Geary Street to Marin

More than one traveler upon arriving in San Francisco on a BART train from the airport has voiced as one of their first questions "— where is the train to the Golden Gate Bridge?" The two-fingered peace sign of heavy rail transit through the core of this city seems a mistake, an underinvestment, a faux pas of the largest magnitude.

It may help to know that the BART system was originally imagined with Downtown San Francisco the recipient of a loose cross of transit lines, one path Richmond to Daly City (as currently operated), but a second was Fremont to Marin line envisioned service along the Geary Street corridor before the train swooped across the Golden Gate Bridge and headed to points northward.

San Francisco BART plan with Marin Line (San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit, 1961)

Once across the bridge, Sausalito, Mill Valley, Corte Madera, San Rafael and Santa Venetia were to be served by heavy rail transit.

Plan and section of BART line through Marin County ((San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit, 1961)