By Guy Span

For the first time in 45 years, San Francisco feted a ferryboat retirement as the MV Golden Gate made her last trips to Sausalito. Special events were held on the 4:05 and 5:30 p.m. runs and commuters, former commuters, friends, and the interested public were all invited to join. Food and snacks were provided by a host of Sausalito merchants.

A live band performed on the second deck and a huge crowd turned out to see her off. Among the faithful on the 4:05 p.m. departure was Andy Leakakos, who many will remember as the man who owned and ran the “Conference Room” pub in the un-reconstituted Ferry Building. In his role as host, Andy knew many of the regulars on the Sausalito run. But his connection with the MV Golden Gate goes deeper, as he designed the working bar and served the VIPs on August 15, 1970. He noted, “It hadn’t changed a bit since the maiden voyage.”

And there is a lot of truth to that statement, if you account for age. Visible rust is in evidence everywhere. On the lower deck, two window seats have a sign that advises, “Don’t sit here.” A crew member reported that those windows leaked when it rained or in high seas. Other windows have caked rust around the seals. And bizarrely enough, forward on the main deck, there is a red sign that announces “Emergency Exit – Do Not Block.” An arrow points DOWN, as if anyone would want to exit by going down, through a small hatch in the deck. To prevent someone from making a poor decision in an emergency, a bicycle rack helpfully blocks the way.

But few among the festive noticed the warts. Attorney Rex Clack called the last run “a bittersweet experience.” Many were here to commemorate the vessel that brought the Bay Area out of the dark ages, when from 1958 to 1970, there was no ferry service other than the slow tour boats to Tiburon. Thus, the MV Golden Gate is indeed an historic vessel, as she single-handedly re-inaugurated traditional San Francisco Bay ferry service. And on introduction, she was wildly successful, actually operating at a profit, which is the elusive dream of all transit planners.

At one point, this 590-passenger vessel was carrying over a million riders a year. Tour and Tiburon Ferry operator Red & White Fleet noticed and decided to get in on the action with its own ferry. They applied for a Public Utilities Commission (PUC) certificate to operate a private ferry to Sausalito and the District howled, filing a Protest that said private enterprise should not compete with a public agency. They cited the Bay Bridge rule that required the elimination of auto ferry services within ten miles of the bridge.

The PUC was not impressed and in a landmark ruling allowed Red & White to start a new unsubsidized service, which continues to this day under successor Blue & Gold Fleet. Golden Gate’s ridership dropped and the service has required subsidies every since. Blue & Gold doesn’t report its profits on individual routes, but the fact that they continue to operate to Sausalito (albeit at much higher rates) indicates it must be profitable.

The dot com crash of 2000 further ate into ridership and today, barely 130 passengers take the formerly busy commuter runs. And they will likely feel lonely on the cavernous replacement vessels, the 700-passenger Spaulding Class that are set to take over on March 27th. Sean Barry, who was quietly enjoying his last run on the lower deck, thought the new boats would be “more comfortable but less social,” as they have airplane-style seating and fewer tables. He also noted that while the Spauldings were faster, there would be no schedule change, perhaps because they would take longer to dock (a sentiment echoed by a deck hand, who said they are difficult to dock at Sausalito).
Sean also noted that the Spauldings have no bicycle racks and the bikes are stacked together near the door. The District confirmed the lack of bicycle facilities on the new boats but noted that the next refit would take care of the problem, although no date was set. “We’re going to miss her,” Sean said, “definitely.”

And that was the sentiment on July 30, 1958, the last time a San Francisco ferry retired (at the cancellation of Southern Pacific’s connecting service to the Ferry Building from the Oakland Mole). Thousands turned out to bid farewell to the ferries. A Red & White Fleet tour boat was charted for press photographers and the party lasted all day. On board the old ferry, a young Harre Demoro documented the end. After the final evening run to the Ferry Building, he talked himself back on board for the non-revenue run to Oakland and the final tie-up in the dark.