The "insiders and MTC-ABAG" can pound sand. Unless they have a sure-fire way to score the kind of billion$$ that would make the Bay Bridge look like a good deal, it ain't gonna happen. They have a pseudo-light rail (without wires) starter line. We'll see what the locals in the North Bay can make of that before heading off on other tangents. BART for Marin is fighting the last war, not the next one.

I commuted through Marin (on GGT) in the 1980s. The traffic was bad, but it moved. I've been there recently. If you aren't in the HOV lane, it barely moves. It's worse. Though Sonoma-101 is even worse than that. Also, in the '80s, the cross-routes and feeders and secondaries in Marin (and Sonoma) were still fluid. Slow at commute time, but not plugged. That's also not true any more. Then, in the '80s, the commute to the East Bay usually didn't plug until it reached 80. Now, it just creeps across the Richmond Bridge. More people with more money, and going more places (not all main-line commute to SF any more) = more cars.

It'll be interesting to see what kind of difference SMART can make in that kind of commute mess; I suspect that it'll be closer to overloaded than empty if local bus connections work right.