Editorial: San Rafael Transit Center plans are on a good path

More than a decade of planning, meetings and debate has gone into the design for a new expanded transit center in downtown San Rafael.

It’s been a long time coming.

The hub is already one of the busiest in the Bay Area and it has outgrown its longtime location at Third and Hetherton streets.

At its busiest, it has accommodated as many as 9,000 people getting off and on transit services.

The proposal is designed to not only provide room for more buses and the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit train, but also address issues of better traffic flow and pedestrian safety.

Its architectural design harkens back to that of the railroad stations that once served as transportation hubs around the county.

The building provides an opportunity for the hub to be more than large platforms for passengers. It will have room for a cafe, retail shops, benches and other seating.

The center, estimated to cost as much as $70 million, would also be moved one block north, between Third and Fourth streets. The move will mean that passengers transferring between buses and SMART won’t have to cross busy downtown streets.

Another improvement is that the capability to add more bus bays – with better traffic flow in and out of the center – should also reduce bus travel times.

It appears the design has the backing of the Golden Gate Bridge District, which has been the agency that has taken the planning and funding lead for the project; SMART; Marin Transit and, importantly, San Rafael City Hall.

The transit hub is an important part of downtown, both in terms of improving transportation and as an architectural landmark.

In terms of people, it is one of the busiest spots in San Rafael.

Meeting both of those standards has been arduous, with Golden Gate and city officials sometimes having differing visions of how the hub should work and what it should look like.

Numerous public meetings were held to help arrive at the consensus that the final proposal appears to reflect.

Last week, the district held public workshop gatherings to get citizen feedback. Fine-tuning the design and cost estimates, including property acquisition, could take more than a year to complete.

The need for the center has been clear for a long time. Even though the pandemic’s restrictions have taken a toll on transit ridership, the problems remain regarding pedestrian safety and Golden Gate and Marin Transit buses having to wait to  access one of the hub’s bays.

Instead of waiting for a political consensus, it appears their wait will shift to construction, which likely won’t occur until 2026.

Having a new transit center, one designed to accommodate the varied modes and the large number of passengers that rely on San Rafael’s hub, should be worth the wait.