Despite heroic efforts on the part of the commuters themselves, Red & White Fleet says it will "suspend" weekday commuter ferry service between Richmond and San Francisco commuter ferry next month. But the commuters say they will keep working to save the ferry service right up to the last day. .

"We’ve handed out free round trip tickets, addressed numerous city councils and neighborhood groups, lobbied city, county, state and national legislators and agencies, distributed hundreds of flyers, operated an information booth at Richmond’s Fourth of July celebration event and written dozens of e-mails to anyone we thought could help," said Mike McNamara, a daily commuter to The City. "We aren’t about to give up."

In June Red & White officials informed the city of Richmond they would suspend service effective September 27, 2000, citing a financial loss and low rider ship. They also cancelled weekend service effective July 1. But to the riders, there’s no difference between suspension and termination.

"Either way, there won’t be a boat at the dock on September 28, and I will have to stand up all the way to the city on BART or the bus," said one disgruntled rider.

Friends of the Ferry, as the activists call themselves, say once the ferry stops running it’s unlikely service to Contra Costa county will re reinstated soon. "People will remember for a long time that it failed, and that will make it much harder to get it re-started," said Kristel Frank, a Friends of the Ferry coordinator.

The group alleges rider ship didn’t meet expectations because of a lack of marketing efforts by Red & White Fleet. But company officials say they just took a different approach to promoting the service. "We chose to put our money into more frequent runs," said Red & White Fleet Operations Manager Terry Koenig.

The Richmond route is the only commuter ferry service not subsidized. Red & White officials claim they would continue the service if a subsidy were available and if more people rode the ferry. Rider ship has almost doubled in the past year but is still below the necessary level projected by the Metropolitan Transit Authority. The California Public Utilities Commission, the agency that granted Red & White permission to operate the ferry and could deny Red & White’s application to abandon the line as not being in the best interests of the public. Otherwise, Richmond ferry service will be just a memory by the end of September.