MASCOTS PLAN BRINGS RIDERSHIP BOOST
In April 2026, Golden Gate Transit introduced service changes designed to make trips along the Highway 101 corridor easier and more convenient. Since it's implementation, the Marin-Sonoma Coordinated Transit Services (MASCOTS) plan has also brought increased bus ridership while reducing operational costs. Under MASCOTS, the District is providing 4 percent fewer revenue hours of bus service and driving 7 percent fewer miles (179,000 fewer miles per year). Meanwhile, bus ridership is up about 8.5 percent.
The most significant change under MASCOTS is that Route 101 bus service between Novato and Santa Rosa has been replaced by increased SMART train service. Sonoma County riders can make connections to Golden Gate Transit or Ferry in Marin County to get to San Francisco. Route 101 express service between San Rafael and San Francisco now runs every 30 minutes all day, with buses running every 15 minutes during weekday peak periods, roughly doubling previous service levels.
Seventy percent of all trips (Bridge + Bus + Ferry) from Marin and Sonoma to and from San Francisco originate from San Rafael south. Through MASCOTS, the District has redeployed limited transit resources, funded principally with Bridge tolls, to where there are the most customers.
The North Bay transit agencies, including the District, continue to make minor adjustments consistent with the MASCOTS goals. In response to growing rider demand for express bus service from Santa Rosa and Rohnert Park, in September the District added two Route 172X express bus trips in both the morning and evening commute.
Additionally, commute travel in the Golden Gate Corridor is significantly less on Fridays as compared to commute travel on Monday through Thursday. So, beginning mid-September, the District began providing about 15 percent less express commute bus service on Fridays. This affected Routes 114, 132, 154 and 172. There was no change in the frequency of the District’s regional routes (Routes 101, 120 and 580).
