New Petaluma transit plan moving along

A framework to link Petaluma’s bus schedule with service from Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit is taking shape, a key element in a long-term plan outlining the city’s public transportation strategy in the coming years.

A year in the making, the so-called Short-Range Transit Plan outlines in part how Petaluma Transit will adjust around service from SMART, with a goal of having buses on hand when the train arrives at the downtown stop.

The latest framework scales back some of the original plans - and costs - to beef up bus service linking to the forthcoming rail system, a move that Petaluma Transit Manager Joe Rye said represented a cautious start amid concern that SMART’s planned fares will be too high to support robust ridership.

“The highlights are a lesser, but still significant, commitment to increase service to support SMART,” Rye said during a meeting of the city’s Transit Advisory Committee last week.

As the main city body tasked with hashing out the details of the plan over the past year, the Transit Advisory Committee voted unanimously last week, with one member absent, to recommend the latest version of the plan. The document, updated every four years, is a prerequisite to qualify for some federal transit funding.

The Petaluma City Council is expected to review the plan for possible adoption during a public hearing in September.

Among the most significant changes in the latest version has been a compromise for a planned realignment of Petaluma Transit’s Route 1, following the protest of some outspoken west-side residents who argued that the original plan along Keokuk and West streets would bring unwanted traffic to their neighborhood street.

The route will now travel roughly between St. Vincent de Paul High School and the downtown SMART station via Magnolia Avenue, while also branching out to other downtown areas and north to the Petaluma outlet mall.

Other tweaks involve Route 24, which will travel a more direct route between the station and the business park near the Kaiser Permanente campus along Lakeville Highway, and Route 5, which will offer an expanded service in the morning and afternoon for areas in the southwest of town.

The so-called SMART “augmentations” will cost around $80,000 total each year, Rye told the committee.

“We don’t think we should spend quite as much money on this, because we don’t know if it’s (ridership) going to be there with a fare structure like this,” Rye said, describing the fares adopted by SMART’s board of directors in June.

Service could be increased, however, if ridership demand for connecting buses is greater than anticipated, he said. The routes are fundamentally designed to serve the greatest area while being short enough to return to the station within a 30-minute window.

The changes will go into effect once SMART begins offering service, which is expected later this year. Committee Chair Dave Alden noted that the exact date is not yet certain, and added that the rail system must run a full schedule without riders before it receives final regulatory approval to operate.

The testing will provide a look at the way SMART service will reshape some of the transportation patterns in Petaluma, he noted.

“We’ll see the implication on the impact to traffic for town,” he said.

The transit plan also lists several significant projects planned in the near and long term, including a hybrid-style shuttle system that would blend fixed-route bus service with the direct-to-destination service of Petaluma Paratransit.

Rye said the concept would allow riders to hop on the bus at a fixed location and be taken to a limited range of underserved areas.

The service would make it easier for those living away from the main fixed bus routes to access transit. Petaluma Paratransit already provides such a service, but must be scheduled about a day in advance and comes at a higher cost.

The hybrid system would likely be available to all riders, Rye explained, and is envisioned to come at a cheaper price than paratransit. The details are still being hashed out, but could materialize in the fiscal year starting June 2018.

Several committee members noted that Petaluma Transit may well face new demands and costs to link with SMART after the system launches a second Petaluma station on the northeast side of town, a stop that is planned as part of the long-term buildout of the system.

“We’re coming to that point where we really should be thinking about how we’re going to fund this,” said Ed McLean, a member of the committee. “I just don’t see any answers without more money.”

(Contact Eric Gneckow at eric.gneckow@arguscourier.com. On Twitter @Eric_Reports.)