The train system that San Rafael and Marin County taxpayers help fund is weighing a new stop between Healdsburg and Cloverdale, and the agency wants public input before it decides.

SMART has launched a 10-question online survey and scheduled a community meeting for Monday, August 10, to gauge support for a station in Geyserville, an unincorporated Sonoma County community of about 800 people roughly halfway along the 18-mile gap between the planned Healdsburg and Cloverdale stations.

The proposal matters to Marin riders because SMART's quarter-cent sales tax, renewed by voters across both counties on Tuesday, June 2, with about 70% support, generates roughly $51 million a year and funds more than half the agency's operating budget. Any new station would draw on that shared revenue stream.

"First of all, we want to listen and hear from this community about how they feel about the station," said Zoe Unruh, SMART's planning manager, in a Marin Independent Journal report published July 19. "We also want to inform them as to why SMART's exploring a station and how a station supports strategic goals of building its full system to Cloverdale."

A Geyserville stop was not part of SMART's original buildout plan. The agency's enabling legislation, Assembly Bill 2224, barred construction of any station in unincorporated areas north of Healdsburg. That changed in 2024 when Senate Bill 904, authored by state Sen. Bill Dodd (D-Napa), removed the prohibition.

SMART General Manager Eddy Cumins said residents approached him about changing the law, and he worked with Dodd to include the provision in SB 904. The agency's five-year strategic plan, adopted in 2025, then added a Geyserville station as a goal. In June 2026, the SMART Board of Directors formally directed staff to begin public outreach.

The proposed site

The station would sit on an existing commuter lot west of Highway 101 at Highway 128 and Remmel Road, one block from Geyserville Avenue. Unruh said the site was chosen for its proximity to housing, jobs and businesses, its location within the existing rail right of way, and its capacity for parking and first-and-last-mile connections such as bike-share and trail links.

SMART Board Chair Chris Coursey, a Sonoma County supervisor, described Geyserville as "a lively little town of restaurants, local shops, lodging and visitor services."

Ridership and funding context

SMART's average weekday ridership hit a new high of 5,455 in May 2026, up 32% over the prior fiscal year, according to agency figures reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. The agency has secured funding to reach Healdsburg by 2028 but has not yet locked in money for the full extension to Cloverdale.

No cost estimate for the Geyserville station has been made public.

How to weigh in

The community meeting runs 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Monday, August 10, at the Geyserville Oriental Community Hall, 1000 Highway 128. Spanish-language interpretation will be available. The online survey closes Saturday, August 16, and is posted at sonomamarintrain.org/geyserville.