S.F. Bay launches ‘high-speed’ ferry
Ferrygoers can now travel across the San Francisco Bay in speeds faster than 40 mph with a new 100-foot ferry that entered service this week.
The 320-passenger MV Dorado, the latest vessel to join the San Francisco Bay Ferry’s fleet, is the water transit system’s fastest. It’s capable of reaching a speed of 36 knots, or about 41 mph, making it faster than the average ferry. For reference, the HSC Francisco, used to ferry people between Buenos Aires and Uruguay, recorded the fastest ferry speed ever in 2013 at 58 knots, according to the Guinness World Records.
Built by the Washington state-based Mavrik Marine Inc., the “highspeed” Dorado journeyed from the Puget Sound area to San Francisco in a day-and-a-half-long trip in late April. After weeks of staff training, the vessel began service Monday and offers riders the fastest transbay water commute. Most other boats in the Ferry’s fleet can reach speeds between 27 to 28 knots, or about 32 mph.
The Dorado is also the Ferry’s most versatile vessel and can serve any of the system’s routes, said Thomas Hall, spokesperson for the Water Emergency Transportation Authority that manages the ferry transit system.
“For Dorado, we wanted boats that could be used at any of our routes, dock at any of our terminals, and be fast enough to serve all of our routes,” Hall said. “These are the fastest boats in our fleet.”
MV Dorado’s debut this week includes the Harbor Bay to San Francisco routes in the mornings, and the Alameda Seaplane route in the evenings. Ferry officials said they planned to test out the Dorado on all its routes, and riders interested in catching the vessel out in the wild can find its route details when the ferry service announces them on its Twitter account on Mondays, Hall said.
The Dorado also offers more outdoor seating, including a second-story “selfie deck,” that offers panoramic views of the Bay, according to Hall. Three additional highspeed ferries in the Dorado class will join the San Francisco Bay Ferry’s fleet within the next three years, with sibling MV Delphinus arriving sometime in 2023, Hall said.
“WETA is building a world class ferry system for the Bay Area and adding new vessels like MV Dorado helps us get there,” said Jim Wunderman, the chair of WETA’s Board of Directors.
The Dorado arrived at a time when more people are riding ferries, even as transit use has dropped during the pandemic. The Ferry transported 7,550 passengers on Wednesday — its highest weekday ridership since March 2020.