Here, a précis of a lively discussion regarding the future for recreational ferry service on San Francisco Bay.
Published: November, 2006
Regional policy-setters gather at Bay Crossings lunch to ruminate recreational ferry future
Brian O’Neill, Superintendent, Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA): We want to promote greater use of the highway of the water, with appropriate, clean fuel technology, to connect key destination sites. This meeting is really timely for us. How do we build the kind of coalition necessary to move from planning to implementation?
Mike Savidge, Director for Stategic Planning, GGNRA: We at the GGNRA are really interested in creating ferry access to our national park sites at Fort Mason, the Presidio and Fort Baker. We also would like to reinforce ferry service to Sausalito, because we found that 20 percent of the people we surveyed would go there to connect to Muir Woods. In 2000, we undertook a comprehensive market analysis to better understand visitor demand for ferry access to Golden Gate National Recreation Area sites. Essentially, what we found was that the most popular boarding spot, for visitors and residents combined, was the Ferry Building because it has access to transit and was a clearly identifiable downtown location. The second thing we found is that most people wanted a system that has many stops around the Bay; they preferred circle tours connecting in opposite directions, so they could get on and off at their leisure to enjoy different areas.
Richard Mitchell, Planning Director, City of Richmond: Richmond is a waterfront City, however many of our residents don’t have access to sailboats or cabin cruisers. The ferry could provide that access and spur the right kind of development. Offered the chance to get to our national parks, I guarantee, a very large population of young people will fill up a lot of boats. Richmond has the longest shoreline of any Bay community, and it’s all sealevel with fantastic views. I’m certain our Bay Trail, once it’s built out, will be a big recreational attraction.
Will Travis, Executive Director, San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission: Recently, Spare the Air Days made possible free ferry rides, and ridership was up well over 100 percent. So, it seems to me we may start serving parks, but the ferry boat operators will quickly say, Well, anybody else that wants to ride, we’ll take you, too.
Steven Castleberry, Executive Director, Water Transit Authority: I’m pretty sure if we voted around this table, everybody would think recreational ferry service is a good idea. But how do you pay for it? On the West Coast, I think the only unsubsidized ferry service, one that also has a strong commute volume, plus strong recreational midday volume, is the Tiburon/Sausalito route. In effect, the commuter service is subsidized because crews and boats are kept busy during the day. So, a commute service and a recreational service are very complimentary if coordinated.
Russell Long, Founder, Bluewater Network: As an environmental advocate, I think the idea of getting more people out on the Bay to enjoy the resource is a terrific idea, if it could be done in an environmentally sound way; and there’s every reason to believe it can be. I suggest a boat that would be fairly slow-moving, to reduce fuel costs and air pollution, since people are not so concerned about speed on a recreational route. The kind of vessel that I had in mind would do 10 to 12 knots and operate under winds and sun — a catamaran-style vessel, similar to the one in Australia that has been proposed for the Alcatraz route. From what I gather, in Australia people are fascinated by the Solar Sailor that operates in Sydney Harbor every day, and I expect the same would happen in San Francisco.
Castleberry: We may not be there today, but I think the boat that Russell is describing could be built for commute service, if it was a short commute service, say Sausalito or Alameda/Oakland, where there is only a seven-mile trip. If the boat’s a draw, if the destination’s a draw, if there’s commute service that works, maybe you can make this thing pencil out.
Tom Butt, City Councilperson, City of Richmond: A lot of my friends go on cruises; they are really into the experience of being on a boat. If we could make it a must-do kind of thing: I’m going to be in San Francisco for three days. What am I going to do? Well, we are going to the Wine Country one day; we’re going to do stuff in San Francisco the second day; and in between, we’re going to do this Bay thing. If everybody who’s got a piece of it around the Bay promotes it, and builds it into this giant don’t-miss experience, I think you could [bring] a lot of people in.
O’Neill: If the region came together, as Tom suggests, and it wasn’t just San Francisco promoting it, but the entire region pulled together, I think one day we might connect the Maritime Museum in San Francisco with Rosie the Riveter, once we deal with the distance issue. You know, Richmond is rediscovering itself and Rosie the Riveter is a key part of that. If the whole system is to work as a unified whole, Richmond may require a different kind of subsidization. Just as we had looked, at one point, at using the revenue generated by Alcatraz to sort of help underwrite the initial cost of providing ferry access to GGNRA sites. It wasn’t built into the current contract, but the current contract allows that to be considered.
Castleberry: There are a million examples of how regional service can be well-funded and well-coordinated. In Vancouver, if you buy a ticket to the hockey game, you go on the ferry for free.
Bill Lindsay, Richmond City Manager: This dovetails right into our ongoing general plan process.
Travis: It seems to me that Richmond has a fabulous opportunity with a working waterfront and Rosie the Riveter to create both a recreational destination and historic destination tied to San Francisco Bay. And I think that there is an opportunity there, with imagination and promotion, to create something everybody will want, too.
Castleberry: Last week, I was at the Bay Crossings Ferry Building store where WTA has flat panel screens that show when the ferries are coming and going. A couple was looking up at the sign and the wife said to the husband, Oh, look, there’s a ferry coming in five minutes. Let’s just take that. The draw was the ferry itself.
Mitchell: We’re doing our general plan now, which will include the waterfront, and it’s going to be a pretty involved community discussion. We’ve got people who speak for industry, and then we have other groups. At root, the question is will the waterfront develop or not? Some people want – as industry kind of recedes – it all to be open space. When I grew up here, you had to sneak through fences to get to the waterfront — no hard hat and union card? You [couldn’t] get out there. Now, there are people who are coming in and saying, Well, we really do want to live here. We want to use it. And we want to operate here. The way it’s going to come out, I think, is with kind of a meeting of the minds.
Lindsay: We invite everyone to get involved in this process, even if they don’t happen to live in Richmond. And I would also just add, the earlier the better. Much better to have those comments at an early stage.
Butt: Everybody’s invited. You know, it’s like: just come on down.
O’Neill: Hopefully, we’re working on building a consensus, at least among some of the stakeholders. So I think the future looks bright.
