Redwood City Port Director Mike Giari provided some background information about the base of new jobs. He made reference to Pacific Shores Center, a 1.5 million square foot development within walking distance to potential ferry terminals at the Port; and to the Seaport Center, which contains two to three thousand high-tech and bio-tech workers. Mr. Giari was especially excited about the prospect of a transbay connection between Redwood City and the East Bay. He said, “ The bridges that span the Bay now that are used by commuters to this area are at capacity and a major congestion point for people trying to get back and forth. An East Bay ferry link from Redwood City would be a great idea.” Building on Council member Diane Howard’s earlier statement on emergency planning, he added, “Heaven forbid that we should have any kind of terrorist attack like New York, but, certainly the biggest threat to the transportation system here is earthquakes. A ferry system would be essential to get people around in the event of a major earthquake.” While Mr. Giari has spent a lot of time trying to get ferries to the Port of Redwood City, his duties at the Port more typically consist of overseeing cargo shipments. Redwood City’s Port is a gateway for much of the Bay Area region’s construction materials, including cement.

Although absent from the January 10 meeting, San Mateo County Supervisor Mike Nevins expressed his support, thus, “To maintain our quality of life, if there is one sector that needs regional attention, it is our transportation system, and the ferry system of the future can be very much a part of the solution.”

Agreeing that intermodal services will be crucial, he continued, “But, it’s not just the ferry running across the water that will help resolve our regional transportation problems. It’s how we get people to the ferry terminal, what we do about the gridlock caused by getting their cars into the parking lots, what we do about their cars when they get there, and how we eliminate as many of those cars as possible. We must get people into a shuttle service and then down to the ferry. In our case, the SamTrans bus systems must play a major role. To make the transportation system work, we have got to do everything possible to give people viable options to the single occupied vehicle.”

The Water Transit Authority is studying the Port of Redwood City as a key South Bay terminal for the Regional Ferry System. The WTA held an environmental scoping in Redwood City during November as a preliminary step in the environmental review. Ridership surveys, intermodal connections, and other technical studies must all be completed this spring and summer, prior to the submission of recommendations for a regional ferry system to the state legislature in December 2002. 

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Shoreline Employers Transport Workers Around the Bay: Spotlight on Oracle

At the border of Belmont and Redwood City, futuristic, gleaming, round towers of glass and metal remind you that you’re not in Kansas. Upon closer inspection, you find that it’s not Emerald City, either; instead, Henry Mellegers, Senior Manager of Corporate Services and Demand Transportation, welcomes visitors to Oracle City. With a workforce of 7800, it’s no wonder that Oracle needs Mr. Melleger’s oversight of programs designed to attract top-notch people and to create a better balance between personal and work life. Apart from managing on-site services such as reception, call centers, fitness centers, film and laundry drops, mobile dentistry, health spa, and beauty treatments, he explained that transportation issues are gaining priority in his workload.

On behalf of Oracle, Mr. Mellegers has attended two of the Water Transit Authority’s public presentations and is excited about future possibilities. He and his boss, Larry Ellison, are both sailors. A ferry between Oakland and Redwood City would allow Mr. Mellegers to commute to Oracle on any given Monday following a weekend spent in Oakland, thus avoiding the often horrendous San Mateo Bridge traffic. He said, “The WTA brings the vision needed to connect the Bay. This should have been done twenty years ago.” Emphasizing the advantage of ferries over other forms of transportation, he added, “The nice thing about water [transit] is its flexibility, which allows you to easily change your route anytime you want.”

Originally hailing from Holland, and a regular Caltrain commuter himself, Mr. Mellegers incorporates his European transit-first sentiments into his job. In an effort to get people out of their single-occupancy cars, he proudly oversees 150 bicycle lockers, a Caltrain shuttle program with 11 pick-ups a day, Oracle’s subsidized Caltrain pass program (every fifth ride is free), a guaranteed emergency-ride home program, a commuter web-site with schedules and sign-up sheets, 252 carpool permits (and growing) which guarantees preferred parking in the covered garage, and an on-call shuttle that delivers employees anywhere on campus and to the train station. Oracle’s future transportation plans may include Commuter Checks, a shuttle to the Colma BART station, van pools to outlying areas, and building stronger partnerships with existing transit providers.