Is SMART Smart?

October 8, 2006

I am still on the fence about SMART. I like the idea of having train system that connects North Bay counties to transit systems in the bay area. As someone who lives along Marin’s 101 corridor, I know we desperately need an alternative to automobile commute traffic. My questions have to do with what this particular system can do and the answers to those questions will have a lot to do whether I support Measure R or not. My husband and I work at home and telecommute. We only use our car sparingly for day trips and shopping trips.

1. Will I be able to take the shuttle to the Civic Center and get on SMART to get me to Larkspur Ferry? I want to be able to take a day trip with my toddler son to San Francisco and be able to be flexible when I go and when I come back. Will I be able to do that?

2. I want to be able to take SMART from the Civic Center to go on a day trip to downtown Sonoma and be able to go wine tasting and get a spa treatment without having to drive at any point that day.

3. Will there be enough parking at SMART stops for people out of reach of shuttle or bus connections?

4. Will there be enough flexibility of schedules for people who work off hours or have to work late or get to work early?

5. Will there be places for people to shop for groceries at these stops (and other errands), so people know that they can pick up dinner on the way home from work using SMART?

6. Since a lot of traffic within Marin can be linked to parents taking their kids to school and after-school activities will this system be able to get kids around Marin safely?

7. How will the system work if Larkspur doesn’t let the system in?

I want to support this system, but to me the devil is in the details. I want the system to meet the actual needs of commuters and citizens who are going to be paying for such a system. I want a system people will actually use. I want to welcome both sides of the issue to feel free to usethis to state both sides and answer these questions.

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Category Posted in SMART

Comments to “Is SMART Smart?”

Marinette said:

October 10th, 2006 at 8:03 pm

Hello,
There is no reason you won’t be able to do as you suggest in #1 and #2 above. Sounds like fun.

#3: There will be parking at some stations and not at others. There are downtown stations and out-of-town stations. Parking lots are car magnets, and you donâ€™t want to bring lots of cars into the downtowns, so those stations will not have much if any parking. On the other hand, we have this land use pattern where people are much too spread out, so they will have to be able to drive to stations. So the out-of-town stations may have parking. Station design is not to that level yet. Once the measure is passed we can proceed with the finer points.

Shuttle service has not yet been designed. I know that everyone wants total certainty on all aspects of the project, but we just don’t have it. In two years, when the tracks are nearing completion and the cars are being arranged, I’m sure we will have public meetings on where and when the shuttles will run.

#4: Initial service will be commuter service â€“ morning and evening with a mid-day train. Over time, service will be designed to meet the needs of travelers, including weekend service.

#5: All the towns in Marin with downtowns were built around rail stations; they are evidence of the kind of walkable development that happens once fixed-guideway transit happens. Once the stations are in, smart business people will establish retail near the stations, because you are not alone in wanting to shop on the way home. In Novato , they now have a Whole Foods in walking distance to where the station will most likely be.

#6: Most schools are within neighborhoods, so most school children wonâ€™t take the train to school. There is certainly no reason why the over-12 set canâ€™t take the train. I hope eventually we get a weekend stop at McInnis Park so kids can go up there and use the batting cages and so forth.

#7: If you read the bill that established the SMART district, you will see that local governments do not have veto power or even the final say in design issues for stations within their towns. The Larkspur City Council includes no transit planners, and they haven’t realized yet that the train will significantly reduce the number of cars driving to the ferry every day, IF it is right at the ferry landing. The SMART board decided (foolishly, in my opinion) to try to appease the Larkspur City Council by putting the Larkspur station in an impractical and in my opinion unacceptable location. We need to pass this measure; once that is done, we can work to get the station right at the ferry terminal, where it belongs.

We will not know everything at once. We will not build everything at once, and all the service that ever will be will not be in place when this starts up. A vote for Measure R is a vote for the future, a better environment, a place where our kids can get around without having to own a car and get out there on 101 with everyone else, an chance to bring back some sanity.