For the first time since the pandemic began, SMART plans to restore some of its lost weekday and weekend train service while also reducing fares for the next year in an effort to bring back riders.
“I think we really feel compelled to bring back service at this time as people are getting out of their homes and going back to work and doing more leisure activities, more socialization,” said Heather McKillop, the chief financial officer.
Starting Monday, the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit district will add two morning trips and three afternoon trips to its weekday service, increasing the total trips from the 16 to 26. Saturday service will begin on May 29 and include 12 daily trips.
Sunday service is not being restored because of staffing shortages and the difficulty in hiring for open positions, McKillop said.
“It’s really now about manpower,” she said.
The new schedule can be found at bit.ly/3bL0OVn
Before the pandemic, SMART ran 38 daily weekday trips and 16 weekend trips on both Saturdays and Sundays. As the virus spread, it cut service to 16 daily weekday trips and eliminated weekend service last year in response to ridership losses, budget constraints and safety concerns.
As a way to attract new and former passengers to ride the train, SMART will reduce fares for the first time since launching service in August 2017. Overall fares will be slashed by about 40% until May 31, 2022. Passengers will pay a base fare of $1.50 and another $1.50 for each zone. Previously, riders paid a base fare of $3.50 and an additional $2 for each zone they pass through.
The new fares will reduce the cost of riding from Santa Rosa to Larkspur from $11.50 to $7.50. Additionally, the 50% discount for seniors, youth, low-income riders and disabled riders will also stack on top of the reduced fares, with these passengers paying a 75-cent base fare and 75 cents per additional zone.
SMART will also offer discounted 31-day passes of $135 for adults, down from $200, and $67.50 for discount-eligible passengers.
A new weekend pass will also be available to give passengers unlimited rides on Saturdays. Passes will be $10 for adults and $5 for discount-eligible riders.
As of now, the reduced fares will only be available through the SMART eTickets phone application. McKillop said SMART expects the reduced fares will be available through Clipper starting Sept. 1 because of programming delays.
Eris Weaver, director of the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition, said this might cause confusion and that many people may not even be aware of the phone application.
“Not everyone is quick with a cellphone,” she told the board at its meeting on Wednesday.
SMART saw drastic ridership losses from the pandemic. In January 2020, it had about 2,800 passengers on an average weekday. Ridership plummeted after March 2020, but slowly rebounded to about 500 on some weekdays as of March 2021, according to the latest data.
SMART board member Eric Lucan, who sits on the Novato City Council, said there is a possibility the reduced fares could continue longer than a year.
“I’m very curious to see how the public responds once we put this out,” Lucan said at the board meeting.
Windsor Councilwoman Debora Fudge, also a member of the SMART board, said she is concerned about what happens after the promotional fare ends and what the public will expect.
“I’m afraid they’re going to think this is permanent,” Fudge said at the meeting. “I can tell already from comments that people think it’s permanent.”
The changes are expected to reduce SMART’s fare revenues from $1.3 million to about $800,000 in the upcoming 2021-2022 fiscal year. The transit agency plans to make up the $500,000 difference using part of the $5 million it set aside last month to fund rider-requested changes, including more train service and lower fares.
“While it will result in less revenue in the short term, it will increase ridership and therefore help the revenue bottom line in the longer term,” Marin County Supervisor Damon Connolly, a SMART board member, said at the meeting.
Expenses are set to increase by $1.6 million annually with the renewed service, which McKillop said is already accounted for in SMART’s proposed 2021-2022 budget. Restoring pre-pandemic service levels would cost another $2.2 million, with SMART aiming to pursue federal stimulus funds in an effort to begin adding more trips back to the schedule, McKillop said.
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SMART adds trips, cuts fares as COVID-19 pandemic eases - Marin Independent Journal
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