SMART Train Service to Larkspur Landing Begins Dec. 14
Dec.4, 2019
Will Houston
marinij.com
A SMART train on a trial run from San Rafael stops at the new station in Larkspur. (Sherry LaVars/ Special to Marin Independent Journal)
After more than two years of construction and testing, Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit will begin running trains to Larkspur starting Dec. 14.
“This has been a long journey,” Barbara Pahre, vice president of the SMART board, said after the announcement on Wednesday.
The Larkspur station’s proximity to the Golden Gate Ferry terminal will allow train riders from as far north as the Sonoma County Airport to reach San Francisco with one transfer. Riders currently have to either transfer to a bus or use other modes of transportation to get to the terminal.
An opening ceremony at the Larkspur station is planned at 1 p.m. Dec. 13. The following day, SMART plans to hold a ceremony to marking the opening of the downtown Novato station.
“It should be a great weekend,” Farhad Mansourian, SMART’s general manager, told the board during its meeting in Petaluma.
Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit began construction on the 2.2-mile-long, $55.4 million extension from downtown San Rafael to Larkspur in July 2017. The station is about an eight-minute walk from the Larkspur Ferry Terminal. Neither the ferry service nor SMART plan to run a shuttle between the two stations.
Effective Jan. 2, SMART trains will be running on a new schedule that was created in coordination with Golden Gate Ferry. The new schedule will increase total weekday trips from 34 to 38 trips as well as add earlier weekend trains.
In the intervening two weeks, SMART trains will be operating on an interim schedule.
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