SMART approves free fares for a year for youths, seniors

Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit, facing lower farebox revenue and grappling with its financial sustainability, has decided to allow youths and seniors to ride trains for free.

Beginning in April, passengers younger than 19 and older than 64 will travel at no cost as part of a one-year pilot program aimed at boosting ridership. The program, approved Wednesday, is expected to sunset at the end of June 2025. It will cost about $282,000.

SMART officials said getting more people on the train is the best thing it can do to show voters the value of the system.

“We need more riders,” said Chris Coursey, a SMART board member and Sonoma County supervisor.

SMART, which launched its service in 2017, covers 45 miles between Larkspur and Santa Rosa. It aims to expand service to Windsor, Healdsburg and Cloverdale and complete a path running beside or near the track route.

Marin and Sonoma voters approved SMART’s quarter-cent sales tax in 2008 with an expiration date in early 2029. The agency attempted to renew the tax for another 30 years in 2020, but the measure failed to garner the required two-thirds majority approval from voters.

In response to a critical Marin County Civil Grand Jury report, SMART officials said the only viable option to sidestep financial collapse would be a sales tax renewal.

Eddy Cumins, SMART’s general manager, said the district’s initiatives — such as the free summer fare for youths program — are paying off. The summer program accounted for a 152% increase in youth riders, from 12,551 in 2019 to 31,573 in 2023.

SMART trains have carried 730,938 riders in the past 12 months, which is 54% more than the previous 12 months, Cumins said.

Youths and seniors represent 42% of the populations of Sonoma and Marin counties, but only 25% of SMART ridership. Cumins said there is “substantial opportunity to increase ridership” with the free fare program.

Cumins said critics focus on the farebox return, or the “farebox recovery ratio” — which is the difference between expenses and fares — to measure whether a transit agency is successful.

Cumins said a metric called “investment per passenger mile” provides a clearer picture. The metric is equal to how much the district pays per passenger mile traveled.

For fiscal year 2023, the operating costs were $30.6 million and fare revenue was $1.8 million. The train provided 13.9 million passenger miles.

Running those numbers through the equation gives a $2.07 investment per passenger mile for 2023.

If fares were quadrupled for fiscal year 2023, the farebox recovery ratio would be 24% and the investment per passenger mile would drop to $1.68, lowering the district’s expenses.

However, the district could achieve a similar investment per passenger mile by increasing ridership and leaving fare rates unchanged, Cumins said.

If ridership counts jumped 25% but revenue remained the same, the farebox recovery ratio would equal 5%. The estimated passenger miles would increase to 17.4 million, making the investment per passenger mile equal to $1.67.

“It’s obvious to me that ridership right now today is more valuable than farebox revenue,” Cumins said.

Coursey agreed, saying “it’s money well spent.”

“People who oppose SMART and have opposed SMART for years have always latched on to the farebox recovery numbers, but in the end, they don’t matter,” Coursey said.

“I know that people will argue with that, but the reason we have a quarter-cent sales tax to support this project is to take care of that cost in part, it does not need to take care of all of it,” Coursey said.

The train station network is broken into five zones. Traveling within one zone is $1.50 for an adult and 75 cents for seniors, youths or those with disabilities. Rates are increased by $1.50 increments per zone for adults and 75-cent increments per zone for other riders.

Mary Sackett, a board member and Marin County supervisor, said there is a perception that SMART fare is expensive.

“I hear it in the community, and so I think there is a real opportunity to use the word free to counteract that,” Sackett said.

Board members Melanie Bagby, a member of the Cloverdale City Council, and Rachel Farac, a member of the Novato City Council, said they are interested in extending a free fare program to college students in both counties.

“Because I really think that when people are going back to school that is another barrier is how you get to school,” said Bagby.

“I’m excited to see how it’s going to perform,” said Eric Lucan, board chair and a Marin supervisor. He said increasing riders will get more cars off the road, reducing vehicle miles traveled.

“It really is a win-win all around,” Lucan said.