All aboard! New ferry service wins approval
Private, public efforts offer more options to help commuters stuck on roads or BART
For San Francisco-bound drivers inching their way down Interstate 80 in bumper-to-bumper traffic, or BART riders stuck standing in the claustrophobic heat of too-cramped quarters, a speedy boat ride to work might seem like a dream come true.
That dream is becoming a reality. The California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday approved two new private ferry operators to begin public commuter service this year from Berkeley and Emeryville to San Francisco and Redwood City. In addition, the Bay Area’s largest public ferry agency is in the midst of a massive overhaul, investing some $260 million on new maintenance facilities, vessels and an expanded ferry terminal in San Francisco.
Rather than a revolution, the moves are in many ways a return to a time when boats and ferries were the only way to cross the bay. Before the Golden Gate and Bay bridges were built, San Francisco’s Ferry Building served some 55 million passengers a year. The stately waterfront property connected four steam railroads, five interurban rail systems and 29 street- and cable-car lines with nearly a dozen ferry operators, according to Paul Trimble and William Knorp, authors of “Ferries of San Francisco Bay.”
The opening of the bridges in the mid-1930s, coupled with the ascendance of the automobile, ultimately sounded the death knell for transbay water transit. The vessels — once a hallmark of the Bay Area — stopped running to Marin in 1941, and the Southern Pacific Railroad’s ferry, called the San Leandro, made its final voyage to the East Bay in 1958.
Transport alternatives
There have been several efforts over the years to resurrect the bay’s system of water transport; ferry service between San Francisco and Marin resumed in 1970, and service to Vallejo opened again in 1986. But it took the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake’s monthlong closure of the Bay Bridge, which forced commuters onto BART, to spark a mini revival in water transit to the East Bay. And now, with Bay Area traffic congestion causing crippling commute times, and BART’s overcrowded system subject to constant delays, the clamor for alternatives is louder than ever, and private companies are heeding the call.
Tideline Marine Group President Nathan Nayman said the company will begin service from the Berkeley Marina to San Francisco, pending approval by the Berkeley City Council, one day a week beginning by the end of October, with service growing as demand grows. PROP SF CEO James Jaber said his company expects to begin operating daily commuter service in Berkeley, Emeryville, San Francisco and Redwood City in the first week of 2017. The exact pick-up and drop-off locations will be released Oct. 18, Jaber said.
Both companies offer commuter ferry service for private employers or people who book rides in advance, but the new services approved Thursday will run on regular routes and will be open to the public. The proposed schedules can be found on the companies’ websites.
But don’t think the public Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA), which operates most ferry routes across the bay, is getting left behind. The agency was created by the state Legislature 10 years after the earthquake to consolidate existing Vallejo, Oakland and Alameda ferry operators, according to the California Transit Association, and now serves approximately 2.5 million passengers a year.
It plans to open a new route from Richmond in 2018 and will be opening new service to Alameda Point and Treasure Island in tandem with large-scale housing developments, with service to Treasure Island likely in 2021.
WETA has also talked about expanding service to Berkeley, Hercules, Antioch and Redwood City for years, and agency officials say it plans to grow its fleet from 12 vessels to 35 in the next 20 years, adding up to six new routes. Spokesman Ernest Sanchez said regional leaders understand the future’s solution to transit can be learned in lessons garnered from the past.
“Ferries had disappeared since the completion of the Bay Bridge and automobiles completely took over,” Sanchez said. “Now, we’re trying to do more to balance that out with a multipronged approach. We have BART, the freeways and ferries, and we have to use them all.”
Nayman and Jaber think there’s room for everyone on the bay. Rather than directly compete with WETA’s public ferry service, Nayman said Tideline’s Chesapeake boats offer a different kind of experience. At roughly a tenth the size of a typical public ferry, Nayman said the vessel is faster, more nimble and can navigate shallower waters, meaning it can reach marinas and docks that WETA’s ferries can’t.
Service to cost more
“There is a real cornucopia, or a weaving, of all different types and sizes of vessels,” Nayman said. “We believe that giving people alternatives and getting them to and from their jobs and their families is something that makes for a better quality of life, and the revenue will follow.”
The new ferry services will cost more than a ride on a public ferry. PROP SF has proposed an $8.50 to $10 ticket from the East Bay to San Francisco and around $15 for a trip from the East Bay to Redwood City. Tideline is proposing a $7.50-$10 fare, compared with $6.60 for a ride from Oakland or Alameda on a WETA ferry, which is further reduced to $5 with a Clipper Card.
Cyclists will be able to bring their bikes on board, though PROP SF is proposing a $5 fee per bicycle. In San Francisco, PROP SF’s ferries will use Pier 15, Jaber said, while Nayman said Tideline will use the water taxi station at Pier 1 1/2, adjacent to the Ferry Building.
Tideline plans to expand the public commute service to Emeryville once the Berkeley operation is up and running, Nayman said. Both Tideline and PROP SF are considering expansions to Martinez, Hercules, Antioch and locations in the South Bay. But any new routes beyond Berkeley and Emeryville will need to be approved by the state’s Public Utilities Commission.