, (b) protect and defend METRO’s rights, or (c) protect the rights, property, and others interests of METRO’s users or others. Information in anonymous, aggregated form may be shared freely.

6. Voluntary Customer Surveys

METRO may periodically conduct both business and individual customer surveys. METRO encourages its customers to participate in these surveys because they provide METRO with important information that helps METRO to improve the services it offers. METRO takes the information it receives from individuals responding to its customer surveys and combines (or aggregates) it with the responses of other METRO customers to create broader, generic responses to the survey questions (such as gender, age, residence, hobbies, education, employment, industry sector or other demographic information). METRO then uses the aggregated information to improve the quality of its services to you and to develop new services and products. This aggregate, non-personally identifying information may be shared with third parties.

7. Aggregated Information

METRO receives certain types of information about general activity at the METRO website and Apps. If you do nothing during your visit at METRO’s website but browse, read pages or download information, METRO automatically collects and stores the following information about your visit:

  1. The Internet Protocol Address and domain name used (such as "att.com" or "comcast.net") but not your email address. The Internet Protocol address is a number assigned either to your Internet service provider or directly to your computer;
  2. The type of browser (such as Chrome, Safari, or Firefox) and operating system (such as Windows or iOS) you used and your connection speed;
  3. The date and time you visited METRO’s website;
  4. The web pages or services you accessed at this website;
  5. The website you visited prior to coming and immediately upon leaving this website.

This aggregated information does not include personal identifying information and, therefore, METRO cannot use aggregated information to identify you. METRO gathers and complies this information into an aggregate form for statistical analysis and reporting to improve the content of its web services and to help METRO understand how people are using its services.

METRO uses third party measurement software from Google Analytics to gather and compile aggregated website usage information. Google Analytics does not collect, track or have any access to personal information received at the METRO website. To find out more about Google Analytics, their technology, or their privacy policy, please visit: http://www.google.com/analytics

8. Links

The METRO website contains links to other websites. If you access those links, you will leave the METRO website. METRO does not control those other websites, and therefore is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of these other websites. METRO encourages you to be aware when you leave METRO’s website and to read the privacy and use statements and terms/conditions of use for each and every website that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy and use policy applies solely to information collected by the METRO website.

9. Security

METRO has taken several steps to safeguard the integrity of its telecommunications and computing infrastructure. Credit card purchases are transacted over a secure connection (https://). Security measures have been integrated into the design, implementation, and day-to-day practices of the entire operating environment as part of our continuing commitment to risk management. This should not, however, be deemed in any way as warranting or guaranteeing the absolute security of the information provided via this website.

10. Children’s Privacy

METRO does not knowingly collect information from children under 13 years of age. Any personal information from a child under the age of 13 that has been unknowingly collected and stored by METRO will be deleted upon written request from the child’s parent or legal guardian. Deletion requests should be addressed to:

Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District
Attn: Web Master
110 Vernon
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

11. Consent

By using the METRO website, you consent to the collection and use of information as described above.

12. Accessibility and Accuracy

METRO will make reasonable efforts to include accurate and up-to-date information on its website available to all users. However, neither METRO, nor any department, officer or employee of METRO warrants the accuracy, reliability or timeliness of any information published by this system nor endorses any content, viewpoints, products or services linked from this system and shall not be held liable for any losses caused by reliance on the accuracy, reliability, or timeliness of such information. Portions of such information may be incorrect or not current. Any person or entity that relies on any information obtained from this system does so at his/her own risk. METRO shall not be liable for any direct, incidental, consequential, or indirect or punitive damages arising out of access to, use of or inability to use this website, or any errors or omissions in the content thereof.

 

13. Unauthorized Attempts

Unauthorized attempts to upload information, change information on the Websites or Apps, or cause disruption of service are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under Federal and State law.

14. International

This Policy is intended to cover the collection of information from residents of the United States. If you are not a resident of the United States or are accessing the Websites or Apps from outside the United States, and submit any of your personal information through the site, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored in, or processed in the United States. The data protection and similar laws of the United States may be different than those in other parts of the world.

15. Opt Out/Opt In

METRO allows users to provide their email address and subscribe to updates on selected pages. You may opt out of receiving e-mail from us. To opt out of our mailing list, you can unsubscribe or send us an e-mail to remove your address from the subscribed mailing list.

16. Updates

If METRO decides to update its privacy and use policy, METRO will update this page so that you are always aware of what information METRO collects, how METRO uses it, and under what circumstances METRO discloses it. METRO reserves the right to update this privacy and use policy at any time.

This Privacy Policy is effective and was last updated on March 15, 2023.