Weekend ferry service to SF this summer

Ferry arriving at new Richmond Terminal

     POINT RICHMOND - Weekend ferry service between Richmond and San Francisco will likely begin this summer, Thomas Hall of San Francisco Bay Ferry told the Point Richmond Neighborhood Council Wednesday night.
     "Hopefully by this summer," Hall said. "Hopefully in May."

     Hall came to the PRNC to give an update about the ferry service that began January 10 going from the newly constructed Richmond terminal to the San Francisco Ferry Building.
     The Richmond terminal is adjacent to the Craneway Pavilion on Harbor Way South.
     He said ridership has exceeded projections. "Overall, ridership of all the SF Bay Ferry service vessels has nearly doubled since 2012," he said.
     In his presentation, Hall also talked about about new ferries coming into service in the next year.

Schedule - click to enlarge

     The current weekday service runs ferries in the morning and in the afternoon, aimed at commuters.
     The trip takes about 35 minutes dock to dock.
    With the exception of a few dips in service (on rainy days), the ferries have been running with plenty of passengers, Hall said.
     He also noted that the new service is popular with bicyclists.
     "People like to bring bikes on the ferry and take them into the city to use."
     Bike lockers are available at the Richmond Ferry Terminal in the 352-space parking lot.
     Parking for motor vehicles is free there, for now.
     Hall can be contacted via email at hall@watertransit.org.

Traffic and road report

     The PRNC also heard a report from Dave Rodgers, a City of Richmond Traffic Engineer about a variety of traffic and road issues around The Point.
      In addition answering questions at the meeting, Rodgers gave PRNC attendees copies of questions and answers about traffic based on a list generated by the PRNC prior to Wednesday's meeting.
     Those questions and the City of Richmond's responses are below. Click on the documents to enlarge for easier reading.

Richmond-to-SF ferry coming in 2018

   POINT RICHMOND - The Hydrus is coming to Richmond in early 2018.

     That's the name of the under-construction, 400-plus passenger ferry that the San Francisco Bay Ferry company will be using to start its Richmond-to-San Francisco (and back, of course) service.

     That piece of news was delivered to the Point Richmond Neighborhood Council Wed. Dec. 7 by Ernest Sanchez, manager of public information and marketing for the company.

     Hydrus, by the way, means water snake.

      At the outset, the ferry service will run Monday-Friday with three morning departures and four afternoon return trips. Although the Hydrus is nominally the official Richmond ferry, because of scheduling other ferries will be providing service from the Richmond Ferry Landing, too.

     The ferry will leave and return from a pier near the Ford Craneway building, Sanchez said. Parking for about 360 vehicles in planned on the Richmond side. A shuttle to take passengers to-and-from the ferry terminal area is also possible.

     "For now, this will be a peak commute service," he said. "Initially, there won't be any weekend or midday service."

     The ferry will be landing on the San Francisco side at the SF Ferry Building, where construction is planned to make room for additional Bay Area ferries.

     In addition to 400 passengers, the ferry will also have room for 50 bicycles, offer food and beverage service and make the Richmond-to-SF run in about 30 minutes. The new ferry is one of seven under construction by the company for use in the Bay Area, all of which are scheduled to be in service by 2019.

    The Hydrus will initially be doing Vallejo-to-San Francisco trips - as well as other break-in voyages - before being put into service for the Richmond run.