The Big Shake-up

At 5:04 p.m. on Tuesday, October 17, 1989 … with over 62,000 fans filling Candlestick Park for the third game of the World Series, and commute traffic in full swing, suddenly it struck: the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that was later called "Loma Prieta". Fires erupted in the Marina District of San Francisco. A double-decker freeway collapsed in West Oakland. And one segment of the upper deck on the east span of the Bay Bridge collapsed onto the lower level, putting the bridge totally out of service.

The Bay Bridge was out of commission for several nearly a months as Caltrans mounted an emergency restoration program. The thousands and thousands ofMore than 80,000 commuters from East Bay cities that normally took the bridge to San Francisco had to find alternative transportation. BART played a major role in solving the transportation crisis, and Vallejo responded by dramatically increasing its newBartLink bus service along I-80 to BART’s El Cerrito Del Norte Station in El Cerrito.

The earthquake clearly showed that the alternative for trans-bay transportation was the ferry, and suddenly the importance of having high-speed ferry service on the bay became apparent to everyone. Belchamber says, "We had an ideaknew that ferry service could be bigger than it was, but until the earthquake, there was never an opportunity to demonstrate it." " So with funding from Caltrans, excursion and tour boats were pressed into emergency ferry service between Richmond, Berkeley, Alameda, and other East Bay points to get commuters to and from San Francisco.

So, with funding from Caltrans, excursion and tour boats were pressed into ferry service in Richmond, Berkeley, Alameda and other East Bay points to get commuters to and from San Francisco. In Vallejo,

Within a week after the quake, two high-speed catamaransthree boats — two 25-knot mono-hulls and one catamaran — were loaned borrowed from Washington State Ferries and put into operation between Vallejo and San Francisco. After the reopening of the Bay Bridge in mid-November, Vallejo to San Francisco ferries retained the greatest proportion of ridership of any other emergency ferry service.

By January 1990, with the Bay Bridge restored, some ferry commuters went backreturned to their automobiles. , However, but others had discovered the pleasures of "taking a ferry to work" and stayed with their new-foundnewly found transportation. Some of the new ferry services across the Bay survived,survived, and someunfortunately most did not.

In Vallejo, with Caltrans funding at an end, the twothe three ferries on loan were returned to their home in Washington State. The fAlthough the demand for ferry service had dropped somewhat after the reopening of the bridge, it still remained high, and it was obvious that Vallejo had to make a move.

Finding Funding

Other significant events occurred at about this same time. The first was the 1990 passage of State Proposition Proposition #116 in June 1990, the "California Air Quality & Transportation Improvement Act" ("CATIA"), a $2 billion measure that which included $10-million capital earmarked for the purchase of equipment for Vallejo’s ferry system.

With capital funding and operating expenses in hand, Vallejo was about to enter the transit business.

"That’s when I entered the picture!" said Pam Belchamber, a transportation analyst for the city at the time.According to Belchamber, "We As a result of the Loma Prieta quake, we moved rapidly and obtained the Metropolitan Transportation’s (MTC) approval of funding for a $240,000 study of improved ferry service from Vallejo and other locations in the Bay Area." Between November 1990 and November 1991, the "Regional and Vallejo Ferry Plan" was developed by the City of Vallejo and MTC. Also during 1991, a proposal to Congress was made for a special "earmark" of transportation funds for the Vallejo ferry system.

Vallejo hired Pacific Transit Management (PTM) to write the Vallejo Ferry Plan. The PTM team included Art Anderson Associates, a naval architectural firm whose staff included Marty Robbins, now Vallejo’s Marine Services Manager responsible for overseeing Baylink operations and the ferry capital program.

In November 1991, the Vallejo City Council approved the Vallejo Ferry Plan, which provided a clear vision of where we wanted to go with our ferry service. The program called for buying two 35-knot ferryboats, setting our own schedules, and contracting with an experienced ferry operator.

Based on that plan, the MTC committed additional federal operating funds for Vallejo’s transit system. In December 1991, President George Bush (senior) signed the landmark Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA), which, through the advocacy and hard work of Congressman George Miller, included an allocation of $17 million for the "North Bay Ferry Demonstration Program," e.g., the Vallejo ferry project.

Belchamber continued, "Early in 1992, we quickly began the environmental review and funding application process with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), which we finished in June and then submitted to MTC and the FTA for approval.

"But, as with many major projects, we encountered a few bumps in the road. A local group, ‘Citizens for a Natural Waterfront’ sued the City in August, insisting on a full environmental impact report (EIR) for the ferry project. The funding application process went forward despite the lawsuit." In August 1993, the environmental lawsuit was rejected by the Solano County Superior Court, but Citizens for a Natural Waterfront appealed the decision to the California State Court of Appeals, which was later rejected in mid-1994.

"Later that spring, Red & White Fleet informed us that a vessel would not be available to continue San Francisco to Vallejo service after June 1994, unless the city separately funded extensive repairs to the M/V Catamaran. After Red & White Fleet’s announcement, it made more sense to us to obtain an interim replacement/backup vessel. We also decided to place the Vallejo-San Francisco service out to competitive bid after Red & White Fleet indicated that they needed substantially higher subsidies than we had been paying.

"Based on our Request for Proposals, we purchased the "M/V Jet Cat Express" (a 28-knot catamaran) from Catalina Express of Long Beach in spring 1994. We also selected Blue & Gold Fleet to provide Vallejo’s ferry service, which began with the Jet Cat on July 1, 1994.