San Rafael Transit Center

The San Rafael Transportation Center (also called the C. Paul Bettini Transportation Center), in San Rafael, California, is the main transit center for Marin County. From San Rafael, passengers can travel throughout Marin County, to San Francisco, Contra Costa, and Sonoma Counties. It is also an important station for buses serving San Francisco International Airport, Oakland International Airport, and the rest of the country.

The San Rafael Transit Center, as seen from Tamalpais Avenue

The San Rafael Transit Center, waiting and loading area

Description

The San Rafael Transit Center hosts to a number of bus agencies, including:

• Golden Gate Transit (the main bus agency) - serving Marin, Contra Costa, Sonoma, and San Francisco Counties.
• Marin Transit - serving Marin County (including Marin Transit Shuttle Route 233 and West Marin Stagecoach Route 68)
• Marin Airporter - serving the San Francisco International Airport from Marin County.
• Airport Express - serving the Oakland International Airport; serves as stopover for Marin County to Sonoma County.
• Sonoma County Transit - serving the Sonoma Valley (Kenwood, Glen Ellen, Agua Caliente, Sonoma, and Schellville) from San Rafael. One morning southbound and one afternoon northbound only, with timed connections to Golden Gate Transit buses to San Francisco.
• Greyhound Bus Lines - the main stop of Greyhound in Marin County, serving points in Northern California and the rest of the United States.
• Other Agencies - County Shuttle Connection, a shuttle service between San Rafael Transit Center and the Marin Health and Human Needs Center at 120 Redwood Hwy, San Rafael.

Location

The San Rafael Transit Center is located at the corner of 3rd and Hetherton Streets, bounded by Tamalpais Avenue to the west and 2nd Street to the south. Its proximity to Downtown San Rafael and U.S. Highway 101 makes the SRTC an important transfer point for services within Marin County and beyond, aside from being the main hub for Golden Gate Transit services.

Transfers and Features

Overall layout of the platforms of San Rafael Transit Center (SRTC). Map is not to scale.

A Van Hool A330 bus modified as a Zero-Emissions Bus at the SRTC (taken in 2007)

San Rafael Transit Center, facing east

A Golden Gate Transit bus operating as a Route 22 at the SRTC

A Marin Transit shuttle operating as a Route 233 at the SRTC

A Greyhound bus stopping at the SRTC for a local trip

With most of Marin Transit's and many of Golden Gate Transit's routes meeting at the San Rafael Transit Center, it provides a convenient transfer point for passengers from San Rafael going towards the rest of Marin County and throughout the Bay Area. Along with that, being the main stop for Greyhound for the county, SRTC provides connections for its passengers from within Marin County to intra- and inter-regional bus service. And being one of the main stops of two Airport Bus companies (namely Marin Airporter and Sonoma County Airport Express), it allows passengers to travel to either San Francisco International Airport or Oakland International Airport without the need of driving.

Routes Starting and Ending at SRTC

Route Number	Origin/Destination	Operated by	Platform
17	Marin City via Mill Valley Most trips Tiburon via Strawberry One morning trip	Marin Transit	A
22	Sausalito via College of Marin Most trips College of Marin Select morning trips	Marin Transit	B
23 Weekdays and Saturday late nights	Fairfax via San Anselmo White Hill Middle School School days only, one morning route	Marin Transit	B
29 No Sunday or holiday service	Fairfax Manor via Sir Francis Drake Weekdays San Anselmo via Sir Francis Drake Weekday peak period services & Saturdays	Marin Transit	B
35	Canal District	Marin Transit	A
38 Weekday commute periods only	Sonoma Valley	Sonoma County Transit	D
40*, 42 * - Weekdays only	Del Norte BART Routes 40 & 42 Richmond BART Route 42 only	Golden Gate Transit	A
45, 45K* * - Weekdays only	Northgate Mall via Civic Center Routes 45 & 45K Kaiser Hospital Route 45K only	Marin Transit	B
49†	Ignacio via Northgate/Kaiser	Marin Transit	B
52 Weekdays only	Redwood & Grant via S. Novato Blvd	Marin Transit	D
68	Inverness Most trips Point Reyes Station One round trip	West Marin Stagecoach	D
70 Select trips	San Francisco Civic Center	Golden Gate Transit	C
114 Summer school days only	Redwood High School	Marin Transit	A
126 School days only	San Domenico via Brookside Schools	Marin Transit	B
233 Weekdays only (except holidays)	Santa Venetia	Marin Transit Shuttle	D
Shuttle Weekdays only (except holidays)	Marin Human Needs Center	County Shuttle Connection	D

Note: † - Weekday Route 49 trips continue as/from Route 51 (Ignacio-San Marin), and weekend Route 49 trips continue as/from Route 52 (Ignacio-Novato) at the Ignacio Bus Pad, facilitating a one-bus trip between San Rafael and Novato.

Routes Stopping at San Rafael Transit Center

Route Number	Terminals		Operated by	Platform
	North/East	South/West		Northbound/Eastbound	Southbound/Westbound
27 Weekday commute periods only	San Anselmo Most trips Sleepy Hollow One round trip	San Francisco Financial District	Golden Gate Transit	A	B
36 Weekday commute periods only	Canal District	Marin City	Marin Transit	A	A
44 Weekday commute periods only	Lucas Valley	San Francisco Financial District	Golden Gate Transit	A	D
70	Novato	San Francisco Civic Center All trips Transbay Terminal Most trips	Golden Gate Transit	A	C
71	Novato	Marin City	Marin Transit	A	C
80 Weekdays (before 6am and after 7pm), weekends, and holidays	Santa Rosa	San Francisco Civic Center	Golden Gate Transit	A	C
101 Weekdays (except holidays, between 6am to 7pm) and Saturdays (several hourly trips)	Santa Rosa	San Francisco Civic Center	Golden Gate Transit	A	C
Marin Airporter Ticketed passengers only (pick up only to SFO, drop off only to Novato)	Novato	San Francisco International Airport	Marin Airporter	D	D
Airport Express Ticketed passengers only (pick up only to OAK, drop off only to Santa Rosa)	Santa Rosa	Oakland International Airport	Sonoma County Airport Express	D	D
Greyhound Ticketed passengers only	Various		Greyhound, Inc.	D	D
Valley of the Moon Commute Club	Sonoma Riverside Dr. and La Mancha Dr. Santa Rosa Santa Rosa Transit Mall	San Francisco Van Ness/Hayes St. and Market St.

Note: Golden Gate buses may board at a different side of the same platform.

In addition to bus services, there is a single railroad track and side platform that was built as part of the transit center in anticipation of the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit service. However, this platform and track is currently not used even though railroad crossing signs remain in place.

Route 101, Golden Gate Transit's limited-stop service, serves the San Rafael Transit Center complementing the existing Route 80 on weekdays (except holidays) and Saturdays. For a description of this service, click here. Route 80 continues to serve the SRTC weeknights, weekends, and holidays when the Route 101 does not operate.

Features

The San Rafael Transit Center has the following amenities for its passengers:

• Saluté Cafe, a coffee shop which also carries Golden Gate Transit and Marin Transit value tickets.
• A shop that hosts ticketing offices for Greyhound Bus Lines and Sonoma County Airport Express (for Oakland Airport)
• Busboat, a small restaurant serving snacks and refreshments
• Clipper ticketing machines on all platforms
• Disabled () access throughout the Transit Center
• Taxi stand

Near the Transit Center are full-service restaurants, especially along Fourth Street (Downtown San Rafael) and Second Street, grocery stores, and other businesses. Also nearby are three park-and-ride lots within walking distance of the SRTC, all located under the Highway 101 overpass, that allow commuter parking.

See also

• Golden Gate Transit
• San Rafael
• Sonoma County Transit