Having issued a request for providers in 2009 and approved a proposal from San Francisco Water Taxi LLC to provide water taxi service in San Francisco from South Beach to Fisherman’s Wharf with stops between, the operation never got off the ground (or rather on the water).
According to the San Francisco Business Times, however, the port is resurrecting its plans for the water taxi service and will issue a new request for providers next month with hopes of having taxis roaming the bay in time for the America’s Cup.
∙ Port Of San Francisco To Issue Water Taxi RFP Early Next Year [SocketSite]
San Francisco port revives plan for water taxi [Business Times]
∙ Amended America’s Cup Host Agreement Approved [SocketSite]
If it’s faster than Muni and cheaper than a cab, it’ll work.
Speaking of transit on the Bay (yay) Berkeley/oakland/Alameda to SSF starting June.
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO/EAST BAY SERVICE SLATED FOR LAUNCH
San Francisco Bay Ferry’s much-anticipated service between South San Francisco and the East Bay will be launching soon.
The new service will operate weekdays (Monday through Friday) during peak commute periods between Alameda, Oakland’s Jack London Square, and the new South San Francisco Oyster Point ferry terminal.
If it’s faster than Muni and cheaper than a cab, it’ll work.
highly unlikely
“If it’s faster than Muni and cheaper than a cab, it’ll work.”
Spot on with the success criteria James. Muni is pretty slow between the Marina and the ballpark: over a half hour. Considering that there are three stops on the ferry route between those points it could be a close race even if the ferry service is as rapid as a Venetian vaparetto. I think they should consider dropping the second to last stop along the north end of the route. The last three stops span only seven blocks but will require significant time for each docking. Otherwise this just becomes a tourist attraction.
As for a fast way along this route riding a bicycle is the quickest, requiring less than half the time compared to Muni. The only thing that might be quicker is a cab but only if there’s no traffic. Anyone up for a rush hour race ?
How about adding gondola service? This make a great race with pedicab and horse carriages.
We all know damn well if the city implements this it’ll be painfully slow due to stops at every damn pier.
To be sure, an occasional stop at Pier 23 would be appreciated.
+1 James
Definitely cheaper than a cab and outside of maybe the F line (which currently only covers a part of the distance the water taxi’s would cover), definitely faster. I live one block off the Embarcadero, near the Ferry Building and have seen both car, foot, and bicycle traffic significantly increase over the past four years. It’s been good for the pedi-taxi (bike taxi) vendors but this would definitely help alleviate some of the congestion.
Also, +1 EH, Pier 23 should most definitely be a stop!