Post by Low Light Mike on Jan 4, 2009 14:32:01 GMT -8
From San Jose Mercury News. This article touches on history & culture re ferries.
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www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_11363165?nclick_check=1
New era in ferry travel planned for the Bay
By Denis Cuff and Janis Mara
Contra Costa Times
Posted: 01/03/2009 04:19:27 PM PST
Bay Area residents cherished the rush of riding ferry boats across the region's blue highways before eight major bridges spanned Bay waters.
Then, ferries' popularity surged after accidents or earthquakes disabled bridges or blocked highways.
But when the bridges spanned the water, public interest in ferries waned.
Bay Area transportation managers want to rekindle the ferry fervor, proposing a $400 million expansion to add seven routes on the Bay and to triple ridership to 12 million a year.
Commuters in Richmond, Berkeley, Antioch, Hercules, Martinez and Redwood City could be hopping 31 new ferries to San Francisco by the end of the decade.
"Ferries are going to be another key component of transportation in the Bay Area," said state Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord, former chairman of the Assembly Transportation Committee and a current member of a key Senate budget committee on transit funds. "I expect more money for transportation, and I expect ferries to be part of the transformation of our transportation system."
Ferries could ease highway congestion, cut smog and global warming gases and reduce commuter stress by luring drivers onto what transit experts call more relaxing, scenic boats.
An invigorated ferry system also would provide essential emergency help to move firefighters, police, medical workers and stranded commuters if an earthquake paralyzes highways and public transportation systems, supporters say.
"I don't think we've optimized the use of the Bay (for commuting)," said Jon Stanley, executive director of the Water Emergency Transportation Authority, the agency created a year ago to coordinate Bay Area ferry planning. "We're trying to get people out of their cars and onto the ferry, even if it's not huge numbers."
Recent legislation, Senate Bill 796, gives the agency the mandate and the charter to coordinate emergency cross-Bay transportation in the event of a disruption, such as a bridge going down.
The big issues
Ferry service expansion faces many barriers. The authority does not know where it will get all the money to develop and operate the expanded service, although agency managers expect to get $250 million in the next decade from the Proposition 1B state transportation bond measure voters passed in 2006.
Some skeptics say ferries attract too few riders to justify the costs.
"Ferries are fun. Buses are boring, but they move more people. Most people can walk to a bus," said Robert Cheasty, an East Bay attorney who is president of Citizens for East Shore Parks. "Most ferries fail because of economic reasons. Ridership is never enough."
Land-use conflicts also can complicate ferry plans, which often call for big parking lots on valuable shoreline property and terminals placed over environmentally sensitive waters.
The Albany City Council recently opposed a ferry site in that city — one of four alternative locations in Albany and Berkeley — because of concerns for the environment and the popular Eastshore State Park on the shoreline of Contra Costa and Alameda counties.
The city spelled out its criticism in a comment letter it submitted on the environmental report for the proposed terminal.
The site for the Albany or Berkeley terminal is scheduled to be selected by June 2009, and service to San Francisco is to begin in 2011.
A planned eight-mile ferry service between Oakland's Jack London Square and South San Francisco is expected to begin in late 2010, after a new terminal is built at Oyster Point in South San Francisco.
Environmental planning has begun on proposals for service from Richmond to San Francisco and from Martinez and Antioch to San Francisco. Planning has not begun on three other proposed ferry routes — from Redwood City to San Francisco and the East Bay; from Hercules to San Francisco; and from San Francisco to Treasure Island.
Antioch and Martinez leaders view ferry service as a way to reinvigorate their cities' long-struggling downtowns, located near ferry terminal sites used before bridges were built.
Martinez Mayor Rob Schroder said a ferryboat terminal would go hand in hand with efforts to attract retail business to the downtown.
A ferry linked Martinez and Benicia from 1847 until 1962, when the Benicia Bridge opened. Since the 1990s, the city several times considered a ferry service, but the plans always fell through.
Schroder said he believes Martinez has two advantages this time — as the county seat, the city could play a key role in recovery from a natural disaster or terrorist attack; and a ferry terminal may stimulate economic development in the city's ailing downtown.
"I truly believe that it's going to happen this time," he said.
Obstacles ahead
But Schroder acknowledged challenges to resurrecting ferry service in Martinez, including the considerable distance from the planned parking lot to the ferry terminal site and the terminal's distance from Highway 4.
Ridership can be a challenge, too.
Richmond had a ferry service to San Francisco run by the Red and White Fleet from September 1999 until November 2000, when it was discontinued for lack of passengers. The service averaged 45 riders a day when it needed 200 to be financially viable.
Speed may have been a factor, Stanley said. The ferry was no speedboat at about 11 knots; it took about 45 minutes to reach San Francisco. The new agency's ferry clocks 25 knots and would take an estimated 30 minutes.
Some say that faster boats and public subsidies do not guarantee ridership will ever gain critical mass.
"I can see (the ferries being) an adjunct system, but I don't see the lavish spending they're talking about," said Cheasty, of Citizens for East Shore Parks. "One of the worst things they could do is spend a lot of money on a ferry system and not get the ridership and then have to close down."
In other words: What if taxpayers spend $400 million on a ferry system and nobody rides?
Stanley is confident the system can attract riders. The key, he said, is making it competitive with motor vehicles and BART, with travel time, comfort and cost considered.
"The overall commute time in the Bay Area is expected to increase about 25 percent from now to 2025. The commute over the bridge to San Francisco from Oakland will slow from an average of 34 minutes now to 55 minutes in 2025, according to a study by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission," Stanley said.
Marilyn Sandifur rode the ferry from Larkspur to a San Francisco job in the 1990s.
"It was very refreshing," Sandifur said. "You always could find a seat. I remember a jazz band playing on board Friday nights."
Riding the ferry during the Christmas holiday season was her favorite. "You would see those Christmas lights on the shoreline on a crisp winter night. Nothing could beat that."
Staff writer Lisa White contributed to this story. Reach Denis Cuff at 925-943-8267 or dcuff@bayareanewsgroup.com. Reach Janis Mara at 925-952-2671.
For details about the plan for expanded ferry service, visit www.watertransit.org.
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www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_11363165?nclick_check=1
New era in ferry travel planned for the Bay
By Denis Cuff and Janis Mara
Contra Costa Times
Posted: 01/03/2009 04:19:27 PM PST
Bay Area residents cherished the rush of riding ferry boats across the region's blue highways before eight major bridges spanned Bay waters.
Then, ferries' popularity surged after accidents or earthquakes disabled bridges or blocked highways.
But when the bridges spanned the water, public interest in ferries waned.
Bay Area transportation managers want to rekindle the ferry fervor, proposing a $400 million expansion to add seven routes on the Bay and to triple ridership to 12 million a year.
Commuters in Richmond, Berkeley, Antioch, Hercules, Martinez and Redwood City could be hopping 31 new ferries to San Francisco by the end of the decade.
"Ferries are going to be another key component of transportation in the Bay Area," said state Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord, former chairman of the Assembly Transportation Committee and a current member of a key Senate budget committee on transit funds. "I expect more money for transportation, and I expect ferries to be part of the transformation of our transportation system."
Ferries could ease highway congestion, cut smog and global warming gases and reduce commuter stress by luring drivers onto what transit experts call more relaxing, scenic boats.
An invigorated ferry system also would provide essential emergency help to move firefighters, police, medical workers and stranded commuters if an earthquake paralyzes highways and public transportation systems, supporters say.
"I don't think we've optimized the use of the Bay (for commuting)," said Jon Stanley, executive director of the Water Emergency Transportation Authority, the agency created a year ago to coordinate Bay Area ferry planning. "We're trying to get people out of their cars and onto the ferry, even if it's not huge numbers."
Recent legislation, Senate Bill 796, gives the agency the mandate and the charter to coordinate emergency cross-Bay transportation in the event of a disruption, such as a bridge going down.
The big issues
Ferry service expansion faces many barriers. The authority does not know where it will get all the money to develop and operate the expanded service, although agency managers expect to get $250 million in the next decade from the Proposition 1B state transportation bond measure voters passed in 2006.
Some skeptics say ferries attract too few riders to justify the costs.
"Ferries are fun. Buses are boring, but they move more people. Most people can walk to a bus," said Robert Cheasty, an East Bay attorney who is president of Citizens for East Shore Parks. "Most ferries fail because of economic reasons. Ridership is never enough."
Land-use conflicts also can complicate ferry plans, which often call for big parking lots on valuable shoreline property and terminals placed over environmentally sensitive waters.
The Albany City Council recently opposed a ferry site in that city — one of four alternative locations in Albany and Berkeley — because of concerns for the environment and the popular Eastshore State Park on the shoreline of Contra Costa and Alameda counties.
The city spelled out its criticism in a comment letter it submitted on the environmental report for the proposed terminal.
The site for the Albany or Berkeley terminal is scheduled to be selected by June 2009, and service to San Francisco is to begin in 2011.
A planned eight-mile ferry service between Oakland's Jack London Square and South San Francisco is expected to begin in late 2010, after a new terminal is built at Oyster Point in South San Francisco.
Environmental planning has begun on proposals for service from Richmond to San Francisco and from Martinez and Antioch to San Francisco. Planning has not begun on three other proposed ferry routes — from Redwood City to San Francisco and the East Bay; from Hercules to San Francisco; and from San Francisco to Treasure Island.
Antioch and Martinez leaders view ferry service as a way to reinvigorate their cities' long-struggling downtowns, located near ferry terminal sites used before bridges were built.
Martinez Mayor Rob Schroder said a ferryboat terminal would go hand in hand with efforts to attract retail business to the downtown.
A ferry linked Martinez and Benicia from 1847 until 1962, when the Benicia Bridge opened. Since the 1990s, the city several times considered a ferry service, but the plans always fell through.
Schroder said he believes Martinez has two advantages this time — as the county seat, the city could play a key role in recovery from a natural disaster or terrorist attack; and a ferry terminal may stimulate economic development in the city's ailing downtown.
"I truly believe that it's going to happen this time," he said.
Obstacles ahead
But Schroder acknowledged challenges to resurrecting ferry service in Martinez, including the considerable distance from the planned parking lot to the ferry terminal site and the terminal's distance from Highway 4.
Ridership can be a challenge, too.
Richmond had a ferry service to San Francisco run by the Red and White Fleet from September 1999 until November 2000, when it was discontinued for lack of passengers. The service averaged 45 riders a day when it needed 200 to be financially viable.
Speed may have been a factor, Stanley said. The ferry was no speedboat at about 11 knots; it took about 45 minutes to reach San Francisco. The new agency's ferry clocks 25 knots and would take an estimated 30 minutes.
Some say that faster boats and public subsidies do not guarantee ridership will ever gain critical mass.
"I can see (the ferries being) an adjunct system, but I don't see the lavish spending they're talking about," said Cheasty, of Citizens for East Shore Parks. "One of the worst things they could do is spend a lot of money on a ferry system and not get the ridership and then have to close down."
In other words: What if taxpayers spend $400 million on a ferry system and nobody rides?
Stanley is confident the system can attract riders. The key, he said, is making it competitive with motor vehicles and BART, with travel time, comfort and cost considered.
"The overall commute time in the Bay Area is expected to increase about 25 percent from now to 2025. The commute over the bridge to San Francisco from Oakland will slow from an average of 34 minutes now to 55 minutes in 2025, according to a study by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission," Stanley said.
Marilyn Sandifur rode the ferry from Larkspur to a San Francisco job in the 1990s.
"It was very refreshing," Sandifur said. "You always could find a seat. I remember a jazz band playing on board Friday nights."
Riding the ferry during the Christmas holiday season was her favorite. "You would see those Christmas lights on the shoreline on a crisp winter night. Nothing could beat that."
Staff writer Lisa White contributed to this story. Reach Denis Cuff at 925-943-8267 or dcuff@bayareanewsgroup.com. Reach Janis Mara at 925-952-2671.
For details about the plan for expanded ferry service, visit www.watertransit.org.
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