After banner ridership during Petaluma’s Butter and Egg Days, SMART resumes Sunday service

After a banner weekend for ridership, Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit officials are bullish about the rail agency’s return to Sunday service this weekend.

The move, which comes two years after the weekly, tourist-centric service was canceled in the face of the advancing coronavirus pandemic, was announced in early April, and could bolster the commuter rail agency’s so-far sluggish recovery from the pandemic.

It follows a weekend of boosted ridership due to Petaluma’s Butter and Egg Days.

“I think people are ready to come back,” said SMART General Manager Eddy Cumins, who attended Petaluma’s marquee event. “I just saw a lot of people out ready to have a good time. I think as we start to see restrictions lift, I think people are excited to get back out and get back to what used to be normal.”

The planned Sunday service includes 12 total trips – six heading north and six going south – and comes at a time when ridership continues a trend of week-over-week growth, improvement largely attributed to easing COVID-19 conditions and rising gas prices.

Cumins said current daily ridership averages are up 48% compared to daily ridership averages in January.

“It seems like every week we’re hitting a post-COVID high,” Cumins said. “Overall, we’re starting to see steady growth, and people coming back.”

SMART Board of Directors Chairman David Rabbitt lauded the move earlier this month, saying the return of Sunday service demonstrates the agency’s commitment to listening to riders.

“This shows that SMART is listening to its riding public and is continuing to address our riders’ needs as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic,” Rabbitt said in a statement at the time.

Cumins, who was appointed to the top role in November, marveled at the ridership during Petaluma’s annual Butter and Egg Days weekend festival, which took place for the first time since 2019 this past weekend.

The rail agency’s 1,371 Saturday riders represented a 118% increase over the previous Saturday, and even topped pre-pandemic Saturday average ridership numbers. For Cumins, the festival-fed ridership boost is a good sign for a rail agency that serves a region full of weekend activities.

“I think it’s just going to be good,” Cumins said. “As I’ve been out talking to people, I hear so much about Sunday service. That’s the day they would ride the train and go to brunch. That’s one of the things I’ve heard a lot about. The key is going to be getting the word out, and letting people know that Sunday service is coming back.”

Tyler Silvy is editor of the Petaluma Argus-Courier. Reach him at tyler.silvy@arguscourier.com, 707-776-8458, or @tylersilvy on Twitter.