Bay Area Water Transit for the 21st Century
A joint initiative of the Bay Area Council and the Bay Area Economic Forum

Questions and Answers

What is the Purpose of the Bay Area Water Transit Initiative?
The Initiative is an undertaking to expand the use of water transportation on the San Francisco Bay.  It is rooted in the indisputable fact that the region's network of bridges and freeways is so heavily congested that it is time we look to the water as a source of mobility, as we did in the days before the building of the great bridges.  Indeed, Bay Area residents have identified transportation as the number one concern of the region, and 82 percent of respondents favored the expansion of ferry service in the most recent Bay Area Council poll (1996).

Who is Sponsoring This Effort?
The Bay Area Council and the Bay Area Economic Forum are the sponsoring agents.  The Council is a business-sponsored public policy organization which has a 50-year history of shaping the region's transportation system.  The Forum is co-sponsored by the Council and the Association of Bay Area Governments.  The two organizations were directed by the California State Senate, by unanimous resolution, to appoint a Blue Ribbon Task Force to study the issue and report recommendations.

Who is on the Blue Ribbon Task Force?
Forty-one distinguished citizens were appointed to the panel, which is led by the region's three big-city mayors, Mayor Willie Brown (San Francisco), Susan Hammer (San Jose), and Mayor Elihu Harris (Oakland).  Appointees come from the ranks of business, academia, the labor community, the environmental community, and from the cadre of locally elected officials throughout the nine counties ringing the Bay.  Click to rooster.

Why is The Blue Ribbon Task Force Doing This Now?
The members of the Task Force feel this is an effort that is long overdue.  Bay Area residents are losing 90,000 hours per day idling in congestion on the highways and bridges, and this inflicts daily costs of up to $814,000 in wasted resources, damage to plant life, and lost opportunity.  But the timing seems especially ripe because of the new stadiums being built on the perimeter of the Bay, because of the promise of new housing stock on the closed military bases, and because of huge increases in travel to the region's airports.
 

Don't We Already Have a Ferry System?
The Task Force is studying the feasibility of expanding the current system, dramatically.  This is to incorporate new travel patterns and new destinations, and also to expand the application of water transit to such things as light cargo and mail.  The Task Force is also investigating the use of innovative new technologies we don't currently see on the Bay (such as hydrofoils and hovercraft), which should result in substantial time savings, and therefore generate new, untapped market segments.
 
What is the Expected Outcome?
Because the Task Force was created, in part, to ensure objectivity, the outcome of the study is not in any way predetermined.  If robust ridership forecasts and market demand are not apparent from the modeling, the conclusion could be a recommendation against expanded water service.  Most people fully expect, however, that if ferry service were structured in a way that was comprehensive, fast, and reliable, ridership could readily materialize --particularly because innovative new technologies (such as jetfoils, hydrofoils, hovercraft, high-speed catamarans) have been proven so effective elsewhere.  The anticipated outcome, therefore, is a recommendation to proceed, accompanied by a detailed implementation plan.

Where Would the Ferries Go?
Routes will be determined during the course of the study, but the notion is that there must be a vast network of ferries in order to achieve real gains in mobility.  This would therefore likely include new South Bay ports, and service would extend to the Bay's upper Northeastern reaches.  It would also have links to the airports and sports stadiums, the bases currently in conversion, and the national parks.

Will the New System Be Linked to Land-side Transit Services?
In order to succeed the new system has to be supported by feeders and connector services to existing forms of transit.  For this reason, transit operators are represented on the Task Force, and the goal is to structure the new service so that transfers are as easy and seamless as possible.

How Would a New Ferry System Be Financed?
The Task Force will be studying this issue as well, and a recommendation to proceed will also contain a financing plan.  Public investment may be necessary to attract additional private capital.

Who is Paying for the Study?
A combination of public and private investors will finance the work of the consultants.

What is the Time Frame for this Project?
This Task Force holds its first meeting in San Jose on March 30th.  They will provide a progress report to the Legislature by the end of the 1998 session (September), and a final report in 1999.  A new, comprehensive, publically-financed ferry system criss-crossing the Bay would require some form of public approval, which could not conceivably occur before the year 2000.  Then, the system (including the land-side facilities) will have to be built and installed.  Precise estimates, therefore, must still be refined.

Is this Just Going to be Another Study?
Unless the results of the modeling and forecasting are negative, the members of the Task Force feel strongly that the outcome of this effort must be something tangible.  Their agreement to serve on the panel implied a commitment to action, and they are bringing a strong sense of energy and impatience to the work.  The Senate Resolution creating the Task Force specifically calls for an Implementation Plan, and not merely a report, so it is fully expected that the Senate will have something to act upon by early 1999.
 

 
 


 

Blue Ribbon Water Transit Task Force Roster (as of 10/22/98)
   Bold means Executive Committee