Marin's E-Bike Share Just Got Three More Years. Why Does It Still Stop at Larkspur?

In 2013, the first station on Marin County's bike share map was the Sausalito Ferry Terminal. The Tiburon Ferry Terminal was third and Downtown Mill Valley was fourth. That map came from a feasibility study the Transportation Authority of Marin started in 2012.

Thirteen years later, Marin has an e-bike share. The county has just voted to keep it running through 2029, and its southern edge is Larkspur. The bikes sit where they do because the system was built to serve the SMART rail line, and the money now keeping it running comes from a fund meant for the whole county. That funding piece should matter most to anyone living south of Corte Madera.

What Three More Years Buys

Redwood Bikeshare was set to end in November, when its two-year pilot ran out. The Marin Independent Journal reported that North Bay agencies have now approved $1.39 million in local and regional money for a three-year extension. The Transportation Authority of Marin, or TAM, voted for its $412,500 share on Sept. 24. Sonoma County's transportation agency matched that amount. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission is putting in $498,250 and SMART is spending $75,000. Drop Mobility stays on as operator under a renewed contract.

Separately, Sen. Mike McGuire secured a $1 million state budget earmark for expanding the program. That money comes back later in this post.

The usage numbers explain why the vote went through. Through August 2026, the system logged 28,000 trips by 4,900 unique riders. A typical trip ran about 12 minutes and 1.7 miles. Santa Rosa led with more than 7,700 trips and San Rafael came second with 5,315. Sonoma County Supervisor Chris Coursey, who chairs the SMART board, linked the program to SMART's 26% year-over-year ridership growth.

The Map Follows the Train

Redwood Bikeshare launched in November 2024 with 300 pedal-assist e-bikes at 60 hubs along the SMART corridor. It was built from the start to get train riders to their final stop. In Marin, SMART's station guide lists bike share at the Novato San Marin, Marin Civic Center, San Rafael and Larkspur stations.

The trip data shows where the system actually works. The Larkspur SMART station and the Larkspur Ferry Terminal are the top two places Marin riders start trips. The San Rafael Transit Center and the Larkspur SMART station are the top two places they end them. Each of those spots is where a train, a ferry or a bus line meets another one. The busiest part of Marin's system is the stretch where Golden Gate Ferry riders link up with SMART.

That is good news for Larkspur, Greenbrae and San Rafael. It also shows that the system's edges were set by the SMART line, not by a countywide map.

The 2013 Map Started in Sausalito

TAM hired Alta Planning + Design in early 2012 to study whether bike share could work in Marin. The final report proposed 12 stations for Phase 1, and southern Marin was in the first group. Its own estimates put the southern stations on par with Larkspur's.

The study projected the Sausalito ferry would generate more bike share trips than the Larkspur ferry. Downtown Mill Valley came out slightly ahead of Downtown Larkspur. The report also had a fallback plan. If a 100-bike Phase 1 couldn't be funded, it suggested a 30-bike pilot linking the Sausalito ferry, Marin City and Mill Valley, at an estimated $250,000 in up-front costs.

That pilot never launched. Mill Valley's 2017 Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan picked the idea back up and told the city to "consider developing a pilot bike share project." When a bike share finally arrived in 2024, it came as a SMART corridor project and ran on the train's route.

The Same Fund Covers Both Ends of the County

This is the part of the September vote that affects southern Marin directly. TAM's share comes from a Measure AA sales tax category set aside for better access to ferries and regional transit. That category was amended this year to name "shared mobility services" and bike share specifically, according to TAM planner Scott McDonald. TAM's March 2026 staff report on the amendments describes the proposed wording. It covers expanding access to rail and ferry stations through first- and last-mile programs, and it lets TAM, Marin Transit or the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District sponsor bike share at major transit stops.

That same category is also supposed to help people reach transit hubs in Tiburon, Sausalito and possibly Mill Valley. At the TAM board meeting, Sausalito Councilmember Melissa Blaustein said the approval commits about 90% of the fund to a program that runs only as far south as Larkspur. The Marin IJ quoted her:

"We're not leaving any funding for something like micromobility in Sausalito and Tiburon between the ferries or serving the ferries or any of the Southern Marin transit spots."

Mill Valley Councilmember Urban Carmel said southern Marin communities are interested but haven't been able to join so far. He sketched what service could look like there: a triangle connecting Mill Valley, the Tiburon ferry and the Sausalito ferry, plus the Mill Valley–Sausalito Multiuse Path and the Manzanita commuter lot.

That triangle is close to the 2013 pilot route with Tiburon added. TAM's own newer planning already includes those locations. Its May 2026 Mobility Hub Plan lists the Sausalito and Tiburon ferry terminals among Marin's nine rail and ferry hub sites. Its shared-mobility guidance covers bike share, e-bikes and scooters.

The $1 Million Earmark Doesn't Have a Use Yet

The Measure AA money is now mostly committed to the existing system, so southern Marin's open opportunity is McGuire's $1 million. McDonald told the TAM board that planners are still working out when that money can be secured and how it can be used. Blaustein suggested it could pay for a southern Marin option. TAM General Manager Anne Richman said there could be room for talks about bike share or other micromobility in southern Marin.

Cost will shape those talks. McDonald put TAM's subsidy at about $11 per trip and said the total cost is higher. San Anselmo's Yoav Schlesinger asked that future presentations include trips per rider and public subsidy per trip. For comparison, the 2013 study estimated that a Phase 1 system would carry 29,000 to 44,000 trips in its second year. By August 2026, about 22 months after launch, the actual system had logged 28,000 trips across both counties. Any southern Marin proposal will face that per-trip cost question, and it will be measured against a system that has only recently started to grow.

That growth has picked up recently. McDonald said ridership has climbed since April, when daily included ride time for members went from 30 minutes to an hour. Partnerships with Canal Alliance and MCE to promote the program have also helped.

Riding It Now From Southern Marin

For a Mill Valley, Sausalito or Tiburon resident, Larkspur is the nearest place to get on the network. These are the current prices on Redwood Bikeshare's site:

• Pay as you go: $1 to unlock, then $0.25 a minute
• Monthly: $20 a month, no unlock fee, 60 minutes of free riding a day that can be split across trips, then $0.25 a minute
• Explorer pass: $20 for a 24-hour period with 120 free minutes
• Equity membership: $5 a month with the same daily minutes, for people enrolled in CalFresh or Medicaid

The rule that matters most for southern Marin riders is where a ride has to end. Under the Redwood Bikeshare terms, every trip must finish at a designated hub, and fees apply if it doesn't. The terms also define where riding is allowed, and Mill Valley, Sausalito and Tiburon have no hub where a trip can end. Anyone planning a ride south of Larkspur should check the terms or ask the operator first. In practice the system works for round trips out of Larkspur, or for short hops from the Larkspur ferry to SMART, San Rafael and points north. It doesn't work for a one-way ride home over the hill.

By SMART's November 2025 update, bikes were at every SMART station except Sonoma County Airport and Windsor, plus more than 75 other sites, and none of them were south of Larkspur. Whether a hub ever goes in at the Sausalito ferry or on the Manzanita lot depends on how the $1 million earmark is spent and whether TAM's southern Marin talks lead to a proposal.

We've watched Marin argue about how people get to the ferry for a long time, and we'll keep following where the $1 million earmark goes and what southern Marin's councils propose next. If you're thinking about how commute routes, ferry access or the Mill Valley–Sausalito path shape daily life in different parts of the county, The Brody Team would be glad to talk it through over coffee in town. Contact The Brody Team.