CA: Marin Transit outlines service changes for regional network

Marin Transit is proposing to replace a bus line connecting Marin City to San Rafael with a new streamlined route as part of a planned transit overhaul in the North Bay.

Marin Transit is the fixed-route bus provider for Marin County. The plan to supplant the Route 36 bus is one of several service changes the agency is proposing under the Marin-Sonoma Coordinated Transit Service plan.

Monday was the first time Marin Transit detailed specifically how it would consolidate its services in Southern Marin to fit into the revamp of the larger regional network.

“Ultimately, this effort was looking at how would we plan the service if we were one agency with the goals of increasing ridership, increasing legibility and just making it an overall better service for our riders,” Robert Betts, Marin Transit director of operations, said of the regional proposal. Legibility is the extent to which riders can easily understand how to get to their destinations.

The plan was put together after six transit operators and three funding agencies took a closer look last year at improving public transportation along the Highway 101 corridor.

A study by the consulting firm Nelson\ygaard found that Golden Gate Transit and the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit are duplicating services, and the train has become the more popular choice of travel between Sonoma and Marin. The Highway 101 corridor is also overserved with too many bus routes carrying too few riders. Local bus routes also need to have better connections to the SMART rail, the study said.

Betts said Marin Transit’s proposed service changes are in direct response to the prospective bus improvements pitched by Golden Gate Transit.

Golden Gate Transit is proposing to truncate its Route 101 bus in Novato, no longer operating in Sonoma County.

Under the plan, Route 130 would increase service frequency and no longer serve destinations north of Mill Valley. Route 150 would be canceled because of low ridership, and Route 580 would no longer serve East Francisco Boulevard in San Rafael.

Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit plans to increase its service window and frequency to serve as the primary transportation provider between the two counties.

In response to those regional changes, Marin Transit is proposing that its Route 17 bus end in Marin City and no longer serve Sausalito. The new alignment would no longer provide a Larkspur Landing loop or a Strawberry Village loop. Route 22 would no longer serve Strawberry Village.

Route 71, Marin Transit’s “trunk line” serving the Highway 101 corridor, would be extended to the San Marin SMART train station in Novato to the north and to the Sausalito ferry terminal to the south.

Route 26 would replace Route 36, serving the San Rafael Transit Center, the Canal neighborhood, Larkspur Landing and Strawberry with an improved alignment, Betts said.

Betts said this would be the first time in nearly 10 years that there would be direct connections from the Canal neighborhood to Larkspur Landing, which is now a hub for the SMART train in addition to the ferry.

“Not only does it open up this new connection to the Larkspur Landing area, but it also reduces the travel time at many hours of the day for riders going south,” Betts said of the proposed Route 26 line.

Marin Transit Route 17 would connect to Golden Gate Transit 130 in Marin City. Marin Transit’s Route 26 and 219 would also connect to the 130 in Strawberry, Betts said.

The changes to the Marin Transit routes would provide new and better connections to Golden Gate Transit in Southern Marin. The proposals also make it easier for riders to pick a route to their destination.

Additionally, Marin Transit is planning to replace its Route 29 bus with a new supplemental route 629. Routes 17, 71 and 219 would be curtailed because of low ridership. Select trips for Routes 22, 49 and 57 would also be canceled because of low ridership.

Marin County Supervisor Stephanie Moulton-Peters is a board member on several of the participating agencies in the region, including Marin Transit, the Transportation Authority of Marin, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District.

Moulton-Peters thanked the staff at Marin Transit for figuring out the configuration of routes in Southern Marin.

“We got where we needed to get,” Moulton-Peters said.

Marin Transit is collecting comments on the proposal through the end of the month. Public hearings are planned on Oct. 15 at the Al Boro Community Center in San Rafael and Oct. 16 at the Marin City Library. More information is at marintransit.org.

The comments are expected to be presented to the Marin Transit board at its November meeting. A final recommendation for approval is planned for the December session.

Paolo Cosulich-Schwartz, a Golden Gate Transit official, said the agency’s board is expected to consider the final recommendations for its service changes at its meetings on Oct. 23 and 24. More information will be posted at goldengate.org.

If approved, service changes at all agencies would take effect in the spring.

© 2025 The Marin Independent Journal (Novato, Calif.).
Visit www.marinij.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.