public transit – Enviro Updates

North Bay’s new coordinated transit service is up and running

July 29, 2026

Natalie Hanson, PRESS DEMOCRAT

Since April, nine transit agencies unveiled schedule adjustments under the three-year Marin-Sonoma Coordinated Transit Service (MASCOTS) pilot, intended to align route times and improve transfers and service with SMART and Highway 101. The agencies say it’s a first step to make it easier to travel, as they gather data to improve their own service areas and regional connectivity for more than half a million monthly riders.

Transportationbuses, Golden Gate Transit, MASCOTS, public transit, Santa Rosa City Bus, SMART, Sonoma County Transit

SMART tax triumphs in landslide

June 4, 2026

Austin Murphy, PRESS DEMOCRAT

What a difference six years made for SMART.

Measure B, the ballot proposal to extend the quarter-cent sales tax that is the lifeblood for Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit system, remained about 20 points clear of the 50%-plus-one-vote it needs to pass in the two counties as of the latest updates Wednesday.

After a yearlong campaign staked on the very future of SMART, supporters were jubilant Election Night.

“This has felt like an existential situation,” said SMART board Chairman Chris Coursey, a Sonoma County supervisor. “Had we not been able to extend it, we would have come back in 2028. People would have been looking for jobs. We would have been planning on how to wind it down.

“Now, we’ve got another 30 years. This is my grandkids being able to grow up and have this train.”

Transportationpublic transit, SMART, SMART Measure B, trains

SMART needs just a simple majority on Measure B to lock in crucial tax revenue for 30 more years

May 12, 2026

Austin Murphy and Emma Murphy, PRESS DEMOCRAT

Was this the SMART train, or the Lexington Avenue local during a New York City rush hour?

It took several minutes on the morning of April 18 for passengers on the platform at the Santa Rosa Downtown station to pack themselves onto a southbound train. With the Butter & Egg Days festival happening in Petaluma, four stops south, this was an especially crowded day on SMART, with over 7,200 riders — about 2,500 more than its daily average.

“There’s nowhere to park near the parade,” a mom explained to her two young children, once they were all aboard. “So we’re taking the train!”

On one side of the tracks, as SMART trip No. 9 eased into the Petaluma North station 20 minutes later, was the paved pathway for cyclists and pedestrians, part of a trail network that one day is meant to stretch 70 miles when completed, from Larkspur to Cloverdale. On the other were seven half-finished apartment buildings on land sold by SMART that will eventually hold 131 affordable housing units.

The bustling tableau — packed trains within walking distance of low-cost housing, connecting communities with less reliance on automobiles — was precisely what the founders of the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit district envisioned in their successful campaign almost 20 years ago to return passenger train service to the North Bay after a decades-long hiatus.

Transportationpublic transit, sales tax, SMART, SMART Measure B, trains

SMART boosts daily train trips under move to consolidate North Bay transit service

April 18, 2026

Adrian Rodriguez, PRESS DEMOCRAT

A shift in options for North Bay transit riders was put in motion this month, with more daily trains offered by SMART but fewer regional bus trips linking Sonoma County to San Francisco.

The overhaul has been touted as a streamlining effort involving Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit and Golden Gate Transit, the regional bus operator, plus seven other regional transit agencies.

Under the plan, SMART on April 12 began rolling its trains earlier in the morning and later at night, with increased midday service to provide synced transfers with local bus lines. SMART has increased the number of train trips from 42 to 48 on weekdays and 16 to 24 on weekends.

SMART officials say the moves translate into a 19% bump in overall trips.

Golden Gate Transit, which offers regional bus routes between the North Bay and San Francisco, has reduced service in Sonoma County. The line’s main Route 101 bus will now stop in Novato, among other reductions in north-south service.

New North Bay transit schedules

Go here for the latest schedule changes for in SMART’s train service.

Go here for changes in the Golden Gate Transit bus schedules.

TransportationMASCOTS, public transit, SMART, trains

Sonoma County BOS endorses SMART tax renewal measure

March 3, 2026

Emma Murphy, PRESS DEMOCRAT

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors has thrown its support behind a ballot measure seeking to renew a quarter-cent sales tax underwriting the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit system.

A board majority on Tuesday voted to place the measure on the June 2 ballot, consolidating it with the primary election and, in a second vote, authorized Chair Rebecca Hermosillo to submit a letter in support of the measure.

Four of Sonoma County’s five elected supervisors voted in favor of both motions. Supervisor David Rabbitt, who serves on SMART’s board of directors, was absent Tuesday. In a text Rabbitt said he was in Washington D.C. on behalf of a few local agencies including the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District.

SMART’s sales tax, which raises about $51 million annually, was passed by voters in 2008 and is set to expire in 2029. The new measure asks Sonoma and Marin voters to renew the tax for 30 years.

Transportationballot measure, public transit, SMART, trains

Marin, Sonoma propose transit overhaul along Highway 101

July 7, 2025

Adrian Rodriguez, MARIN INDEPENDENT JOURNAL

A North Bay transportation committee proposed significant changes to transit along Highway 101, aiming to improve service in Marin and Sonoma counties by reducing redundancies and enhancing connections.

A North Bay transportation committee is proposing some major changes to transit, including bus and train, along the Highway 101 corridor to improve service in Marin and Sonoma counties.

The committee representing six transit operators and three funding agencies wants to eliminate redundancies while improving connections among operators and increasing services where rider demand is highest.

“All the agencies involved in transportation in Sonoma and Marin got together and we said, if one company ran all this based on what’s going on today, what would it look like? It probably would look different,” said Denis Mulligan, general manager of the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District. The district operates Golden Gate Transit and Golden Gate Ferry.

Mulligan said the task of the committee, called the Marin Sonoma Coordinated Transit Service, is to restructure and coordinate transit to provide the best service to riders.

TransportationGolden Gate Transit, Highway 101, public transit, SMART

Santa Rosa acquires new electric transit buses, readying first two for service in late 2022

September 29, 2022

Alana Minkler & Colin Atagi, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Two electric buses arrived in Santa Rosa on Wednesday morning and two more are on the way as the city is poised to put them into service later this year — the start of a bigger shift to eliminate carbon emissions tied to the CityBus fleet.

The switch to electrical buses is part of the city’s initiative to make public transportation fully zero-emission by 2030 and drastically lower carbon emissions in the transportation sector, which accounts for 60% of climate warming gases in the county.

The city’s all-electric buses, which cost $1.2 million each, join three currently in the county fleet, and are part of the broader plan by transit and fleet managers eyeing a transition away from fossil fuel vehicles over the coming years.

Sonoma County Transit introduced its first electric bus in 2018 and plans to add three more by the end of this year, with up to 19 in service by mid-2024, said Sonoma County Transit Systems Manager Bryan Albee said.

Climate Change & Energy, Transportationelectric vehicles, ghg emissions, ghg reduction, public transit