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WETA tells Port Commission ferry ridership surged during summer disruptions, outlines expansion plan
Summary
Water Emergency Transportation Authority officials told the Port Commission that ferry ridership spiked during the BART strike and Bay Bridge disruption, and outlined near-term expansion plans to Treasure Island, Richmond and Berkeley plus Downtown Ferry Building upgrades to add gates and passenger protections.
WETA officials briefed the Port Commission on ridership growth and plans to expand ferry service across the Bay.
Kevin Conley, WETA planning manager, said the agency responded to system shocks this summer by ramping capacity, noting that during the July BART strike "we went from 7,000 riders a day to about 21,000 riders a day." He said the agency also doubled service after a late-May collision and saw major weekend increases during a Bay Bridge closure. Conley said those episodes demonstrated ferries' value in emergency response and exposed capacity constraints WETA plans to address.
Conley described near-term projects east of San Francisco — Treasure Island, Richmond and Berkeley — now in planning and design, and long-range conceptual projects with no funding yet for farther locations. He said the downtown Ferry Building expansion is central to WETA's program: planned work would add a new gate in the north basin, two additional gates in the south basin, weather-protection canopies, improved queuing and a decked plaza over the lagoon to increase staging and passenger flow.
Commissioners asked about parking and multimodal access for new embarkation points; Conley said parking is a limiting factor at some East Bay sites and that WETA is factoring parking and transit connections into Berkeley and Richmond planning. He also said the agency is exploring lateral waterfront shuttle services and mid-day pilot services such as South San Francisco—ommuter service that have shown unexpected demand.
Jamie Hurley, port planning staff who introduced the item, emphasized the port's partnership with WETA at the Ferry Building and said further coordination will continue as designs and funding develop. WETA said it will return with more detailed, quantitative ridership and performance data after the peak event period.
