SMART train concession times, offerings adjusted by ridership

When SMART service began in August, it chose as its official concessionaire the nonprofit Becoming Independent, a Santa Rosa-based organization that supports people living with disabilities across the North Bay.

It was a unique way for the nonprofit to gain revenue and exposure, and at the outset, every train was staffed with “BI Buzz” employees. But over the past seven months, as SMART’s ridership patterns have stabilized, Becoming Independent’s concession offerings have been forced to adjust.

The nonprofit, which SMART allows to operate the concession stands at no cost, has ended service on six of the trains’ daily weekday round trips - the first four and the final two.

The concessions offered on the remaining 11 round trips have been adjusted to fit passenger demands, said JayJay Rico, director of social?enterprise for Becoming Independent.

“We found that during certain hours, there was just not enough interest” in the concessions, Rico said. “So we focused our hours on when we saw the most traffic.”

Southbound concessions begin with the train leaving the Santa Rosa Airport station at 7:19 a.m. and end on the train that reaches San Rafael at 6:56 p.m. Northbound concessions begin with the train departing the San Rafael station at 8:59 a.m. and end on the train reaching the Santa Rosa station at 8:36 p.m.

When the concession booth window is closed, riders are met with a printed flyer taped to the glass window saying “We’re sorry to have missed you … ”

Even with the reduced hours, Becoming Independent has expanded some menu offerings, including sandwiches from Red Bird Bakery, “bistro boxes” of cheese and crackers, and one very Sonoma County request: a wine upgrade, Rico said.

“We thought we’d come in at just a standard price point of $7, and we quickly realized based on customer feedback, that customers wanted a premium level of wine,” he said. They added two $10 premium wines from La Crema.

BI Buzz also serves as a learning laboratory for clients with disabilities interested in entering the food and customer service industries, allowing them to interact with riders while they dole out coffee, beer, wine and snacks.

SMART has served more than 403,000 riders since the start of service. What that means in exposure for Becoming Independent has been immeasurable, Rico said.

“The real reason why we did this in the first place was to provide services for people with disabilities,” he said. “That’s the core of what we’ve accomplished here. … It’s an opportunity to become more well-known and dispel stigmas about what people with disabilities can do, which is still a significant problem in our society.”

While the venture isn’t profitable, Becoming Independent’s CEO Luana Vaetoe expects that to change soon, as the weather improves and the days lengthen, she said.

“It’s been an interesting ride, no pun intended,” she said.

BI Buzz plans to open a small cafe at the newest Kaiser Permanente medical building on Mercury Way in Santa Rosa. Vaetoe and Rico both credited the SMART project with giving them the confidence to successfully secure the Kaiser placement.

“When they said, ‘You’re bidding for this, do you know anything about selling coffee?’ We said, ‘Actually, we do, we sell it on a moving train,’” Vaetoe said.

You can reach Staff Writer Christi Warren at 707-521-5205 or christi.warren@pressdemocrat.com.