I can't wait until one of those high speed low e ferries hits a whale.
Posted on 05/18/2010 8:45:59 AM PDT by Willie Green
OAKLAND — In 1851, riding a ferry from the foot of Broadway across the Bay to San Francisco cost $1. Horses, wagons and cattle cost $3. Today, the boats carry workday commuters who, under an ambitious expansion plan 10 years in the making, could soon choose to travel far beyond those two destinations in high-speed, earth-friendly vessels.
The latest addition to the fleet of four new low-emission ferries made its maiden voyage in Bay Area waters Monday not far from Oakland's original ferry stop.
The christening of the Taurus at the Oakland Ferry Terminal also marked a turning point in a two-tiered effort aimed at expanding ferry coverage regionally and developing an emergency water transportation system.
The price tag for eight new routes extending from the East Bay to the Peninsula is about $350 million.
The Water Emergency Transportation Authority, created in 2000 to administer Bay Area aquatic emergency response and consolidate ferry service operations, has received a little less than half of the necessary funding.
The expansion is supposed to mean more options for commuters who don't want to use their cars.
For the nine-county Bay Area linked by a series of bridges and roadways, the focus is on reducing emissions as well as safety in the shadow of the earthquakes in Chile and Haiti.
"Unfortunately our turn will come," said Jim Wunderman, president of the Bay Area Council.
"We won't have a chance at a do-over," he said Monday during the Taurus christening ceremony. The earliest route addition will take passengers 10 times daily from Oakland to Oyster Point in South San Francisco. The project is slated for completion in January 2011.
Eventually, routes are planned to link downtown San Francisco to Berkeley, Richmond, Hercules, Martinez, Antioch, Redwood City and Treasure Island.
Fares are set to remain on par with BART fees for the time being, said Nina Rannells, executive director of WETA.
Currently, a round-trip ferry ticket from Oakland or Alameda to San Francisco is $12.50 for an adult. The price drops to $4.25 each way with the purchase of a 40-ticket pack. BART charges about $6.20 for a round-trip ticket from downtown Oakland to downtown San Francisco.
Ferry prices, however, are expected to rise to meet inflation in the next several years, according to WETA figures. Meanwhile, the agency expects to see ridership triple with the expansion.
Oh!
I thought this was another Obama czar appointment......
I can't wait until one of those high speed low e ferries hits a whale.
Gosh, they forgot to report how much the taxpayers will have to pay to subsidize these losers. A boat is a hole in the water into which one pours money.
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