Election Result Underscores Message: Bay Area Wants Car Dependence to End

Measure B, a ¼-cent sales tax extension to fund the SMART train between Larkspur and Windsor for the next 30 years, won by over 70 percent in Sonoma and Marin in Tuesday’s election.

The Marin County Bicycle Coalition was “…pleased to see that SMART’s funding measure, which our partners and we in Sonoma County had endorsed, has won a decisive victory,” said Warren Wells, the group’s Policy and Planning Director.

“SMART has made huge progress–filling in gaps in the pathway, adding wayfinding and bike/pedestrian counters to the pathway, and adding more space for bikes on the train,” said the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition’s Eris Weaver. “They’ve improved train service as well. Together, the improvements in both pathway and train service (as well as the extension to Windsor) have vastly increased the distance folks can travel about the county without a car.”

(And work is now underway to extend SMART to Healdsburg).

This marks a major turn from six years ago, when an attempt to fund SMART lost at the ballot box. That initiative, which was not started by a signature-gathering campaign, required a two-thirds vote. “In 2020, the two bicycle coalitions did NOT support the tax renewal; we felt that SMART leadership was not fulfilling their mandate on the bicycle path,” said Weaver.

Takeaways from Tuesday’s SMART vote: go with signatures and citizen-led initiatives; these votes require a simple majority. Also, transit operators need to consider the needs of cyclists (that means you, Muni).

But the overriding message is this: people want alternatives to driving. And not just in the North Bay.

That was also reflected in the recent record-breaking signature-gathering campaigns for the regional measure (to fund BART, Muni, VTA, Caltrain, AC Transit, and other operators) and the Muni funding measure in San Francisco. “The resounding success of the transit funding measure to keep SMART service alive in Sonoma and Marin Counties is a clear sign that at a time when gas prices and cost of living are going up, Bay Area voters are eager to support saving and improving public transit,” said the Transbay Coalition’s Carter Lavin.

“We look forward to working with the SMART staff and board to see the remaining pathway gaps filled in Marin, as North Bay voters have clearly given them a mandate to do so,” said Wells.