Thumbs down: San Rafael asks SMART to wait

Thumbs down to San Rafael’s last-minute plea to delay commuter rail service for … Larkspur. SMART is preparing to begin service between Santa Rosa and San Rafael this spring, nine years after voters in Sonoma and Marin counties taxed themselves to establish a North Bay rail transit system. Construction is supposed to start this summer to extend the line south to Larkspur, where San Francisco-bound passengers can catch a ferry, and service is expected to begin next year.

Unless, of course, SMART were to grant San Rafael’s request for a delay. It seems that work on extending the rail line will cause disruption in downtown San Rafael, and the city wants the rail extension to wait until it causes its own disruption - make that remodels its transit hub – a project that is at least five years off. “We understand fully the value of people coming to San Rafael on SMART, but it does not appear there will be many people going to Larkspur,” San Rafael Mayor Gary Phillips told the Marin Independent Journal. Note to Mayor Phillips: This might be a bad week to propose sister city status with Larkspur. SMART should keep focused on providing promised service from Cloverdale to Larkspur as quickly as possible.