San Francisco Bay Ferry to Add Lines, Expand Service

Image courtesy of San Francisco Bay Ferry’s Media Center.

San Francisco may be neglecting the full potential of the strategic waterways that brought it into being. If you’ve ever sat in Bridge traffic and watched boats fly by on the water below, you might have felt the same. There is no reason the Bay Area shouldn’t have as robust a ferry system as Seattle or New York. Jim Wunderman, Chair of the Board of Directors for the San Francisco Bay Ferry system, agrees. 

The transit agency’s investment is calling for a return to seafaring public transportation. Dubbed the 2050 Service Vision, the plan covers the addition of new ferry terminals, vessels, routes and increased trips on its six existing routes. The rollout is scheduled over two phases and 25 years. By 2050, the Bay could see ferry service stretch from Redwood City on the Peninsula to Antioch on the Delta with stops in Marin County and Mare Island in between.

“It’s no surprise to see that there is strong interest in the expansion of the network,” Wunderman said. “The San Francisco Bay Ferry has successfully delivered the region’s fastest-growing and most highly-rated regional transit service.”

A welcome return to tradition

Taking advantage of the San Francisco Bay’s far-reaching waterways isn’t new. It used to be the only way to reach San Francisco from Oakland and vice-versa except for the Cape Horn-like trip down and around the Bay by rail. Construction on the much-needed ferry system began in 1853 at the foot of Broadway Street in Oakland, where the estuary flows into the Bay. Ferries adapted to evolving modes of transportation like trains and automobiles, but in 1958, around the time the Bay Bridge swapped its Key System train tracks for more lanes, the iconic Ferry Building saw its last departure.

San Francisco Ferry Building, 1912. Public domain.

Construction of the Embarcadero Freeway the following year fenced off the Ferry Building from the rest of San Francisco’s waterfront. Ferries plied the Bay once again in the sixties, mostly for tourism except for one rush hour commuter line between Tiburon (Marin) and the Ferry Building. The Bridge, stripped of its tracks on the lower deck, made it impossible to reach the city directly by rail. If you were going to San Francisco, you and your flowered hair were going by car.

Learning our lesson

It wasn’t nostalgia or the pursuit of carbonless emissions that revived interest in ferry service but disaster. On October 17th, 1989, the Loma Prieta earthquake famously brought down part of the Bay Bridge. Boats went from private luxuries and nuggets of nostalgia to emergency lifelines in a matter of minutes. With the bridge down, a vital artery had been severed. The Transbay Tube thankfully remained intact and, following inspection, BART instituted 24-hour service for the first time in its seventeen-year run.

Still, even with trains running around the clock, BART struggled to accommodate its usual riders plus the influx of stranded drivers. To alleviate the crush, the Army Corps of Engineers dredged a temporary ferry terminal at the Berkeley Marina. Emergency repairs on the Bridge took over a month. Meanwhile, the ferry system proved effective not only as a viable transportation method but an emergency means of navigating the Bay. 

In San Francisco the earthquake had messed up the Embarcadero Freeway so badly, the whole thing needed to come down. Few wanted the double-decker structure around anymore after the Cypress Structure tragedy in Oakland. Just as in 1906, an earthquake taught us the fastest way out was the water. Disaster reunited people and ferries in 1989, but also the Ferry Building with downtown San Francisco. 

Looking forward

The San Francisco Bay Ferry agency seeks to open four new ferry terminals. Service between Berkeley and the city will return along with the system’s expansion to Redwood City on the Peninsula. A new line connecting San Francisco and Treasure Island will come into service, benefiting Mayor Breed’s push to develop there. Another ferry terminal will open in Mission Bay, serving Giants fans with quick trips between the Ferry Building and AT&T Park Oracle Park. 

Phase two should see expansion to communities like Foster City (San Mateo County), Larkspur (Marin), and towns on the Carquinez Strait like Martinez, Pittsburg and Antioch. A line between South San Francisco and the city will serve San Mateo County residents as well as SFO arrivals and departures via shuttle. You could sail from Richmond to South City and fly. This phase also promises the first direct service between the East Bay and Marin County since the mid-twentieth century. Who knows what the Bay Area will look like by then. 

Phases One and Two of San Francisco Bay Ferry’s 2050 Service Vision, mapped. Press release.