Public Transport to Petaluma

To escape the summer grey of San Francisco, we made a day trip to the Sonoma County town of Petaluma.

There is a Golden Gate Transit bus that will take one there, but what's the fun in that?

So we boarded a Golden Gate Transit ferryboat to Larkspur on Wednesday morning, testing out the new boat-train combo connecting San Francisco to Marin and Sonoma Counties.

The gorgeous trip on a high-powered catamaran takes about 30 minutes, and according to a crew member on the ferry, a new shuttle van would whisk us the half mile from the ferry to the SMART commuter train station.

There was no shuttle van apparent when we arrived at the ferry terminal, though, only a bit of misleading signage pointing pedestrians in the wrong direction.

We had taken this trip before to Santa Rosa so knew how to navigate our way across wide boulevards, jaywalking when necessary, and then climb up a shared automobile/bicycle roadway to the new SMART train terminus.

As often happens with car-centric suburban planners, the needs of pedestrians usually come last, if they are considered at all.

SMART, the new commuter train that stretches from Larkspur Landing to the Santa Rosa Airport is a smooth, modern marvel that goes through scenic marshes, foothills, and the occasional backyard.

To add to the pleasure, 65+ seniors ride for free, and on Wednesday there was a charming conductor keeping order and helping out with directions.

From the Petaluma station, it's about a 10-minute walk to downtown Petaluma which has a river running through it lined by restaurants with outdoor patios.

We tried out the fancy Luma Bar & Eatery which turned out to have lovely food and surprisingly unpretentious prices.

On our return to Larkspur Landing, we finally spotted the orange shuttle van to the ferry terminal in a nearby parking lot, but it turns out you have to download an app and reserve a ride in advance if you want to use the service. This struck us as absurd, especially since nobody on the boat or train was aware of that particular wrinkle.

We decided to try following the signage to the ferry terminal which took us over a bridge crossing several boulevards and freeways, in a direction opposite to the actual terminal.

To add possible injury to insult, the pedestrian path is also shared by bicyclists, many of whom seem to be in training for the Tour de France.

Pedestrian irritation aside, the trip was delightful.

And the boat ride back to San Francisco was fabulously wild.