If you’ve ever taken the bus in West Marin, you may have come to the same conclusion as eighth graders Marshall Swenty and Zeya Bishay: it is slow, sporadic and often unreliable.
“We use the bus frequently, and the system could be so much better,” said Mr. Swenty, who is 14.
Mr. Bishay, also 14, said that in the San Geronimo Valley, “it’s not consistent, not frequent, and often late—or even early.”
The two Lagunitas Middle School students made improving public transport the focus of their year-long Change Project—an assignment devised by their teacher, Katherine Sanford, in which students identify and tackle a local issue.
Thanks in part to their sustained advocacy, starting in August, service will increase on Routes 61 and 68, the two main arteries of West Marin’s Stagecoach bus system run by Marin Transit.
Route 61 connects Bolinas to Sausalito, while Route 68 runs from Inverness to San Rafael, winding through the San Geronimo Valley. Together, the two lines provide about 120,000 rides annually, but they’ve long been plagued by wide service gaps, and riders must sometimes wait as long as four hours between buses.
“That’s a long time for residents to wait,” said Robert Betts, Marin Transit’s director of operations, during a presentation this month to the transit district board of directors. “We’re looking to fill those gaps and have more consistent frequency throughout the course of the day.”
The upcoming changes are also designed to better align with school bell schedules—a priority for Mr. Swenty and Mr. Bishay, who began meeting with transit officials in January. Route 61 will see improved connections to Tamalpais High School, while Route 68 will better serve students at both Archie Williams High School and the Lagunitas School District.
Route 625, which runs east to San Anselmo, will get a new western terminus at Lagunitas School, with a stop at 3:15 p.m., eliminating the need for students to wait more than an hour or travel several miles to the White Hill stop to catch an eastbound bus. Weekend service on Route 61 may also expand, particularly between Stinson Beach and the Pantoll Ranger Station, where overcrowded buses have become common.
Mr. Swenty, who lives in Woodacre, and Mr. Bishay, who lives in Lagunitas, take the Stagecoach at least once a week, usually over the hill to visit friends. But student ridership remains low. In a survey they conducted at school, 62 percent of their peers said they had never ridden the bus, and 15 percent said they would use it more often if it were more reliable.
“We hope more people start using the bus with these changes in place next year,” Mr. Swenty said.
Last week, the transit district also approved an expansion of the West Marin Connector—a shuttle service launched last June as a one-year pilot. Though designed primarily for seniors and people with disabilities, the Connector is open to the broad public and provides reservation-based, door-to-door service.
Currently operating on Tuesdays only, the north-south loop will expand to include a Saturday route, with stops in Stinson Beach, Bolinas, Olema and Point Reyes Station. Service between Point Reyes Station and Novato will continue on the first and third Mondays of each month, while a new route to San Rafael will operate on the second and fourth Mondays. Marin Transit also operates weekly shuttles between Dillon Beach, Tomales and Petaluma.