Marin Voice: A SMART station is good for downtown Novato
By Eric Lucan
POSTED: 02/11/16

The Novato City Council recently approved the first phase to construct a downtown Novato SMART station that will soon restore commuter rail service to Old Town.

This key decision represents a significant investment for the vibrancy and future of our downtown. Downtown Novato is the heart of our city and this decision helps strengthen our brand and reputation as a great place to shop, dine, live or conduct business.

More than 30 percent of residents live within one mile (or a 15-minute walk) of the downtown station. The decision also helps realize the vision of downtown service that was discussed by previous councils.

In 2009, the City Council chose South Novato/Hamilton and North Novato/San Marin as our two SMART stops. However, a strong desire for a future downtown stop or “whistlestop” was also strongly communicated.

Unfortunately, with the economic downturn, the idea of a third stop quickly faded. Any plans for an additional stop or “whistlestop” required planning, infrastructure and construction as this unique single-track railway that serves commuter and freight trains could not simply stop anywhere along the tracks to let riders on and off.

Fortunately, the City Council began proactively engaging SMART last year and invested in a study to see if the possibility could become a reality. I believe the end result is a significant win for Novato and the decision was right for three main reasons:

1. Alternating service works for Novato — While Novato will get a third station once fully funded, we will still have two stops as the train will only stop at North Novato/San Marin or downtown Novato once per run in order to maintain headway.

With this schedule, the train could stop at one station on the hour and the other on the half-hour or could serve downtown more on weekends and the Fireman’s Fund campus more during the weekend (assuming full occupancy).

2. Time is of the essence — While a “wait and see” approach was one option suggested to determine potential future ridership, it also would have made any future stops cost prohibitive. Being able to complete the critical rail work now to allow for a future stop will save millions than if the project waited to be completed after SMART initiated service.

3. Investment in downtown’s future — Adding a downtown station does come with a price tag. The City Council decided to initially fund the first phase of $2.4 million, which includes the heavy construction and track work. This phased approach allows us to pursue matching grants and solicit public-private partnerships to help finish the project. The city has the ability to loan ourselves the capital over 20 years from another city fund at less than 1 percent net interest and it is still a better return than the city would receive otherwise.

The end result is that the first phase of our downtown station will cost roughly $120,000 per year. The question quickly changes from “how can we afford to do this?” to “how can we afford not to?”

The final decision to incorporate the stop into the SMART system and begin construction still needs to be heard by the SMART board at an upcoming meeting. As Novato’s representative on that board, I look forward to the discussion and will strongly support our downtown station.

Train service is a part of our downtown’s history and needs to be a part of our future. While our old depot tells the story that downtown was a destination, this key decision communicates that downtown is a destination and will be one for generations to come.

Eric Lucan has been twice elected to the Novato City Council and represents the city on the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit board of directors.

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Editorial Partial

MartinM
There's still an offramp for this process. SMART needs to approve the station.

Perhaps some prominent Novato community members can organize a movement to solicit SMART to reject the planned station. SMART will care little about the impact on downtown. But they will be interested in the extra cost of having to maintain two stations with all the attendant switches and signals that will only be getting the daily service equivalent to one station. SMART will also be interested to hear what Novato is expecting to get out this train station--all those shoppers, day trippers, and weekend tourists; SMART will not want to have Novato pleading for weekend service(that will not be happening) to justify/pay-off their foolish expenditure on a third station. SMART will also be able to see that Novato's hopes are not realistic. They might also recommend that Lucan not vote on the matter due to his owning property next to the station--although we don't know if that's a conflict yet.

Another angle to explore in reaching out to SMART is the impact of splitting north Novato service between two stations a mile apart--what this impact will be on Sonoma County commuters to Novato. For some, those who work downtown, it could be a good thing. But if the downtown station kills the idea of a bus service connecting to SMART San Marin and delivering employees down Redwood Blvd and out to Rowland Drive, that could be very bad for riders up in Santa Rosa looking to use SMART.

Shirlee Zane is a Sonoma supervisor. She was livid at the last meeting that Novato is going to put in a third station when service has not been extended to Windsor, Healdsburg and Cloverdale yet. Shirlee had not articulated her feelings perfectly yet, but she will be interested to hear that Novato will now be competing with the north Sonoma cities for grant money and that SMART will be spending her constituents' monies on maintenance for a third Novato staiton that is only used half the day.
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Bob Ratto
Wow, just wow. Let us all kowtow to the Downtown Novato Business Association and the Chamber and play a game called "lets partially build a train station"..we will not have any actual control over the station, we will not know if it will have riders, or when it will operate, and we will pay for it with money we borrow from ourselves so we will pretend it doesn't actually cost us anything. Meanwhile, the community development director is gleefully rubbing his hands together awaiting the new building proposals that are undoubtedly forthcoming. Visualize that 30% of the residents may be getting a lot more density, given the little trifecta of this little transit game. But hey, things will get really "vibrant"

Richard Hall
As soon as I read the rationale "vibrancy" I know the proponent, Novato councilor Eric Lucan, hasn't got the justification figured out, or is concealing the real story (see end of this post). Vibrancy is an ethereal term routinely used to push an undefined state which the proponent hasn't figured out how to articulate but wants to impose on the reader that it must be better.

Then we have the rationale of pure speculation of ridership stating:
"More than 30 percent of residents live within one mile (or a 15-minute walk) of the downtown station."

How many of those residents are employed near other stations along the line? Will people be traveling on the train with heavy shopping?

FREQUENCY OF SERVICE
This statement by Lucan signals not only a fundamental misunderstanding of transit, but a failed leap of faith regarding presumed ridership and station usage:

"With this schedule, the train could stop at one station on the hour and the other on the half-hour"

Councillor Lucan is clearly no expert in transit, but to quote someone who is, public transit consultant Jarrett Walker:

"First, you really must understand transit frequency. It’s the elapsed time between consecutive buses (or trains, or ferries) on a line, which determines the maximum waiting time. People who are used to getting around by a private vehicle (car or bike) often underestimate the importance of frequency, because there isn’t an equivalent to it in their experience. A private vehicle is ready to go when you are, but transit is not going until it comes. High frequency means transit is coming soon, which means that it approximate the feeling of liberty you have with your private vehicle – that you can go anytime. Frequency is freedom!"

More on this topic here:
[humantransit.org]...

THE CONTRADICTION OF RUSHING TO ACHIEVE A 50 YEAR VISION?
Then we have the quite ridiculous rationale of "Time is of the essence" where Lucan contradicts himself. When I pressed Lucan in an email regarding his decision he defended his decision saying "I tried to look at this decision through the lens of the next 50 years"

If we're looking through a 50 year lens then why the rush? Especially given all the very strong signals that ridership and usage of the station will be so low.

REPEATING HISTORY IS NOW A JUSTIFICATION, REALLY?
Finally I'm fully concluded that Lucan doesn't have any idea what he's talking about and is clutching at straws to defend a decision where the real agenda is secret:

"Train service is a part of our downtown’s history and needs to be a part of our future."

So should we bring back horse drawn carriages, outhouses, only allow men to vote in Novato? What a preposterous rationale.

Given the amount of smoke blowing in this article it's clear that the real hidden agenda is that the chamber of commerce is misguidedly convinced that the station will bring more business to town, they make campaign donations, and development interests are waiting in the wings since the station is a catalyst for development. So Lucan has to come up with a cover story. Eric - the story looks a little thin - intelligent readers and staff can see right through it. But not to worry, your third vote means none of this matters.

MartinM Richard Hall • 6 hours ago
Great points. I agree with you, he hasn't presented any reasonable arguments in this piece. The best one is that he owns a piece of property 1000 feet from the station, bought it from the bank, but he didn't bother to present this one.

He's certainly not made a case that the downtown station provides better SMART service/access than the San Marin station. Although he could've easily said that employees coming to work in the downtown area would benefit from having a stop within walking distance of offices. But would someone come to work a half hour early just to take advantage of that? Perhaps he doesn't want to draw attention to the fact that SMART is a commuter convenience and nothing more.

The only other argument he makes is to claim that alternating service will work, offering no reasons for that idea. The San Marin station is right next to a freeway onramp. It offers easy access to and from the freeway, San Marin Ave, Atherton Avenue, and Redwood Blvd for both cars and buses. The Downtown stop puts you on either Grant or Railroad which involves driving through either a number of stop signs and pedestrian-heavy area on the latter, or through a difficult left hand turn onto Olive to get to the busy light next to the Whole Foods. Not convenient, and a poor alternative to San Marin for the commuter, as well as a slow bus ride to get outside of the downtown area should such a service be offered.

Although, considering the rationale for this downtown service and the people who are backing it, it would be plausible that the downtown powers would make an effort to prevent bus service to the downtown station to force commuters to walk past their stores.

MartinM
I didn't see any form of the word "commute" is this piece. SMART is a commuter railroad--commute service is its soul and purpose. At present, the promised service is commute service in the morning and evening with possibly one midday train. We don't even know if there will be weekend service. So I don't understand why this piece doesn't have the word "commute" in it? I see a lot of marketing ideas and slogans about downtown Novato, however.

One key question regarding service at Downtown Novato station is it's effect on the overall Novato commute service--for both employees commuting to Novato and residents commuting from Novato.Lucan addresses this in Argument #1 for the downtown station. He states: alternate service between San Marin and Downtown works for Novato. And that's all, folks. That's Lucan's argument number #1. No reasoning behind it. No explanation why alternate service would work. Obviously we are dealing with a brilliant marketing mind here--knows folks are stupid enough to just accept an assertion as a reasoned argument.

The downtown Novato station is going to make it harder to commute by SMART to and out of Novato. It's going to provide development opportunities for transit-oriented high density housing in the heart of downtown Novato. It's a loser but I guess it's good for downtown business owners and property owners. Screws everyone else, including most people riding the SMART.

Al Dugan
The city staff recommended the SMART station not be built, as it requing $2.5 M in debt funding from the city of Novato. The city can not afford a project with no promised train service from SMART. SMART very clear stated that this downtown station can not be a commute stop unless one of the other two SMART stops in Novato are not used by a commute train. One of the SMART stations, built and paid 100% by SMART, is a half mile away. A simple affordable solution would be for the city to provide a shuttle bus from this close SMART station to downtown. Given the paltry SMART ridership projection through 2025, one shuttle bus could easily handled any projected ridership transfer needs.

Two highly regarded Members of the Measure F Citizen Oversight Committee resigned after the city council ignored their recommendation not to fund this project with Novato City funds or debt given the projected budget deficit occuring before this additional annual expense is added. More importantly, the Novato budget deficit is projected to occur despite an rosey projected 3% annual growth in city revenue each year for the next five years without any consideration of a recession.

This is plan and simply fiscal irresponsible. The payments of $170,000 for the next twenty years could pay for two additional policemen. More importantly, if a recession occurs, the &170,000 will help prevent loss of staff, policemen, or vital city services.