Post by ferryfast admin on Oct 17, 2007 15:40:36 GMT -5
Ferry supporters see a new day on the bay
Rachel Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writer
www.sfgate.com/
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
A full 157 years after ferries began transporting people and goods across the San Francisco Bay, state officials have embraced a new plan aimed at making sure the water-transit system can keep the region moving after an earthquake or other disaster.
"We all know how quickly ground transportation can break down ... and so water transit is a vital part in order to make this all happen here," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said.
He was in the Bay Area on Monday to trumpet legislation that he signed to create the Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority.
The law consolidates existing and future state-funded ferry operations on the bay. Ferries operated by the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District remain under independent control.
The legislation includes $250 million in state transportation bond money, approved by California voters last year, to help fund the vision.
With scientists predicting a 2-in-3 chance that a devastating quake will hit the Bay Area within the next 30 years, regional officials say ferries will serve as a pivotal transportation link, just as they were after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake when the Bay Bridge and Cypress Structure were knocked out.
"We're going to have to rely on the water to save us, and then from then on to bring back the economy," said Jim Wunderman, who heads the Bay Area Council, a business-backed public policy organization that pushed the regional ferry plan. "It could be that the bridges, the bridge-access roads, the highways, could be out for long periods of time."
Ferries provide about 3.2 million trips a year in the Bay Area - a number that regional transportation officials hope to quadruple in the next two decades.
The region has seven ferry routes serving San Francisco, Alameda, Oakland, Vallejo, Tiburon, Sausalito and Larkspur. Plans are in the works to add at least seven more routes, with a South San Francisco-East Bay run expected to start next year.
The new agency, which replaces the existing San Francisco Bay Area Water Transit Authority, has expanded powers to plan, finance and operate a regional ferry system. The agency will set fares and schedules and adopt budgets.
Sen. Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, who authored the bill, said that the likelihood of a big earthquake or other major disaster crippling the Bay Area is what drove passage of the plan. But he said residents will benefit from the new law on a daily basis. With the region's bridges and highways among the most congested in the nation, giving people an alternative to the private automobile is important, he said.
Ferries now account for less than 1 percent of the Bay Area's commute travel.
The new ferry agency has the power to take over municipal ferry services operated by Alameda and Vallejo. Representatives of those two cities have said they fear that the state could take their assets - ferries, docks and accompanying parking facilities - without fair compensation. They've also worried about maintaining ferry services in their communities.
But on Monday, it was Alameda Mayor Beverly Johnson who welcomed the governor to her city's waterfront for a news conference next to the Alameda ferry dock.
"I'd just like to say in Alameda we're very appreciative of it, and we'll be large beneficiaries of that legislation," Johnson said when she introduced Schwarzenegger.
In an interview afterward, Johnson said that Alameda has been eager to transfer its ferry service to another transit agency because the city has been subsidizing the operation. But, she said, Alameda wants assurances that "the level of service now provided won't be wiped out."
And while Vallejo officials did not participate in Monday's bayside event with the governor, they have been lobbying to make the same case.
Gary Leach, Vallejo's public works director, said in an interview that the goal now is to make sure the new arrangement works for all sides. He said Vallejo has at least $130 million invested in its ferry infrastructure. Alameda officials say they have sunk about $1.2 million into their service.
The state's elected leaders tried to offer reassurance.
"No one is being left behind here," Schwarzenegger said. "And I think that there are still some points that need to be worked out, and I'm sure they will be working on it."
State Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, who championed the bill, said cleanup legislation will be introduced next year to deal with such concerns.
He noted that the new authority, which will be overseen by a five-member board of directors appointed by the governor and Legislature leadership, still must develop a detailed plan. The Legislature then must approve the document before the plan can go forward.
"This is a long-term opportunity," Perata said. "It won't happen overnight."
Online resources
Read the legislation:
links.sfgate.com/ZBEV
Read The governor's Position: links.sfgate.com/ZBEZ
E-mail Rachel Gordon at rgordon@sfchronicle.com.
sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/16/BAG2SQB2S.DTL
Rachel Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writer
www.sfgate.com/
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
A full 157 years after ferries began transporting people and goods across the San Francisco Bay, state officials have embraced a new plan aimed at making sure the water-transit system can keep the region moving after an earthquake or other disaster.
"We all know how quickly ground transportation can break down ... and so water transit is a vital part in order to make this all happen here," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said.
He was in the Bay Area on Monday to trumpet legislation that he signed to create the Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority.
The law consolidates existing and future state-funded ferry operations on the bay. Ferries operated by the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District remain under independent control.
The legislation includes $250 million in state transportation bond money, approved by California voters last year, to help fund the vision.
With scientists predicting a 2-in-3 chance that a devastating quake will hit the Bay Area within the next 30 years, regional officials say ferries will serve as a pivotal transportation link, just as they were after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake when the Bay Bridge and Cypress Structure were knocked out.
"We're going to have to rely on the water to save us, and then from then on to bring back the economy," said Jim Wunderman, who heads the Bay Area Council, a business-backed public policy organization that pushed the regional ferry plan. "It could be that the bridges, the bridge-access roads, the highways, could be out for long periods of time."
Ferries provide about 3.2 million trips a year in the Bay Area - a number that regional transportation officials hope to quadruple in the next two decades.
The region has seven ferry routes serving San Francisco, Alameda, Oakland, Vallejo, Tiburon, Sausalito and Larkspur. Plans are in the works to add at least seven more routes, with a South San Francisco-East Bay run expected to start next year.
The new agency, which replaces the existing San Francisco Bay Area Water Transit Authority, has expanded powers to plan, finance and operate a regional ferry system. The agency will set fares and schedules and adopt budgets.
Sen. Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, who authored the bill, said that the likelihood of a big earthquake or other major disaster crippling the Bay Area is what drove passage of the plan. But he said residents will benefit from the new law on a daily basis. With the region's bridges and highways among the most congested in the nation, giving people an alternative to the private automobile is important, he said.
Ferries now account for less than 1 percent of the Bay Area's commute travel.
The new ferry agency has the power to take over municipal ferry services operated by Alameda and Vallejo. Representatives of those two cities have said they fear that the state could take their assets - ferries, docks and accompanying parking facilities - without fair compensation. They've also worried about maintaining ferry services in their communities.
But on Monday, it was Alameda Mayor Beverly Johnson who welcomed the governor to her city's waterfront for a news conference next to the Alameda ferry dock.
"I'd just like to say in Alameda we're very appreciative of it, and we'll be large beneficiaries of that legislation," Johnson said when she introduced Schwarzenegger.
In an interview afterward, Johnson said that Alameda has been eager to transfer its ferry service to another transit agency because the city has been subsidizing the operation. But, she said, Alameda wants assurances that "the level of service now provided won't be wiped out."
And while Vallejo officials did not participate in Monday's bayside event with the governor, they have been lobbying to make the same case.
Gary Leach, Vallejo's public works director, said in an interview that the goal now is to make sure the new arrangement works for all sides. He said Vallejo has at least $130 million invested in its ferry infrastructure. Alameda officials say they have sunk about $1.2 million into their service.
The state's elected leaders tried to offer reassurance.
"No one is being left behind here," Schwarzenegger said. "And I think that there are still some points that need to be worked out, and I'm sure they will be working on it."
State Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, who championed the bill, said cleanup legislation will be introduced next year to deal with such concerns.
He noted that the new authority, which will be overseen by a five-member board of directors appointed by the governor and Legislature leadership, still must develop a detailed plan. The Legislature then must approve the document before the plan can go forward.
"This is a long-term opportunity," Perata said. "It won't happen overnight."
Online resources
Read the legislation:
links.sfgate.com/ZBEV
Read The governor's Position: links.sfgate.com/ZBEZ
E-mail Rachel Gordon at rgordon@sfchronicle.com.
sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/16/BAG2SQB2S.DTL