More than 20 people from West Marin demanded a bus
route between Point Reyes Station and Stinson/Bolinas at a county transit
district meeting in Point Reyes Station last Monday.
Non-drivers who are dependent on West Marin Pharmacy
for prescription drugs and want other services in Point Reyes Station
have to find ways to get to the town. Lulu Drux, a Coastal Health Alliance
employee, said she personally drives patients who cannot drive themselves.
"We need West Marin to be connected to West Marin,"
Drux, of Bolinas, said. There is already the West Marin Stagecoach that
goes over the hill to East Marin, but, Drux said, "just focusing
on providing access to East Marin does not take care of us."
Focus on East Marin and schools
Marin County Transit District lists providing "mobility
for residents of western Marin" as a primary goal in the draft
plan, but focuses on better service from West Marin to East Marin by
recommending the extension of the north route to the San Rafael transit
center and by consolidating an existing bus route with the south stagecoach.
The transportation district wants the stagecoach and
school schedules to coincide. A new schedule for the stagecoach has
been proposed to coincide with schools in the county and the bus size
may grow from 13 to 22 seats in order to accommodate commuters who are
sometimes passed by in the beginning of the school year when the seats
are filled with students, said Amy Van Doren, transit manager for the
county’s Department of Public Works.
Eilleen Johnston, an 80-year-old Stinson Beach woman,
had been driving since she was 12. A year ago she stopped because of
her family’s concern about her ability to drive a car.
Bumming rides
"Well, I had a car accident," Johnston said.
"It was my first accident, but my family wanted me to stop driving."
Johnston usually drove to Point Reyes Station to shop,
to visit her doctor and to attend lectures at The Dance Palace. Now
she has to "bum rides" from friends.
At the meeting people said the lack of a bus route
is an example of the county’s disregard for West Marin. "This
is a generic problem for small remote communities," said BPUD Director
Don Smith. "We are always marginalized."
Connecting Stinson Beach to Point Reyes Station would
require an additional driver and vehicle and would take about 3,000
hours a year to service three trips per day, costing about $183,000,
Van Doren said. That amount excludes the cost of a bus, which would
be bought with a federal grant. Van Doren said that, "a new coastal
route would cut back on service in other areas."
Supervisor Steve Kinsey said "the good news"
was that the county has reserved 3 percent of the Measure A sales tax
funds for the West Marin Stagecoach, which is about $10 million over
20 years.
The public comment period for the plan ends March
3 and the district expects the plan to be adopted on June 22.