In light of low ridership, the San Francisco Bay Ferry is exploring service cuts, fare increases and route changes to its South City ferry route.
The ferry service operates six routes, with the South San Francisco service mostly serving weekday commuters from Alameda and Oakland to their South City employers, typically life science firms situated on the east side of Highway 101. But the route only constitutes at most 5% of total ridership, and the share of operating expenses covered by passenger fares is less than half of what it was pre-pandemic and also much less than other routes.
But the Water Emergency Transportation Authority, which oversees the San Francisco Bay Ferry, has been looking into potential cuts or changes to the service specific to South City, given the fiscal challenges. The agency said it is weighing a few options, such as operating a four-day service, down from five days a week and increasing fares, which could get closer to the Vallejo route fare, about $2 more than the South City’s rate.
Other possibilities include removing the Alameda stop or adding a stop to downtown San Francisco, the latter helping to boost ridership. But that would increase travel time for East Bay commuters, currently the vast majority of the riders. Several individuals in a recent community outreach meeting said they were opposed to the San Francisco stop, with one participant saying she would likely have to quit her job, with the increased commute time.
Many South City firms, especially those on the east side of Highway 101, employ individuals who use the ferry, but Mike Gougherty, director of planning at WETA, said based on initial conversations, employers weren’t interested in providing private subsidies.
Senate Bill 63, which recently passed the California Legislature, would authorize a 2026 ballot measure to help fund several of the Bay Area’s major transit agencies, many of which are facing serious structural deficits. While much of the funding would go toward larger operators such as BART and Caltrain, the sales tax measure, if approved by voters, would also provide about $7 million to San Francisco Bay Ferry.
“Unfortunately, SB 63 would help but it wouldn’t in and of itself solve the problem,” Gougherty said. “We still need to find our own path.”
South San Francisco Mayor Eddie Flores said the route is critical to maintaining multimodal transit options and is “deeply concerned” about potential cuts. While the route has the lowest ridership of all the routes, he said that doesn’t warrant service reductions.
“It has been structurally limited since its launch in 2012, just connecting to Alameda and Oakland. That’s not a failure of demand. That’s a failure of design,” Flores said. “We’re not just advocating to preserve the ferry but to also improve it.”
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