Summary
The county succeeded in getting a three-year federal grant, and the Muir Woods Shuttle started rolling last summer, at no charge to passengers. The free ride was a tactic that allowed the county to discern whether enough demand existed for a permanent shuttle system. According to Nelson/Nygaard, the San Francisco-based consultants the county hired to assess the shuttle's first year of service, 5,100 passengers took the free round-trip offer to Muir Woods and back. The rate of ridership was "highly productive for a relatively long route with few intermediate stops," according to a Nelson/Nygaard report. In determining how the shuttles affect traffic along the often-horrendous Shoreline Highway route during summer weekends, the report states that on July 23, the peak day for shuttle use studied in the report, 120 vehicles "were likely eliminated by the shuttle."
[Steve Kinsey] says the county "is using the Muir Woods Shuttle as kind of a laboratory experiment" that will determine how much people are willing to pay for Muir Woods service. But there's also a wider implication attached to the potential success of the shuttle. [Charles McGlashan], Kinsey and others see the Muir Woods project as an example of public transportation on a micro- or neighborhood scale rather than a monolithic commuter-type system. If the Muir Shuttle pays off on its promise, the county could, for instance, partner with Mill Valley and Sausalito, both of which have long talked about local shuttle service, to create a system that could include shuttles in those towns as well as the shuttle out to Muir Woods and the already successful West Marin Stagecoach. The blue-sky scenario is a shuttle-type system that integrates transit service on both sides of the mountain, with service up and over Tam and into Muir Beach and Stinson Beach, and out to Bolinas and Point Reyes and the rest of West Marin. Shuttles also could run down the length of Tennessee and Tam valleys, depending on successfully attracting riders. The West Marin Stagecoach and the Muir Woods Shuttle are good starting points to evaluate such a potential system.Along with charging a fare for the Muir Woods Shuttle, the county might have another way to fund transportation improvements in West Marin, thanks to a proposal Kinsey soon will make to the Board of Supervisors. Kinsey is calling for the creation of a southwest Marin parking enforcement district. The enforcement district would cover Muir Beach, Stinson and Bolinas, says Kinsey. It would be the first time the county has allowed an area to keep traffic and parking fines rather than kicking them into the county General Fund. The money collected in the traffic enforcement district would go toward paying for traffic control officers, but, says Kinsey, "I would expect that there will be revenues generated above and beyond the cost of the [parking and traffic] program, so those revenues would be available to help support future transit."See the full content of this document
Extract
Transit Dreams
They loved it when it was free. Now will they be willing to pay for it?
When the Muir Woods Shuttle begins its second year of operation on Memorial Day weekend, passengers will have to pay $2 for a round trip to Muir, Woods National Monument; whether they dig into their wallets will have a significant impact on the future of the shuttle, and perhaps even public transportation to and from West Marin.Thanks to a federal transportation grant, last summer the county began a three-year pilot pro...See the full content of this document
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