trains

SMART tax triumphs in landslide

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.”

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/2026/06/02/tax-measure-smart-train-election/

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

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.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/2026/05/09/smart-tax-measure-2026-election-sonoma-marin/

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

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.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/2026/04/17/smart-train-service-bus-trips-mascots/

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Tracks blocked from trail takeover

Austin Murphy, PRESS DEMOCRAT

A minor legal defeat suffered by the Great Redwood Trail Agency is being hailed as a major cause for celebration among some North Bay railroad enthusiasts.

A February ruling by Surface Transportation Board, an obscure but powerful federal agency tasked with regulating the nation’s freight rail network, has, in an indirect way, breathed new life into train buffs’ hopes for a return, someday, of rail service to communities along the Highway 101 corridor from Cloverdale to Willits.

The ruling is the upshot of a legal move that began two years ago when the public agency spearheading the planning and construction of most of the 320-mile Great Redwood Trail between San Francisco and Humboldt bays filed a petition with the Surface Transportation Board. The filing related to a different section of North Coast railroad — the Mendocino Railway line, popularly known as the Skunk Train, which runs 40 miles west to east, from Fort Bragg to Willits.

The petition sought the board’s authorization for what is called a third-party, “adverse” abandonment, part of a formal step that’s been used to convert mothballed segments of the nation’s vast network of commercial rail lines into trails over the past several decades.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/2026/04/03/ruling-against-great-redwood-trail-agency-sparks-renewed-hopes-for-return-of-rail-service-from-cloverdale-to-willits/

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SMART to break ground on extension to Healdsburg

Austin Murphy, PRESS DEMOCRAT

Boring can be interesting — especially when it signals that SMART has broken ground on its much-anticipated nine-mile track extension from Windsor to Healdsburg.

Field work for that project is set to begin Monday, March 30, the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit agency announced Friday.

For this early phase of the work, which is expected to continue through April, technicians will use a drill rig to extract soil samples along the rail line’s right-of-way.

“Watch for crews drilling soil samples,” the city of Healdsburg posted on social media, “so the train will be on firm footing.”

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/2026/03/22/smart-healdsburg-windsor-extension/

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Sonoma County BOS endorses SMART tax renewal measure

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.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/2026/03/03/sonoma-county-supervisors-smart-tax-measure/

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SMART supporters submit petition for tax renewal measure

Adrian Rodriquez, NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL

North Bay voters could decide within months whether to throw Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit a financial lifeline or let it fail.

The quarter-cent sales tax that collects more than $51 million annually, or about half of the agency’s revenue, is set to expire in 2029. Without an extension, the agency would be forced to cease operations.

On Friday, a coalition of SMART supporters filed an initiative seeking to extend the tax for 30 years. The petition aims to put a measure on the June 2 ballot.

The petition was submitted three months ahead of the deadline. To be successful it needs signatures of at least 10% of registered voters between the two counties, or 48,809. The petitioners submitted 71,851 signatures.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/2025/11/25/smart-supporters-submit-petition-for-tax-renewal-measure/

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