Larkspur to Santa Rosa Aboard SMART Train

Here's a modern day, 21st century Interurban! Well, the Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) train doesn’t really fit the strict, traditional definition of an Interurban, but you don’t have to stretch it too much to make it apply. The currently open section of the planned Cloverdale to Larkspur line runs 45 miles between Sonoma County Airport and Larkspur. During weekdays, there are 19 round trips offered, with stops at every station, and on weekends that drops to six round trips. The train that we were on, number 6, was well used throughout the journey, with people exchanging at every station. There were lots of cyclists using one of the 22 bicycle storage spots. This was a very enjoyable, excellent trip, on a lovely January Saturday in 2023. When I found out about this service, I really wanted to try it out. It’s pretty unique for the United States, as it does not serve a major population center, but rather connects a number of smaller communities. Everything on the service worked well, and that was reflected in higher ridership than I expected. We’ll be back at the next opportunity, and definitely when the line extends to Cloverdale. #SMART #SonomaMarinAreaRailTransit #tripreport #traintravel #traintrip #train #santarosa