Visionary Plan for Ferries Reaches
its Destination – the State Legislature
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Biking is a
great way to get to and from the Ferry Terminal. |
On December 11, the Water Transit Authority (WTA)
delivered its Implementation and Operation Plan, entitled “A
Strategy to Improve Public Transit with an Environmentally Friendly
Ferry Service,” to the California State Legislature. After a
long-awaited 18-month planning period, complete with a multitude of
technical studies, the WTA prepared a well-thought-out plan for
expanding the San Francisco Bay’s ferry system with convenient
landside connections.
Plan for Ferries Clears MTC’s Review
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC)
reviewed the WTA’s plan and affirmed that ferries are a
cost-effective option, comparing favorably to other transit options
such as express buses, BART, or Caltrain.
Steve Hemminger, MTC’s Executive Director,
underscored MTC’s advocacy for a diverse transit system, saying,
“Ferries, along with other transbay improvements, will be needed
to serve the 40 percent increase in travel projected by MTC.”
Commenting on the method the WTA developed for counting future ferry
riders, MTC’s report stated, “The [forecasting models] are the
most comprehensive tools yet developed to estimate ferry ridership.
Implicit in the forecasts is the recognition that riders of ferries
often choose to use these services for reasons other than simply
time and cost.”
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MTC’s
incoming Chair Steve Kinsey said, “Clearly, mobility is a
fundamental component of quality of life.” |
MTC’s incoming Chair, Marin County Supervisor
Steve Kinsey, spoke at a recent Commonwealth Club/Mineta
Institute-sponsored forum on ferries, saying, “MTC is struggling
right now under a burden of a number of lawsuits that are
specifically targeted at this very issue of how we, as a region,
create an increased transit ridership.” Commenting on the
core of the issue, he added, “Clearly, mobility is a fundamental
component of quality of life, it’s also a real driver of the
economic opportunities of the Bay Area.”
Funding Transit Enhancements
The WTA’s plan for funding its system looks only
to new sources of money rather than to the dwindling supply of
existing sources. For instance, the agency looked to a portion
of a proposed dollar toll increase to state-owned bridges, county
sales tax authorizations, and untapped or new sources of federal
dollars.
Dollar Toll Increase
State Senator Don Perata, Senate Majority Leader,
plans to introduce legislation in early 2003 to ask voters to
approve increasing tolls on state-owned bridges for transit
enhancements. Speaking at the Commonwealth Club forum on water
transit, Sen. Perata described the urgency of moving forward with a
toll increase. Sen. Perata said, “I will tell you categorically I
think raising bridge tolls is something that we’re going to be
able to do once and then we’re going to have put it in the drawer
for another decade or decade and a half. So my interest is to see
how far we can get the public to go to create more transit
opportunities.”
Sen. Perata elaborated on the regional transit
system, saying, “We have to recognize that we’re not really
talking about ferries exclusively. This is an integrated
expenditure plan that as BART gets stronger, as AC Transit can put
more buses across the Bay, and we can use carpool lanes to their
God-intended purpose, if we can make the ACE trains stronger so the
service coming into the southern part of the Bay is enhanced, we are
integrating the whole system, we are making everything stronger; and
that makes ferry service plausible and possible.”
Local Funding
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WTA
consultant Nancy Whelan explained local funding options to
the WTA’s Board of Directors |
Six counties will be considering sales tax
measures on the 2003-2004 ballots, including San Francisco, Contra
Costa, Marin, San Mateo, Solano, and Sonoma. Proposed local fund
sources include developer transit impact fees and local sales tax
authorizations for transit. For a county to authorize a portion of
the sales tax to be used for transit, a 2/3 vote is required. MTC
vice-chair Steve Kinsey urged a change to that requirement, stating,
“We absolutely need to change the voting of tax increases for
transportation from a 2/3 majority to a 55 percent or some
reasonable super majority.” He justified the need for this change
by explaining, “In spite of being one of the most congested areas
in the country, four of the five transportation sales tax measures
in our state went down to defeat.”
Federal Funding
The WTA is seeking to increase the Federal
Ferryboat Discretionary Fund from its current annual $38 million to
$75 million, with a reserved set-aside for the Bay Area. Other
states, like Washington, Alaska and New Jersey get set-asides. WTA
Federal lobbyist Peter Friedman said, “Thirty-eight million is
very
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WTA’s
Federal lobbyist Peter Friedman reported on his efforts to
obtain funding for ferries from Washington, DC |
little spent on ferries. For the first time, the
American Public Transportation Association (APTA) has included
ferries on their wish-list.” In addition, Mr. Friedman suggested
that there may be funding for environmental research and development
from such sources as the Dept. of Energy.
Regional Agencies Applaud WTA’s Plan
In a letter delivered to the WTA, BART General
Manager Tom Margro said, “Since the WTA’s proposed ferry system
primarily links bayside communities with San Francisco, there is
clearly a mutual and potentially complementary relationship between
ferries and BART. Some portions of the BART system may have limited
capacity in the future to accommodate new riders during certain time
periods, which could be addressed by ferry service enhancement.”
The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development
Commission (BCDC) expressed its support for the WTA plan in a letter
reading, “We applaud the WTA for the other sound transportation
commitments that the agency has made, including increasing [landside
connections] to ferry terminals and reducing the use of automobiles
for these trips.”
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MTC’s Bay
Crossings study showed ferries are a cost-effective option
for expanding Bay Area mobility |
Marin County Supervisor and WTA Community Advisory
Committee member Cynthia Murray summarized the appeal of an
integrated transit system thus, “We need more choices, and we have
different people who have different transit modes that appeal to
them. We have a huge demand for increased transit because we have
huge congestion.” She added, “One of the best parts of this
whole [proposed] system is that the WTA has built in the
connectivity. They haven’t said, we’re just going to only look
at what we’re going to put on the water, they’re looking at how
to make sure that people reach their final destination.”
Final Destination
For now, the WTA plan has reached its final
destination, the State Legislature. Next, Sen. Perata plans to
sponsor two pieces of legislation. First, he will sponsor
legislation adopting all or part of the
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The WTA’s
plan would give commuters another option to avoid traffic in
reaching their destination |
WTA’s plan; concurrently, he will sponsor
legislation to send the proposed dollar toll increase for funding
various regional transit enhancements to the voters. To join Sen.
Perata in supporting expanded water transit, write your legislator.
Don’t have time to compose a letter? Go to www.watertransit.org;
click on Public Participation/Support the WTA’s Plan for a handy
template you can use.