Feds Funding Construction Of Zero Emissions San Francisco Bay Ferry
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- The San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority has been awarded $3.4 million by the U.S. Federal Transit Administration to build a zero-emission, electric ferry to launch a new service between San Francisco's growing Treasure Island and Mission Bay neighborhoods.
The authority oversees the San Francisco Bay Ferry which currently operates water routes connecting the cities of Alameda, Oakland, Richmond, San Francisco, South San Francisco and Vallejo.
The grant will support a new network of zero-emission, short-hop ferry services along San Francisco's waterfront.
The first vessel will bring ferry service to Treasure Island, where 8,000 residential units are planned or currently under construction, and help ease the potential traffic bottlenecks on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
"Mission Bay and Treasure Island are rapidly growing, and both have transportation challenges," said Jim Wunderman, Chair of the WETA Board of Directors. "This grant helps provide a solution to those challenges, and at the same time advances WETA's transition to zero-emissions technology."
Mission Bay, on San Francisco's eastern waterfront is the home of Chase Center and Oracle Park, a major UCSF medical campus and a growing number of employers and residential development.
The electric vessel will operate out of a new Mission Bay Ferry Terminal that is expected to be completed as early as 2025. In the meantime, the vessel will serve a temporary terminal at Pier 48 ½, where WETA currently provides San Francisco Bay Ferry special event service for home Golden State Warriors games.
The vessel is one of four that will operate as a part of this new service. In 2020, WETA received a $9 million grant from the California State Transportation Agency to build a battery-electric ferry along with shoreside charging infrastructure. WETA will be seeking future grant funding for the two additional zero-emission ferries and corresponding charging infrastructure.
WETA's first zero-emission ferry is expected to enter service in 2024.
